Abstract:

This paper reports on a study entitled Reorienting University Curricula to Address Sustainability (RUCAS), carried out in collaboration with a Tempus-European Commission funded project on the issue of raising sustainability awareness in university students. RUCAS aims at involving university students in sustainability issues through introducing such issues into regular course curricula. The study presented in this paper is the final product of one of the work packages required by RUCAS. It involved second-year university students taking a course in rhetoric and argumentation as a general education requirement over a period of one semester. The first part of the paper analyzes students’ background, interests, linguistic proficiency, and major. Secondly, it describes a specific group “good practice” assignment on a sustainability issue of the students’ own choosing, to address Grade 6 children. This is followed by reflections from the 6th graders, their teachers, the school administrators and the university students themselves. Finally, the paper concludes with the implications of carrying out such activities and recommendations for further applications of good practice in raising awareness of sustainability in university students and their commitment to the community around them.

Keywords:

Curriculum, Pedagogy, Community Service, Sustainability.