Critically Untrash: Upcycle Challenge as Self-reflective Practice for Sustainability
Participation requirements
The course is designed to ensure balanced participation among educators, learners, and external stakeholders. With 30 students and 5 teachers, the structure encourages collaboration and equitable contributions. Acceptance criteria will prioritize students’ declared curiosity on sustainable behaviour, welcoming a diverse group that enhances the learning experience and aligns with EELISA's goal of fostering community engagement.
Challenge task
The workshop employs Challenge-Based Learning (CBL) as its core teaching method. Participants will engage in the Upcycle Challenge through three phases: Engage, where they identify sustainability issues and sustainable behaviours; Investigate, where they analyse discarded materials; and Act, where they prototype new products. This experiential learning fosters engagement, motivation, and critical thinking, making the challenges both exciting and relevant to the Circular EELISA community. The hands-on upcycling activities allow students to apply their knowledge practically, reinforcing their understanding of sustainability principles. By encouraging students to present their findings and redesign ideas to the group, the activity facilitates peer learning and collective act. In addition to preventing waste, upcycling is a multifaceted sustainable behaviour as it supports people to produce what they need with minimal materials. In the implementation of upcycling, it is possible to draw inspiration from many different disciplines and to incorporate practices common to these disciplines into the process. As proposed in the activity plan, it is possible for participants to learn from trainers and peers through intensive interaction.