By: Sylvia Lorek (University of Applied Science Münster)

Session type: Single session, Undergraduate/Graduate level, Small/Medium size

Topics:

• Policy / Governance

• Social change

• Visualization

 

Introduction to the teaching example:

During the lecture, students learn what it takes to induce change in certain domains of consumption by differentiating marginal and significant steps toward sustainable consumption. 

 

Students pair up to discuss what hard and soft policy initiatives they believe are most useful for promoting sustainable consumption in a particular area, for instance, the food sector. Along with choosing the appropriate measures, they must also assign them a relative scale of importance. They create a pizza with variously sized pieces and give it a name to help them understand their choices. Students are given a single white page that includes a dish and a menu. The pages need to be big enough (A3, double letter size). Additionally, pre-cut slices in various sizes in yellow and green are given to the students (or in alternative colors). The color coding helps to distinguish between instruments with more of a policy focus in terms of regulation and economics (green) or informative and voluntary instruments (yellow). The size of the slice reveals how much weight the students assigned to the regulation. They put together their pizza using these items. Then, all of the pizzas are displayed in front of the entire class, and the decisions are justified. Last but not least, students must select the pizza on the menu that they feel to be the most appetizing, which means the most persuasive.