By: Carmen Valor (Universidad Pontificia Comillas)

Session type: Multiple sessions, Undergraduate/Graduate level, Small/Medium/Large size

Topics:

• Reflexivity exercise

• Experienced-based learning

• Personal consumption

• Critical thinking

 

Introduction to the teaching example:

The purpose of this activity is to first help students in cultivating their dissertation-writing skills, critical reading, and get involved with sources. Also, it aims at increasing their understanding of the impact of lifestyle choices and decisions and the reasons why sustainable consumption habits are difficult to incorporate into current systems.

 

The activity is intended for students who are writing their dissertations on sustainable consumption. At the beginning of the semester, they have a meeting with their supervisor to create a reading list. They decide when they will complete their "21 days" journal. Each student makes an effort to be (more) sustainable during this time, and using autoethnography and introspection as research methods, they each keep a journal detailing their activities, feelings, coping strategies, and environment. After the 21-day period has gone, they assess their entries and compile a comprehensive report that references the academic literature.