| Summary: | A novel pedagogy termed Transformative Sustainability Learning (TSL) is a
simple, fundamental and useful outcome of three recent experimental learning
collaborations through the University of British Columbia (UBC). These case
studies include the first two years of a transdisciplinary UBC Earth and Ocean
Sciences collaborative initiative, The Science and Practice of Sustainability; and
one Community Service Learning program coordinated through the UBC Learning
Exchange, coined Edibility and Awareness. This action research, largely conducted
at the on-campus UBC Farm, constituted cyclical processes of innovation,
implementation and reflection. These iterative processes formed the basis for four
primary outcomes. First, the creation of TSL as a useful model for place-based,
learner-centred university education for sustainability. Second, the development
of Head, Hands and Heart, a simple organizing principle for working groups and
individuals to engage in TSL by integrating cognitive learning activities (e.g.
ecological-footprinting), practical skill sharing and enactment (including physical
labour), and enablement of passion and values to be translated into goals and
behaviour. Third, the development of a cognitive landscape for understanding TSL
amongst related learning models clarifies its position as a valuable bridge amongst
sustainability pedagogies that share characteristics of being inter/transdisciplinary,
practical and/or place-based. Fourth, the explicit TSL model presented here may
better enable transformations to sustainability through more effective planning,
implementation and evaluation of collaborative sustainability pedagogies. In sum,
TSL, at UBC and beyond, can clarify, elevate and further unify sustainability-oriented
pedagogies while strengthening their transformative potential. === Forestry, Faculty of === Graduate
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