Sustainability in project-based learning: Project themes and self-perceived competencies

Project-based learning can be a suitable arena in which to integrate sustainability. In this work, we study what effect choosing a project theme related to sustainability has on the students’ own assessment of integration of sustainability aspects in their projects, and their development of the normative, critical thinking, and self-awareness competencies from UNESCO’s key competencies for sustainability. It is found that while having sustainability-related project themes does have some effect, the effect is limited compared to the development of other competencies in the course.