Abstract:

Concerns about the sustainability of the planet have, in recent decades, stimulated several initiatives aimed at reducing environmental degradation. Therefore, sustainable development emerges as one of the biggest challenges for the most different organizations. In this sense, and due to the important role that Higher Education Institutions play in the training of individuals, specialists have been pointing out their responsibility in building a more environmentally sustainable future.

To fully develop students and prepare them for the challenges of sustainability, it is critical to understand the importance of critical thinking and creativity. These two skills are essential for students to learn and to implement their life projects. However, creativity and critical thinking are not innate characteristics, but can be stimulated in the classroom through intentional activities.

The Challenge Based Learning (CBL) framework, by expressing a philosophical approach to planning, problem solving and learning, is a pedagogical approach that provides an efficient and effective framework for learning while solving real-world challenges. In this sense, the objective of this study is twofold: to describe this pedagogical approach in the sports management curriculum and assess its effectiveness in promoting sustainability and creativity.

The CBL took place within the scope of the 1st year course on creativity and critical thinking, of the sport management course. Students were challenged to compete in the 1st Creative Ideas Contest "Creative and Sustainable Sports Management". Applications must be made in teams’ of 4/5 students. Each application should include identification of the team members and video with the presentation of the idea: name of the idea; objective of the idea (product, service or task); main points of the idea (why, how, what?).

The evaluation of candidate ideas was carried out according to the criteria: Adequacy between the idea and the needs of the market/institution, Creativity and Innovation.

In the 1st phase of the contest, the Jury was composed of all the students of the course. Each student should vote on two videos. In the 2nd phase of the competition, the Jury was composed of 3 elements: 2 professors and a guest from the professional sector.

Sample was composed of 25 male students, aged between 18 and 27 years old.

The evaluation of the results was carried out based on two self-report measures, applied before and after the CBL: Global Sustainability Involvement Inventory: assesses the degree of involvement of individuals in global sustainability issues and; Barriers to Personal Creativity Inventory: focuses on different barriers that make it difficult for individuals to express their creative potential.

Results showed that CBL only had a positive impact on two dimensions of sustainability: behavioral engagement, that is, pro-sustainability actions/behaviours, and with school support and global sustainability, and school involvement, that is, students' perception of the level of support for engagement with sustainability in the academic context.

These results are discussed in light of the literature on the nature and effectiveness of CBL. Implications of the study for the development of the pedagogical approach are discussed, as well as the implications for the development of future studies on the effectiveness of CBL.

Keywords:

Challenge-based Learning, Sustainability, Creativity.