Multidisciplinary experience in sustainability education

strategies for training multipliers

Abstract

Environmental and climate sustainability requires an innovative and interdisciplinary educational approach to train professionals capable of addressing global challenges. This paper presents a report on the teaching experience of offering the UFF's Minor in Global Challenges subjects “Sustainability and Strategic Education” and “Sustainable Heritage and Multidisciplinary Training” to undergraduate and graduate students from various fields, including social sciences, neuroscience, architecture, economics, geography, international relations, physics, among others. The pedagogical approach adopts an active methodology based on integrating teaching, research, and extension, fostering reflections on topics such as circular economy, climate change, Anthropocene impacts, and the preservation of cultural and natural heritage. Furthermore, the importance of training future multipliers was discussed, exploring challenges and solutions for implementing sustainable actions in different contexts. During the course, the students participated in an extension activity based on a methodology applied in an international paper published in the journal Sustainability Science in 2022. The objective was to present and discuss the 17 United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with individuals from civil society, aiming to introduce the SDGs to the interviewees and gather their perceptions regarding the importance of each SDG, ultimately producing a ranking for discussion in the classroom. The results demonstrate that a multidisciplinary approach fosters a broad and critical understanding of sustainability, encouraging the formation of citizens engaged in building a sustainable future.