Students’ Learning on Sustainable Development Goals through Interactive Lectures and Fieldwork in Rural Communities: Grounded Theory Approach
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Setting and Participants
2.2. Educational Course of SDGs
2.3. Measurements
2.4. Analysis
2.5. Ethical Consideration
3. Results
3.1. The Demographic Data
3.2. Change in Understanding Communities
3.2.1. Deepened Understanding of Communities
“Previously, I thought that communities might be outdated and old; however, now, through these lectures, I could understand that my mindset was very narrow and limited. The concept of ‘communities’ is broad, and we can do more things in communities to enrich cultures and create new values in the world by using present resources.”
“I regret my previous ideas regarding communities. My understanding regarding communities and societies was limited. I thought that communities were rural; now, the concepts of communities should be considered without the limitation of locations worldwide. As such, rural communities have a lot of possibilities, and I may create new values in communities, which can lead to SDGs.”
3.2.2. Familiarity of Communities
“Each practitioner in rural communities went into communities voluntarily and learnt about their communities in-depth. I was very impressed about their activities and felt the familiarity to my community. I was motivated to know my community better than I do now to find the advantage of my community.”
“My previous experience was not good in the rural community; young people go out from the community and only older people try to sustain the community. However, through this course, I could understand that each community has appealing points to younger and older people. In my community, I may be able to find the points to sustain the community with various young people.”
3.2.3. Variable Thoughts on Issues of Communities
“Different presenters take different approaches for the sustainability of communities. Each of them had strong ideas to change the communities and make people there happy. They tried to make themselves happier than now; this attitude is very impressive. I hope to be like them. Their new and different ideas could change the rural community’s issues gradually.”
“At first, I doubted the community sustainability because a lot of rural communities lose young generations’ power and decline; however, now, various practitioners presented their activities. Although each activity is challenging for them, they made effort from new ideas of considering communities and changed their situations. I got interested in their thoughts different from me and I wanted to learn more about SDGs.”
3.3. Possibility of the Sustainability of Communities
3.3.1. Considering the Sustainability of Communities
“Through this course, I could realize that the community could change in various ways for sustainability. The practitioners stated that the activities in communities could be slow progress, but the persistent activities could change the situations, leading to sustainability. I believe it.”
“Sustainability might be challenging, but as the practitioners stated, sustainability has to be accomplished for rural societies to continue our lives. Japanese society is aging and shrinking, but there are various changes by changing the mindsets. There are various needs for the sustainability of rural community, so we should find the needs effectively and appeal to that part to drive the sustainability.”
3.3.2. Sustainability from a First-Person Standpoint
“The discussion with various people in this course could motivate me to consider again deeply my rural community. My city is located far from the main city of this prefecture. My city has the same issues with other rural communities, such as aging and population shrinking. By listening to the ideas and activities of others in their communities, I could visualize what I can do in my communities.”
“In the beginning of this course, I did not concentrate on the topics of the course, but by listening to other participants and practitioners and discussing with them, I realized that they have the same consciousness about the issues in rural communities. After that, I began to consider each topic in this course as if I was solving the issue in its real context. This attitude could drive my learning of SDGs.”
3.3.3. Reorganizing Values of Community, Culture, and Traditions
“Rural communities have their own culture to do things. Sometimes, new activities in communities could impinge on indigenous tradition and culture; this invasion could inhibit new activity progressions.”
“Rural culture and tradition could be a driver of the solutions for the issues in rural communities. So, as a practitioner, I should know more about culture and tradition in rural communities for the activities for the sustainability of communities.”
3.3.4. Collaboration for Sustainability
“I have previously learnt about the importance of collaboration in jobs; however, I did not understand its usefulness in real scenarios. Most things could be done by myself. In this course, I understood that the sustainability of communities could not be accomplished without various collaborations. For new activities in rural communities, I need various supports from different specialties that should be involved in activities of rural culture and traditions.”
