Learning on your Feet - Using Active Learning Pedagogical Approaches to Support the Entrepreneurial Mindsets Needed to Enact Socio-Cultural Change for a More Sustainable World

Questions we care about: Human-induced climate change is the most pervasive threat that we have ever experienced. How we teach, learn and think in the anthropogenic era can lead to opening and shaping mindsets
and transformative actions resulting in positive impact on our society, the environment and economy. Traditional teaching and learning approaches, where the learner is a passive recipient of information, are no longer effective
in a fragmented world where collaboration, creativity, leading and mobilising others and thinking across systems is necessary.

The focus of higher education is increasingly on developing entrepreneurial mindsets of our students as global citizens and future decision-makers, so they are ready to solve complex trans/inter-disciplinary, organisational
and societal challenges resulting from climate change, food insecurity and biodiversity loss. The main question that we address is: How can active learning pedagogies be used to support and nurture the complementary
competences set out in the EntreComp and GreenComp frameworks?

Approach: We will share insights on the use of innovative pedagogical practices designed as transformative learning experiences for students in the form of three case studies which have been implemented in our university: (i) Climate Change and SDG-themed Escape Room Challenges (Rawe et al., 2024), (ii) Stepping into the Doughnut workshop, based on Raworth’s (2018) ‘Doughnut Economics’ framework, and (iii) Climate Fresk workshop, a collaborative workshop on climate science. All three require students to step away from the
traditional classroom and engage in 'physically interactive learning’ (Hrach, 2021).

Results: We reflect on our experiences of designing and facilitating these three pedagogical approaches, as well as the way that they can enhance learners’ competencies using the Entrecomp and Greencomp frameworks.

Implications: We showcase the value of active-based teaching and learning approaches. Students’ success and evidence of transformative learning impacted on us, as educators and academic activists, positively too and
motivated us further to continuously innovate. Other entrepreneurial educators from business and non-business disciplines will gain knowledge and confidence in how to design and deliver their own engaging learning experiences aligned with supporting the development of many of the competences set out in the EntreComp and GreenComp frameworks. Ultimately, this approach empowers learners, shaping them into informed and skilled global citizens capable of addressing complex sustainability challenges.

Value/Originality: As educators, we can endeavour to support students in increasing their levels of sustainability literacy and in expanding their awareness of, and emotional response to, the existential crisis facing humanity due
to climate change and the associated loss of biodiversity. Equally, and particularly in the context of increasing eco-anxiety among children and adults, (Wals et al., 2022) educators can also empower students to develop action-based and solutions-oriented entrepreneurial mindsets with which to grapple with this challenging reality. Through our exploration of active-based pedagogies for transformative learning we aim to showcase how entrepreneurial competences and mindsets can be nurtured with the intension to create meaningful social and cultural change and action-based solutions for a more sustainable future.