Cultivating Sustainable Lifestyles

15-17 October 2004

Teaching responsibility

Victoria W. Thoresen

The Consumer Citizenship Network, Project Manager, University College of Hedmark, Norway

A labyrinth of choices

Approaches to responsibility

Biological determinants

Social expectations

Moral imperatives

The present labyrinth

Soul sicknessCooperationComplexity

MobilityGlobalization and commercial influence

New patterns of cognitive understanding and moral developmentNew forms of citizenship

Alternative visions of the future

Teaching responsibility

Motivation

Skills

Goals

Motivation

fundamental pessimism

positive responses to scientific and spiritual knowledge

Skills

communication skills

decision making skills

problem solving skills

creativity

change management skills

Cooperative learningTeam learning

Service learningValue clarification

Active value choiceProblem based learning

Case studiesExperimental learning

Role playing, simulationsProject work

Action-researchCampaigns

DebatesBiographiesStory telling

Methods

-Help students discover the underlying principles and values connected to issues and dilemmas

-Reflect on one's own experiences

-Personalize as well as theoretize issues

-Identify specific ways of posing a problem

-Help students acquire an understanding of systems and processes

-Develop the capacity in students to listen as well as to express one’s own ideas

and map alternative solutions

-Challenge the students’ prejudices

-Use social commentary as learning material

-Use of ICT (Information and Communication Technology)

Content suggestions

Education for sustainable development

Lifestyles in the past and presentMaking choices

Managing resources Solving problems

Contributing to the future

“nobility becomes

the accent of life…”