Educating for sustainable development through interdisciplinarity: contributions of experiential learning in management education

Abstract

Ceasing the reproduction of current social, environmental and economic problems requires a transformation of the way of approaching education and life, which highlights the importance of Education for Sustainability (EfS). When analyzing the training of management professionals, the importance of EfS becomes even higher, considering the impacts of their decisions on the environment and society. Thus, for EfS objectives to be achieved, new pedagogical proposals are needed, in this way EfS finds opportunities in constructivist epistemology learning approaches, such as Experiential Learning (EL). Thus, this research aims to analyze the contributory capacity of Experiential Learning for EfS in an interdisciplinary initiative developed in management education. Data were raised about an interdisciplinary initiative, composed of two disciplines (Interdisciplinary Project 1 and 2) and its relationship with EL, through interviews and the application of a questionnaire. The results indicate that by adopting EL as a background for the development of the initiative, it is possible to achieve the results sought by EfS. It can contribute to student development regarding critical thinking, systemic vision, future perspective, among others.