Sustainable Lifestyle and Learning: Contributions

• In Event: Roundtable Session 6
  In Refereed Roundtable Session: Citizenship education: Learning for Sustainable, Democratic, and Peaceful Societies

Proposal

In recent decades, humanity is characterized by rapid and continuous changes that generate, among other things, insecurity and uncertainty. The search for answers to humanity's great questions unleash different processes that, when converging, foster the development of a new understanding of the world and its relationships, ultimately becoming a reference for humankind. A shift in focus is evident, from a rationalist/market-driven approach to one that prioritizes relationships and their ecological implications, where life and the "common home" are central. In this context, it is teachers who, with their academic knowledge, articulated with their values, beliefs, their way of belonging to the world, and their life experiences, guide the learning process and with them, comes the urgency to reassess planetary sustainability practices.
It is from this perspective that the researcher, by analyzing and synthesizing published works on a given subject, contributes to the theoretical foundation and also to situates the study within the academic field. Making use of two complementary data sources: the State of Knowledge (SoK), based on the Brazilian Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations, and Bibliometrics (Bibliometrix), using the Scopus Web of Science database.
In developing the State of Knowledge (SoK), the research objective, database, and keywords (descriptors) were established for the search. This process was delimited by the type of publications considered, consulting the Brazilian Institute of Information in Science and Technology (IBICT) for publications in the Brazilian Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (BDLTD). The descriptors were defined according to the research theme and study objectives. In the search, the descriptor led to the identification of titles, keywords, abstracts, year, and author.
The investigative methodology was developed in four consecutive and interdependent stages with a defined number of texts: Annotated Bibliography 8 texts; Systematized Bibliography 6 texts (3 dissertations and 3 doctoral theses); Categorized Bibliography is the same 6 texts expanded with methodology and results and; Proposal Bibliography.
Following these proposed stages, the keyword related to the research theme is "Estilo de vida sustentável," defined as the descriptor. The unfiltered search yielded 112 publications. When enclosed in quotation marks to specify it as a compound term "Estilo de vida sustentável," the result was 107 publications. Applying a time filter from 2015, when the term emerged, to 2023 reduced the results to 70 publications. Finally, adding the term "learning" - understood as the subject’s action in constructing knowledge through interaction with the physical and social environment, influenced by both individual and environmental conditions (Darsie, 1999, apud Neves & Damiani, 2006) - resulted in 14 publications.
In the development of this research and relating to the field of Human Sciences: Education, it can be observed that the 6 selected texts (3 theses and 3 dissertations) were distributed across the following research areas: Psychology 1, Agricultural Sciences 1, Public Health 1, Human Sciences: Education 1, Home Economics 1, and Agricultural Engineering 1. This distribution demonstrates that the studied theme is present in academia but with limited specificity in Education.
Using Bibliometrix - based on R 4.3.1 application and the Scopus Web of Science database - the term "Estilo de vida sustentável" was translated to "sustainable lifestyle," found in 825 texts, of which 798 were in English. Applying various filters - publication frequency, year from 2015 onward, relevant themes, and author affiliations - 96 titles were analyzed. Using Zipf’s Law for information clustering, the specific theme "sustainable lifestyle" emerged.
Subsequently, all terms were mapped onto a thematic matrix with four quadrants: Core Themes (key themes), Motor Themes (driving themes), Basic Themes (fundamental themes), and Emerging or Declining Themes. From the two quadrants with the highest term frequency (Key Themes and Motor Themes), 14 texts were identified containing the most recurrent terms: Motor Theme (sustainable lifestyle, behavior change) and Key Themes (ecological habitus, community practice, pro-environmental behavior). The texts were categorized respectively by title, authors, publish year and word frequency and was categorized by its source terms: sustainable - sustainability - sustainable lifestyles in 5 published texts in 2018 to 2023 and education was found in 2 texts published in 2015 and 2017.
The mapping of academic productions in Brazil and abroad, using the descriptor "sustainable lifestyle + learning" - as defined in the State of Knowledge and Zipf’s Law via Bibliometrix application - classified by its incidence demonstrates the quantity and diversity of approaches to this theme in schools. There are attempts to deepen and broaden the understanding related to "sustainable lifestyle + learning," which permeates pedagogical action, from interdisciplinary projects to the engagement and learning of school and local communities, fostering individual and collective behavioral change, often utilizing technological resources.
Regarding teacher training, there is a noticeable absence of this approach, highlighting the challenge of identifying elements that contribute in strengthening the relationships between humans, society, and nature. This understanding is crucial for fostering sustainable practices that do not compromise future generations.

Authors

• Claudia Chesini, Universidade Católica de Brasília

• Renato Brito, Catholic University of Brasilia