Plant and plan, care and grow. A hands-on exercise using the (inner) sustainable development goals to teach research methodology to final year sociology students

Etymologically, the word seminar comes from the Latin semen, which means “seed”. Inspired by such linguistic archeology this text describes an exercise developed with undergraduate sociology students, who were literally invited to sow a seed and observe its growth over the course of a semester in which they must design a sociological research project. Transversally, the students perceived the exercise of germinating a plant as a metaphor for the development of the research project as a living and dynamic reality, highlighting the beginning, growth and maturation as key moments. Additionally, students emphasized that observing the germination and development of the plant allowed them to critically reflect on the different stages of the research project, while allowing their own inner development, namely with regard to the dimensions of “being”, “thinking”, “relating”, “collaborating” and “driving change”


Introduction
Higher education is made of many teaching-learning contexts, including seminars. Etymologically, the word seminar comes from the Latin semen, which means "seed". Inspired by such a linguistic archeology, a hands-on exercise was developed with higher education students, who were literally invited to sow a seed and observe its growth. The exercise was carried out with 37 undergraduate sociology students within the scope of the "Research Laboratory: Project Elaboration" (LabEP) course in the fall semester of the 2022/23 academic year. LabEP is a compulsory subject in the final year of the Sociology graduation at the University of Évora. The weekly workload is two theoretical hours and two practical hours, which is equivalent to a total of 6 ECTS, but classes often take the form of a seminar with strong participation by students. According to the study plan in force, the course aims to develop cognitive and reflective skills and its general objective is to serve as a scientific and pedagogical contextual framework for the construction of a sociological research project. The curricular unit is strongly articulated with "Research Laboratory: Project Execution" in the last semester. Both courses aim to support the construction and development of sociological research work and to complement the deepening of general skills, namely: ability to integrate theoretical, methodological, and empirical knowledge towards the identification and resolution of sociological problems; to develop rigorous and innovative analysis; clearly communicate analysis and results, as well as its foundations and justifications, in contexts of research and professional activity; and to stimulate autonomous personal learning processes. In line with the idea that higher education institutions play a key role in promoting sustainable development (SDSN General Assembly, 2017), this course intends to contribute to this, creatively using the sociological literature that recognizes the different ways of telling -and thinking -about society (Becker, 2007), and the power of the sociological imagination (Mills, 1959) to create new and more engaging ways of teaching and learning sociology (Atkinson and Lowney, 2016;Jones, 2017).

Context: Looking for deep learning experiences to foster (inner) sustainable development
At present, educating for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is a core objective for higher education institutions (SDSN General Assembly, 2017). The 2030 Agenda envisions a world transformation (United Nations, 2015), that is inseparable from starting at universities (UNESCO, 2017). This appeal comes in the wider context of the important changes that are taking place in teaching and learning environments, namely those that claim the importance of "deep learning" rather than "surface learning" experiences (Atherton, 2009). As the 17 SDGs become widely publicized and increasingly known around the world, the non-profit, open-source initiative "Inner Development Goals" (IDGs) gains visibility as "an essential framework of transformative skills for sustainable development" (Inner Development Goals, 2023). The IDGs framework consists of five dimensions organising 23 skills and qualities of human growth and internal development. The five-dimensional framework comprises skills related to "Being -Relationship to Self", "Thinking -Cognitive Skills", "Relating -Caring for Others and the World", "Collaborating -Social Skills" and "Acting -Driving change". According to the initiative, IDGs aims to develop inner abilities to deal with increasingly complex environments and challenges arising from the implementation of SDGs (Inner Development Goals, 2023), thus accelerating the work towards the UN's Global Goals.

Planting and planning
At the beginning of the semester, students were invited to carry out the germination experiment of a plant and carefully observe its growth. To carry out the activity successfully, the teacher distributed to each student in the classroom two seeds of a dry leguminous plant (beans), a sheet of kitchen paper and a plastic bag with a zipper closure. Instructions were given in the classroom: (1) students should start by opening the bag to free up space; (2) moisten kitchen paper; (3) fold the kitchen paper up to three times the size of the beans; (4) place the wet kitchen paper in the bottom of the zip-lock bag; (5) place a bean on top of the paper and another bean on the side of the paper that is in contact with the bag; (6) tape the bag to a window that receives a lot of direct light and leave it for a few days; (7) observe the germination and care for the plant, later transplanting it to a pot with soil, water and sunlight. Figure 1 depicts the teacher's exercise, taped to her home office window. A similar project was developed by the students, captured in the form of a photograph and submitted online via Moodle in the course area. This photograph was accompanied by a short reflection text of up to 500 words in which students were invited to reflect on their own research project and its relationship with the SDGs and IDGs.

Observing and anticipating
The activity instruction given to students in September, specifically asked them to carry out a plant germination experiment, carefully observe its growth, and reflect on the research project and its relationship to the SDGs and IDGs. Three months later, in December, students were invited to remember the exercise, to think about the different phases of anticipation, projection, growth, stagnation and eventual disappearance of the plant and to reflect critically on the elaboration of the research project as a result of academic investment and process of personal development throughout the semester. Transversally, students perceived the exercise of germinating a plant as a metaphor for the development of the research project as a living reality. Specifically, moments of beginning, growth and maturation were highlighted in their narratives, as shown in the following excerpts taken from student's essays: "In my opinion, the bean is a metaphor for the project. Just as the bean takes time to sprout and, after that moment, it grows day by day, the project also takes time. It may take a while for us to decide what we want to do, the theme, the approach, the methods, the location, but once the first idea comes to us, whether on a sleepless night or a busy afternoon, I think the project will flow until it is fully prepared to be executed." "The seed germination process finds a metaphor related to the elaboration of the research project. By sowing and consistently tending a small seed, a life is created. As in the project, from a small idea, perhaps coming from a moment of inspiration, different ideas and hypotheses are developed that can generate the final project. With patience and consistency, the idea is fed, doing research and working on different hypotheses, which will bring the project to life." "[…] in a metaphorical tone, I can associate the germination phases of a plant with the fact that the elaboration of a project is also done in phases, because just as the plant is sown, cared for and develops over time and with the help of some external factors. The elaboration of a project starts from a question at the outset, and then, with time and dedication, it develops through several stages of investigation, until it reaches its result."

Caring and growing
Often in their written essays students emphasized how the exercise required them to develop specific skills that, while helping to prepare the research project, ultimately have repercussions in terms of their own inner development, in particular with regard to relationship to self, cognitive skills, caring for others and the world, social skills and driving change. The following excerpts illustrate, consecutively, each of these dimensions. The reflexivity around the failure of a first germination appears as particularly heuristic to understand the power of the suggested metaphor to deal with error and frustration, but also with courage, creativity, optimism and perseverance. Through the voice of a student, the following excerpt shows such a connection remarkably.

Conclusions
This article explored the pedagogical value of using a plant germination experiment as a practical exercise in the teaching-learning process of a course aimed at undergraduate students engaged in developing a sociological research project. Transversally, the students perceived such an exercise as a metaphor for the development of the research project as a living and dynamic reality, highlighting the beginning, growth and maturation as key moments. At the end of the semester, the students emphasized how the observation of the germination and development of the plant allowed them to critically reflect on the different stages of elaboration of the research project while allowing their own inner development, namely with regard to the dimensions of "being", "thinking", "relating", "collaborating" and "driving change". Interestingly in the students' narratives, the reflexivity around failure is heuristic to understand the power of the suggested metaphor to deal with error and frustration, but also with courage, creativity, optimism and perseverance.