“The lack of resources could be an issue in rural communities. In activities in rural communities, I have to understand what kinds of resources there are in rural communities and make efforts to connect me with the resources proactively. For building the connection, I need the skills to communicate with various people and acquire the trust from the people there.”
3.4. Competency for Sustainable Development Goals
3.4.1. Advancement through Collaboration
“Various practitioners in rural communities struggled to get trust and reputation to progress their activities. In the process, they acquired the skills and attitudes to collaborate with people there and understood the communities in depth. The difference between people may have impinged on the collaboration. However, one person may not be able to accomplish community activities, but the collaboration could make those possible.”
“I have to establish a good relationship with people from rural communities. For this relationship, I understand that I need to act continuously in one place to gain their trust. Continuous collaboration can positively change the situation of collaboration, leading to effective outcomes regarding community activities.”
3.4.2. Importance of Inclusive Societies
“The important component was the inclusion of different categories of people in rural communities. The cooperation of various peoples could drive activities in communities. Different people have different perspectives to improve the quality of activities. Although the inclusion of various people can be difficult in some situations based on previous relationships, I should effectively connect with them for driving activities in communities.”
“Conflict may not be avoidable in inclusive societies; however, when various people can be connected, community activity could be driving effectively with various corporation. I want to acquire the knowledge and skills to facilitate the collaboration among various people from different contexts.”
3.4.3. Revitalization of Community Respect for Culture and Tradition
“I was impressed with the idea of respecting culture and traditions in rural communities in the activities of the practitioners. I was anxious about breaking traditions and culture in rural communities by new activities. Respecting rural traditions can drive new activities and collect more collaborators in rural communities. I learnt that learning traditions and culture there is vital for the activities for sustainability of rural communities.”
“Rural traditions have a lot of appealing points. The important thing is how to appeal to societies. Through the learning in this course, I understand that there are various ways to promote rural traditions. Rural culture and traditions have a lot of appealing activities and products such as interesting festivals, traditional crafts, and beautiful nature. Through respecting culture and traditions and collaboration new and traditional things in rural communities, the communities could be revitalized for the sustainability.”
3.4.4. Reconsidering Existing Way of Thinking
“I realized that we should consider the present situations in rural communities from different perspectives. The present way of thinking might impinge on progression of rural communities. I learnt in this course that I was strongly affected by the existing ideas.”
“I understand that I should learn more and more about new fields and specialties. Focusing on one specialty is of course, important; however, practitioners for the sustainability of rural communities need a wide range of knowledge of communities and societies based on established knowledge and skills. I was motivated to learn more about various specialties in depth.”
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Theme | Concepts |
---|---|
Change in understanding communities | Deepening the understanding of communities |
Familiarity of communities | |
Variable thoughts on issues of communities | |
Possibility of the sustainability of communities | Considering sustainability of communities |
Sustainability from a first-person standpoint | |
Reorganizing values of community culture and traditions | |
Collaboration for sustainability | |
Competency for sustainable development goals | Advancement through collaboration |
Importance of inclusive societies | |
Revitalization of communities respecting culture and traditions | |
Reconsidering existing way of thinking |
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Ohta, R.; Yata, A.; Sano, C. Students’ Learning on Sustainable Development Goals through Interactive Lectures and Fieldwork in Rural Communities: Grounded Theory Approach. Sustainability 2022, 14, 8678. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14148678
Ohta R, Yata A, Sano C. Students’ Learning on Sustainable Development Goals through Interactive Lectures and Fieldwork in Rural Communities: Grounded Theory Approach. Sustainability. 2022; 14(14):8678. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14148678
Chicago/Turabian StyleOhta, Ryuichi, Akiko Yata, and Chiaki Sano. 2022. "Students’ Learning on Sustainable Development Goals through Interactive Lectures and Fieldwork in Rural Communities: Grounded Theory Approach" Sustainability 14, no. 14: 8678. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14148678