Teaching Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach

Yosef Jabareen

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DOI: 10.4236/ce.2011.24055                

Abstract

Sustainable development is multidisciplinary concept in its nature and is covered by various bodies of sciences. Yet, its literature is fragmented and each specific discipline of knowledge analyzes it and teaches it from its narrow perspective. Therefore, this paper suggests a new conceptual framework for teaching sustainability that assumes the multidisciplinary nature of sustainability. This framework is consists of ten concepts, a distinctive theme, and each one represents a specific domain or field that is related to sustainability. The themes represent the ethical, social, economic, ecological, spatial, design, and political aspects of sustainability. The ten conceptsare intertwined and interconnected and together they construct the holistic scene of understanding and teaching sustainability. These concepts are very useful for teaching sustainability. Moreover, each concept could be in-depth discussed individually in a specific class session. Each discipline could take advantage of this framework and may emphasize various aspects accordingly.

Keywords

Sustainable Development, Pedagogy, Teaching, Theory, Holistic

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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