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Fostering Sustainability and Critical Thinking through Debate—A Case Study

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  • Alfonso Rodriguez-Dono

    (Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, 08034 Barcelona, Spain
    Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research (IDAEA), Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), 08034 Barcelona, Spain)

  • Antoni Hernández-Fernández

    (Institut de Ciències de l’Educació, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Av. Doctor Marañón 44-50, 08028 Barcelona, Spain)

Abstract

Transversal competences such as sustainability or critical thinking have become more important in the last decades in University teaching. The objective of this article is to assess the effectiveness of debate as a teaching method capable of fostering such competences in engineering students. To do this, a debate activity has been held facing two reasonable positions: Sustainable Development versus Degrowth. The research methodology consisted of performing this activity in the classroom (with 13 students in this particular case study), and conducting some tests before and after the debate that served as feedback to assess the effectiveness of the debate on the learning process. This feedback is composed of different documents, including a pre-post test, a specific survey about the debate, a pre-post knowledge survey and the Student Evaluation of Educational Quality (SEEQ) survey. A methodology for the organization of the debate is proposed and the answers of the students to these feedback documents are analyzed. As it can be inferred from the different surveys, the debate has been an efficient learning tool to acquire knowledge and to develop sustainability and critical thinking competences.

Suggested Citation

  • Alfonso Rodriguez-Dono & Antoni Hernández-Fernández, 2021. "Fostering Sustainability and Critical Thinking through Debate—A Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-24, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:11:p:6397-:d:568795
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Gemma Tejedor & Fermín Sánchez-Carracedo & Jordi Segalàs, 2022. "Education for Sustainable Development in Higher Education-Introduction to a Special Issue," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-6, August.
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    3. Joanna Boehnert & Matt Sinclair & Emma Dewberry, 2022. "Sustainable and Responsible Design Education: Tensions in Transitions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-26, May.
    4. Patricia Mares-Nasarre & Víctor Martínez-Ibáñez & Amalia Sanz-Benlloch, 2023. "Analyzing Sustainability Awareness and Professional Ethics of Civil Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Students," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-16, April.

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