Educating for Sustainability and Altruism Through Project-Based Learning: A Conceptual Framework 

• In Event: Diverse Perspectives in Research on Moral Development and Education

Abstract

This conceptual paper introduces a framework for education that centers students’ altruistic sustainability as a main purpose of schooling. Altruistic sustainability focuses on learners' moral development and active contribution toward a sustainable and ethical civilization. This framework is composed of a synthesis of several literature streams: education for sustainable development, global citizenship education, social-emotional learning, and project-based learning, to form Sustainability and Altruism Through Project-Based Learning (SAPBL). Cumulatively, these literature streams converge around the need for focusing on moral development as a prosocial prerequisite on which transformative educational practices can be built. We conclude that cultivation of an altruistic self with a “global moral identity” is necessary for creating a sustainable civilization and offer insights from an SAPBL pilot project.

Authors

• Monica Blaisdell, Drexel University
  Presenting Author

• Sinead Meehan, Drexel University
  Presenting Author

• Noah Harrington
  Presenting Author

• Michael J. Haslip, Drexel University
  Presenting Author

• Amanda Clark, Early Childhood Project Based Learning
  Non-Presenting Author