| Abstract [eng] |
1. Introduction. In the face of today’s global challenges, the practice and theory of contemporary education inevitably focuses on developing the competences that help individuals to find meaningfulness in their societal and professional life, to understand the impact of local actions on global processes and to enable them to solve real-life problems. In this sense, education plays a transformational role, and its content must address relevant social development issues and foster values of cooperation, solidarity, equality, and inclusiveness. Individuals must learn how to cope with unpredictable and unknown future situations [1,2]. Consequently, the traditional ways of acting cannot guarantee that we will choose the correct conduct [3]. In the context of global challenges, we are expected to develop abilities in order to estimate and value risks, danger and uncertainty, to analyze complex systems, to gauge the consequences of actions and to find solutions that promote sustainable changes. This approach to competence development is consistent with the concept of education for sustainable development (ESD) which UNESCO proposed as a strategy for holistic and transformational education that aims to empower learners to make responsible decisions, taking into account their current and future social, cultural, economic and environmental impacts, and to practice sustainable lifestyles [4]. This has now been recognized as a powerful educational paradigm that penetrates the practice of educational institutions at all levels. Accordingly, researchers are urged to explore and indicate effective pedagogical concepts that will help develop the UN’s 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) [5]. The studies on achieving the learning outcomes of ESD support learner-centered teaching, experiential learning, and interdisciplinary and collaborative decision-making based on inquiry, dialogue, the active exchange of learners’ practical experiences and reflection. Experts argue that ESD requires partnership and cooperation with other stakeholders to address the problems of the real world and contribute to sustainable development [6]. Schul [7] and Pavan and Santini [8] reported that learning about sustainability issues and solving real societal challenges are strongly tied to the promise of cooperative learning (CL) and when applying its principles social relationships can be established, along with personal involvement and individual responsibility. CL is a pedagogical practice theoretically supported by the cognitive learning and social interdependence theories and the works of Koffke, Lewin and Deutsch [9]. CL has been studied for the last three decades and evidence of its success in nurturing social interdependence, commitment to the values of fairness, social responsibility, and mutual trust among learners [10–12] has been obtained. Research on CL also emphasizes that CL could be designed to analyze social problems such as those of diversity (racism, sexism, inclusion of people/persons with disabilities), antisocial behavior, low self-esteem, alienation, and loneliness; and sustainability issues [13–15] such as changes in ecosystems and climate, sustainable consumption, and production, etc. [...]. |
