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

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.