Invited speaker - 7th International Conference on Interdisciplinary SOCIAL SCIENCES 25-28 June 2012- Universidad Aba Oliva CEU, Barcelona (Spain)

1. moed@ingenio.upv.es
7th International Conference on Interdisciplinary SOCIAL SCIENCES
25-28 June 2012- Universidad Aba Oliva CEU, Barcelona (Spain)

2. Education
& action
Past
Turning point?
Fritjof Capra (1982)
FUTURE

3. Education
& action
FUTURE
Turning point?
Fritjof Capra (1982)
Past

4. OUTLINE
 THE GAP BETWEEN KNOWLEDGE AND ACTION
 SOCIAL INNOVATION :THE EMERGENCE OF A NEW PARADIGM
 SI & SUSTAINABILITY DISCOURSES
 FINAL REFLECTIONS (AND EDUCATION: QUO VADIS?)

5. EDUCATION:
THE GAP BETWEEN
KNOWLEDGE AND ACTION

6. “At the beginning of the last two decades of our century, we
find ourselves in a state of PROFOUND, WORLD-WIDE
CRISIS. It is a complex, MULTI-DIMENSIONAL CRISIS
whose facets touch EVERY ASPECT OF OUR LIVES. It is
a crisis of intellectual, moral, and spiritual dimensions; a
crisis of a scale and urgency UNPRECEDENTED in
recorded human history. For the first time we have to face
the very real threat of EXTINCTION OF THE HUMAN
RACE and of all life on this planet”
Fritjof Capra (1982). The Turning point.

7. Has there been a decline in commitment to
sustainability?
2012!
1992
1972
1962

8. Rio+20 provides an (other) enormous opportunity to
move forward to a new development paradigm …

9. The big contradiction
Economic growth and SD= positive correlation?

10. Humankind‟s path is a
continuous evolution of social
networks that build the “Web of
Life” in our planet, which seeks
self-knowledge and
understanding of their own
existence …

11.  … of our individual identity
 … of our awareness about our
existence on the planet
 … and building new concepts and
theoretical ‘constructs’ (dignity,
human rights, innovation,
sustainable development, ‘smart’
growth …)

12. DIFFERENT THEORIES = DIFFERENT NETS =
DIFFERENT REALITIES
“the net which we throw out in order to catch the world - to
rationalize, explain, and dominate it”
Karl Popper. (1959). The Logic of Scientific Discovery,
London: Hutchinson, p. 26.
Rather, our knowledge of reality is formed by the perception
of a real situation and by the interpretation, i.e. the image ...
(Thomas Theorem).

13. WORLD VIEWS IN FORMAL EDUCATION

14. Perceptions and images of the planetary crisis: an example
“Learning to perceive social, political, and economic
contradictions, and to take action against the oppressive elements
of that reality”
(Freire, 1974)
100
1992-2000
90
2000-2009
80
70
60
50
40
30 SD
20
10
0
0 1 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 3.1 3.2 3.3 4 4.1 4.2 4.2* 4.3
Biology and Geology Science Books, N= 69 de 1992-2000 and N = 54 de 2000-2009
http://lsg.ucy.ac.cy/esera/phd/abstract107.html

15. CRISIS AND SOCIAL DISCOURSES
„the profound change which the advent of 'fluid modernity'
has brought to the human condition‟
Bauman, Z. (2000). Liquid modernity.
• The multi-crisis (environment, economy, society, governance, ethics …)
• Liquid modernity, liquid times, liquid life … (Bauman, 2000, 2005)
• Living in an age of uncertainty and risk … (Beck, 2002)
• Don‟t worry, be happy (market without frontiers, consumer society,
planned obsolescence in industrial design, individualism …)
• An example: The shock of the rapidly rising phenomenon of the
graduate unemployment

16. CRISIS AND SOCIAL DISCOURSES
• „Smart‟ growth or … de-growth?
• Transition to a green economy
• The search (or emergence) of a new social order?
• Innovation: the magic potion
In education
• The cognitive revolution (we need to learn with our „all‟
brain, Robinson, 2005)
• ITCs and the increasing of non-formal and informal learning
(„invisible learning‟ - Cobo and Moravec, 2011); connectivism –
Downes …)

17. Dialogues: „The future we want‟
don’t worry: be happy
http://www.earthsummit2012.org/news/1064-book-launch-only-one-earth-the-long-
road-via-rio-to-sustainable-development

18. SOCIAL INNOVATION:
THE EMERGENCE OF A
NEW PARADIGM

21. hidden INNOVATION
21

22. F. Moulaert
D. Harrison B. Lévesque S. Conger
A. Hubert SOCIAL
G. Mulgan
innovation
J. Howaldt
A. Gurrutxaga
J. Echeverría
J. Hochgerner
22 A. Rodríguez & Alvarado

23. DEFINITION OF SI
„social innovations are innovations that are social in both
their ends and their means. Specifically, we define
social innovations as new ideas (products, services and
models) that simultaneously meet social needs (more
effectively than alternatives) and create new social
relationships or collaborations. They are innovations
that are not only good for society but
also enhance society‟s capacity to act‟
Hubert (2010, p. 7)

24. The SOCIAL
The technological
shape of shape of SOCIAL
TECHNOLOGICAL innovation
innovation
≠ ≠
Social IMPACT DIFFUSION
OF of innovation
INNOVACIÓN

25. What is What is viable
DESIRABLE in the
to users? MARKET? „TRADITIONAL‟
TECHNOLOGICAL
INNOVATION
What is What is the
POSSIBLE with most
TECHNOLOGY? PROFITABLE?
Which are the What
real REAL SOCIETY
NEEDS? demands?
SOCIAL INNOVATION Is
TECHNOLOGY What VALUES
useful or an produces?
enabler …?

