Systematizing Experiential Learning for Sustainability Transitions - a framework for change-initiators

Abstract

To achieve sustainability transitions, people need to learn how they can change their unsustainable ways of living. This learning is not merely about accumulating knowledge and knowing how they should act sustainable, rather, it is about to learn and experience how it feels to act more sustainable, so one can live and embody that knowledge. Therefore, learning for sustainability transitions should be experiential rather than cognitive. In this research, experiential learning is embedded in a learning system and perceived as the process of learning from experience through reflection. For change-initiators to facilitate such learning processes, to help people changing their unsustainable practices, this research sought to explore how experiential learning can be systematically organized. This has been done by conducting a case-study of a learning system in practice: the Kas als Energiebron innovation program. This program is an extensive learning program for a more sustainable future of the greenhouse horticulture industry. The research findings resulted in a framework for change-initiators to induce experiential learning to foster sustainability transitions.