Perceptions of interconnected sustainability : Students’ narratives bridging transition and education

As sustainability becomes a focal point and important aspect of educational development in several disciplines and universities globally, it is important to critically reflect on the different utilisations of sustainability education. Research on educational aims and the potential transformative impact of sustainability courses is quite timely. Among several others, the theory of interconnected learning has been gaining traction as an approach to transformative sustainability education, as it employs a distinct approach to systemic sustainability awareness. This approach aims to further express the plurality of sustainability, with the aim to foster a deeper comprehension beyond the dichotomous thinking often typical in disciplined science. The aim of our research was to study the efficiency of employing the pedagogy of interconnected learning on the types of sustainability transition narratives produced by the students attending an online sustainability course. The sustainability transition narratives, as expressed through fifty-eight students’ course assignments, were studied pre- and post-course, and analysed against a collection of established narratives drawn from transition studies. The comparison from the pre-to post-course answers revealed that while some of the student narratives remained unchanged, the majority of the narratives were expanded during the course experience. Our analysis revealed that while most of the students’ answers referenced a single type of transition narrative, some students produced narratives that hybridised two or more types of narratives. Additionally, some of the students produced elements of a pathway for a transition narrative that are currently unarticulated in the transition narrative framework employed herein. The elements of this newly articulated narrative focused on changes in the societal mindset, achievable through sustainability education.Peer reviewe

Perceived interest in learning sustainability competencies among higher education students

Authors are listed alphabeticallyPurpose This study aims to assess higher education students’ interest in learning sustainability competencies and their pro-ecological worldviews at a large research-intensive university in Finland to provide a background information for developing a sustainability science course. Design/methodology/approach In total, 797 students participated in the study. The data were collected through an online survey that measured students’ interest in learning sustainability competencies and their pro-ecological worldviews. Participants were classified into five categories based on field of study. The data were analysed by using Pearson’s correlation, independent samples t-tests, and analysis of variance. Findings The participating students perceived learning of critical thinking and values thinking most interesting. Interest in learning sustainability competencies and pro-ecological worldview appeared to differ across fields of study. Participants studying humanities expressed lower interest in collaborative use of digital technology compared to the participating students in science and agriculture. Participating students in health and welfare scored lower on interest in learning values thinking than students in other study fields. Research limitations/implications The response rate was low. It is likely that the participants felt strongly about sustainability challenges, therefore making them more interested in sustainability competencies. The limited number of sustainability competencies studied does not allow generalisation to all sustainability competencies. Practical implications The differences in interest in learning sustainability competencies and pro-ecological worldview should be understood and considered when planning sustainability education. Originality/value These results provide new insights into the interlinkage of students’ interest in learning sustainability competencies, their pro-ecological worldviews and their field of study.Peer reviewe

Transition towards Circular Economy in the Food System

Growing population and increased demand for food, inefficient resource use and food distribution, environmental impacts, and high rates of food wasted at all stages of the food system are all calling for transition towards more sustainable practices. In this article we apply the concept of circular economy to the case of a sustainable food system. Furthermore, we explore the transition towards a circular food system through the lens of socio-technical transition theory towards sustainability. We discuss challenges and potential solutions for the production stage (focusing on nutrient flow), the consumption stage (focusing on meat consumption), and food waste and surplus management and prevention.Peer reviewe

Tieteiden integraatio yliopisto-opetuksessa : esimerkkinä ympäristöalan monitieteinen sivuainekokonaisuus

Peer reviewe

Kestävyysmurroksen keinot

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Adopting sustainability competence-based education in academic disciplines : Insights from 13 higher education institutions

Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have been incorporating sustainability into education and curricula, where recent research has focussed on sustainability competences, pedagogical approaches, and how to connect them, generally on a single HEI. The process of integrating sustainability into education based on curricula assessment has been explained using adoption of innovations; and has the potential to explain the process of developing competences through pedagogical approaches. The aim of this paper is to investigate this process at academic discipline level. An online survey was developed to investigate teaching sustainability competences in 13 HEIs, from which 678 responses from educators were obtained. The competences and pedagogical approaches from the responses were ranked, and then the connections between the competences and pedagogical approaches per discipline were analysed using a correlations-based framework, from which three disciplines groups were created. The groups were categorised using diffusion of innovations theory, which indicated that some disciplines are more innovative than others in adopting sustainability competence-based teaching. The results are used to propose two frameworks to better understand the adoption of sustainability competence-based teaching: (a) the D-RAPID framework; and (b) the Disciplinary Multi-dimensional Sustainability Influence Change for Academia (D-MuSICA) memework. The adoption of sustainability competence-base education must expand from a single HEI perspective to a disciplinary collaborative one spanning many HEIs, where academic disciplines should learn from each other's insights and mistakes and provide students with more transdisciplinary skillsets to make societies more sustainable.Peer reviewe

Supporting student integration by implementing peer teaching into environmental studies

The benefits of peer teaching have been intensively explored. However, there is still a lack of research in relation to student integration in higher education. The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between peer teacher interaction and students’ experiences of components of integration in the study programme. This comprises student and teacher interaction and support as well as identification with the programme. In addition, the aim is to explore how the students experience peer teachers as effecting their integration into the programme, and to explore how they visualise the relationship between students, teachers and peer teachers as part of the programme. Peer teaching was implemented in an introductory course in Environmental Sciences, in which the peer teachers were responsible for organising and teaching the course. The study was conducted with a mixed-method approach combining questionnaire data (N = 115), open-ended experiences (N = 80) and sketches (N = 80) done by the students participating in the course. The results show that peer teaching affected student integration in several ways. Practical implications and future research are also discussed.Peer reviewe

Voimistelua tieteiden välillä

Helsingin yliopiston ympäristötutkimuksen ja -opetuksen yksikön HENVIn tavoitteena on edistää tieteidenvälisyyttä. Ympäristötutkimuksessa tuotetaan tietoa, jota tarvitaan ratkaisemaan ympäristöongelmiksi nousseita kysymyksiä. Ilmastonmuutos on aikamme suurimpia ympäristöongelmia