Developing Sustainability Competences Through Interdisciplinary Challenge-Based Learning: A GreenComp-Based Pre–Post Evaluation of a Design Thinking Module

Abstract

Higher education is increasingly expected to cultivate the sustainability competences described by the European GreenComp framework, yet empirical evidence linking specific pedagogies to competence-specific change remains limited. This study examined whether participation in “Sibiu Impact Makers” (SIM), an interdisciplinary, Design Thinking-based challenge module, was associated with changes in students’ self-reported GreenComp sustainability competences and LifeComp transversal competences. Using a one-group pre-test/post-test design, 113 undergraduates at Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu (Romania) completed a 45-item questionnaire operationalising GreenComp and the complementary LifeComp framework at the beginning and end of the semester; responses were matched through anonymous identifiers. Composite scales showed good-to-excellent reliability (Cronbach’s α = 0.70–0.95). Overall GreenComp scores increased with a small effect (Wilcoxon z = −2.47, p = 0.014, dz = 0.21), with the clearest change in “embracing complexity”; critical evaluation of sustainability information and problem framing remained significant after multiplicity correction. LifeComp competences, already high at baseline, remained stable. Exploratory subgroup analyses did not detect statistically significant differences in change across gender, faculty, study year and employment. Because the study lacked a control or comparison group, the observed pre–post changes cannot be attributed causally to the module. The study contributes a competence-specific GreenComp evaluation of an existing interdisciplinary Design Thinking module, highlighting that, within this module, short-term changes were more evident in analytical than in value-oriented sustainability competences.