26. SI &
SUSTAINABILITY
DISCOURSES

27. INNOVACIÓN
TECHNOLOGY
TECHNOLOGY
SI
SI DEVELOPMENT DEVELOPMENT
SI
SI
SI
SI
SI?

28. New words … new discourses
Innovation is at the core of the EU 2020 Strategy where
is presented as a key element to achieving
smart, sustainable and inclusive growth
„smart growth‟ is used to mean „developing an economy
based on knowledge and innovation‟
Transforming innovation for sustainability
(Leach et al., 2012).

29. FINAL REFLECTIONS
(AND EDUCATION:
QUO VADIS?)

30. CREATIVITY, ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND
INNOVATION COMPETENCES
New Blogs PBL
Long life
paradigms
PLAN TIC, e-; b-;
m-learning learning
Scholar
violence Skills and
competences
Curriculum
Projects
Active e-portfolio
learning
Assessment Webquest
EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

31. LEARNING
#
EDUCATION

33. Future?
Where is the
change?

35. Some final reflections
 SI is a multi-faceted concept which can be placed at the
intersection of spontaneous and rationally organized
movements at the micro, meso or macro levels of society
(bottom-up). Not all SI is bottom-up …
 Globally, the mainstream sustainability agenda is mostly about
eco-efficiency and consumer demand
 Greening actions and transformation of local consumption can
contribute to changes in local social order
 SI start at grassroots level around the world …

36. Education for sustainability AND innovation
Continuing with adjustments to adapt to the changed context, as has
frequently been the case in last years ?
We need ...
… openness to new ways of thinking about education
… incorporation of creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship
competences together with competences for „sustainability‟ („partial‟
solution)
… integration between formal, in-formal and non-formal education
(others places and environments? Embbedding in community?
… other kind of structures! (re-thinking the formal institutions of
education)

37. THE SOCIAL
IMAGINATION
Wright Mills, C. (1959)

38. References
ANDREW, C. and KLEIN, J. L. (2010). Social Innovation: What is it and why is it important to
understand it better. ET10003. CRISES.
BAUMAN, Z. (2000). Liquid modernity. Polity Press: USA.
BAUMAN, Z. (2005). Education in a liquid modernity. Review of Education, Pedagogy, and
Cultural Studies Vol. 27(4):303-317.
BECK, U. (2002). La sociedad del riesgo global. Madrid, Siglo XXI.
BROOKS, H. (1982). Social and technological innovation. In Lundstedt, Sven B. and
Colglazier, E. William, Jr. (Eds.), Managing innovation. Elmsford, NY: Pergamon Press, 9-10.
COBO ROMANÍ, C. and MORAVEC, J. W. (2011). Aprendizaje Invisible. Hacia una nueva
ecología de la educación. Col·lecció Transmedia XXI. Laboratori de Mitjans Interactius /
Publicacions I Edicions de la Universitat de Barcelona. Barcelona
DOWNES, S. http://www.downes.ca/
EDWARDS, M. (2005). Activist Science Education. The Encyclopedia of
Science, Technology, and Ethics. Editor-in-chief: Dr. Carl Mitcham. Associate Editors: L.
Arnhart, S. Bird, D. Johnson y R. Spier. Ed. MacMillan. USA
EDWARDS-SCHACHTER, M., MATTI, C. and ALCÁNTARA, E. (2012). Fostering quality of life
through social innovation: A living-lab methodology study-case (forthcoming)
EDWARDS M., GIL D., VILCHES A. and PRAIA J., (2004). La atención a la situación del mundo
en la educación científica. Enseñanza de las Ciencias Vol. 22 (1), pp. 47-
http://www.oei.es/catmexico/ensenanza_de_las_ciencias.pdf
EUROPEAN UNION/THE YOUNG FOUNDATION. (YF) (2010). Study on social innovation.
Report prepared by the Social Innovation eXchange (SIX) and the Young Foundation for the
Bureau of European Policy Advisors.

39. References
 HOCHGERNER, j. (2011). The Analysis of Social Innovations as Social Practice.
Published in Zentrum für Soziale Innovation (ed.). 2011. Pendeln zwischen
Wissenschaft und Praxis. ZSI-Beiträge zu sozialen Innovationen. Vienna and
Berlin: LIT. 173-189.
 HOWALDT, J. and SCHWARTZ, M. (2010). Social innovation: concepts, research
fields and international trends. Report of ESF, EU and Aachen University.
Dortmund, May 2010.
 HUBERT, A. (2010). Empowering people, driving change: Social innovation in the
European Union.
http://ec.europa.eu/bepa/pdf/publications_pdf/social_innovation.pdf
 NUSSBAUM, M. C. and SEN, A. K. (Eds.). (1993). The Quality of life. Oxford
University Press.
 POLANYI, K. (2001). The great transformation. Boston: Beacon Press.
 ROBINSON, K. (2005). The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes
Everything. London: Penguin Books.
 VAN DEN HOVE, S.; MCGLADE, J.; MOTTET, p. and DEPLEDGE, M. H. (2012).
The innovation Union: a perfect means to confused ends? Environmental Science
& Policy Vol. 16:73-80.
 WAPNER, P. (2011). Civil Society and the Emergent Green Economy. Review of
Policy Research, Vol. 28(5):525-530.
 WRIGHT MILLS, c. (1959), The Sociological Imagination, 'The Promise', Chapter
1. http://members.ozemail.com.au/~johnthorpe64/Mills.html