Title: Beyond critical thinking: student learning through critical action in an undergraduate environmental economics course

Authors: Calvin Blackwell; Gordon E. Dehler

Addresses: Department of Economics, College of Charleston, 66 George Street, Charleston, SC 29424, USA ' Department of Management & Entrepreneurship, College of Charleston, 66 George Street, Charleston, SC 29424, USA

Abstract: We describe a project introduced in an environmental economics course that engaged students in critical action. Critical action takes students beyond critical thinking, teaching them to think critically in analysing classroom material and to frame action critically with the intention of fostering social change. In this application, students were asked to analyse and question the neoclassical rational actor model, and then design a project to simultaneously test this model and undertake a socially beneficial activity. The students' reactions to the project are presented and analysed.

Keywords: critical thinking; critical action; environmental economics; economics education; student learning; higher education.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPEE.2014.062388

International Journal of Pluralism and Economics Education, 2014 Vol.5 No.1, pp.91 - 106

Published online: 05 Jul 2014 *

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