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Keywords Learning styles, Sustainable development, Analytical methods
Abstract Deep Learning is a key strategy by which students extract meaning and understanding from course materials and experiences. Because of the range and interconnectedness of environmental, social and economic issues, and the importance of interdisciplinary thinking and holistic insight, deep learning is particularly relevant in the context of education for sustainability. However, deep learning can be inhibited if the existing interests or backgrounds of students have a strong disciplinary focus. This paper reviews factors that influence deep learning and discusses some ways in which environmental educators can encourage students to use deep learning strategies. Such strategies are seen to be necessary to maximise the benefits from environmental courses and are likely to foster creative interdisciplinary approaches to sustainability beyond the institution
Introduction: interdisciplinary approaches
It is frequently stated that systems thinking and an interdisciplinary approach are essential themes of sustainable development and sustainability education (e.g. Cartese, 1992; President's Council on Sustainable Development (PCSD), 1994; Buckingham-Hatfield, 1996). Fulfilling this requirement will involve making connections between socio-politics, socio-economics and biophysics and something of a paradigm shift away from traditional disciplines towards more holistic ways of thinking. However, calls for an interdisciplinary approach may be largely rhetorical if new ways are not found to transcend conventional disciplinary structures and processes. There is a tendency for practitioners and policy-makers to retreat back to the single discipline, thus failing to capture the holistic nature of problems and their solutions (Clark et al., 1995). Although the value of sustainability is broadly acknowledged within the university community, interdisciplinary activities tend to be seen as secondary to discipline-based approaches (Cartese, 1992; Dyer, 1997) and there is a need to address perceived barriers among university officials that the topic of sustainability is too broad and incompatible with existing disciplinary "boxes" (Filho, 2000).
These concerns raise questions about the need for innovative educational approaches that facilitate real cross-disciplinary thinking. For example, is there scope for a new academic "discipline" for trans-disciplinary studies to consider effective ways to translate, reconcile and integrate disparate discourses, traditions and methodologies? As an illustration of the differing approaches than can be exhibited even by related (in this case biophysical) disciplines, river science provides a good example (Thoms, 2001). There has been...