Development and Implementation Effects of a Sustainable Consumer Education Program for Enhancing Student Agency

The international community has identified climate change, inequality, and social instability as interconnected challenges requiring a multidimensional responses. Sustainable development has become a core educational agenda advaced through Education for Sustainable Development. Adolescence is a critical period of consumer socialization in which consumer education is important. However, adolescents face dilemmas related to sustainable consumption, which highlights the need for educational interventions that foster student agency. As recent curricula emphasize learner agency as a key competency for responding to future uncertainty, gold standard project-based learning (GSPBL) is considered an appropriate pedagogical approach to sustainable consumption education. This study designed and implemented a GSPBL-based sustainable consumer education program and examined its effects on student agency. Based on the ADDIE instructional design model, the “Ji-Dang-So (Proud Consumption for the Planet)” program was developed and implemented with 103 middle school students. Expert validation showed CVIs of 1.00 (overall) and 0.93 (sessions), confirming the overall content validity. The results showed a significant improvement in student agency from pre-test (M = 3.55) to post-test (M = 3.92) (p < .001), with medium effect sizes across the attitude, behavior, and community domains. In addition, the students demonstrated an increased interest in sustainable consumption and practiced it in their daily lives. This study provides empirical evidence for the effectiveness of GSPBL-based sustainable consumer education, while noting its limitations related to short-term implementation and the need for long-term and qualitative follow-up studies.