Reflective and Cooperative Learning for Understanding Sustainability through an Eco-Innovation Strategy in Rural Travel and Hospitality: A STEAM Case Study

Abstract

Eco-innovation denotes developing green practices using environmentally friendly innovative approaches or technologies. Although eco-innovation has been broadly applied in different industries, such as low-carbon production and manufacturing, how to implement such innovation in education for sustainable development (ESD) has rarely been studied. Therefore, this research considered a reflective and cooperative learning approach to science, technology, engineering, arts, and math (STEAM) education. A case study examined Wanluan Township of Pingtung County in southern Taiwan. Four departments’ students and lecturers at Meiho University were involved in situated learning. Hospitality management students played farm owners who engaged in organic agriculture to produce food and beverages. These agricultural products were farm-to-table, cooked, and served to customers in a natural dining setting through the students’ teamwork. Tourism, sports and leisure management, and food science and nutrition students played tourists in a self-guided travel context, who engaged in acts such as visiting buildings to understand heritage while observing that the houses were still in use as dwellings. This encouraged reflection on the importance of cultural preservation. The results showed that eco-innovation can represent a sustainable marketing strategy for improving the local community economy and can be implemented in a practical situation in STEAM. The ESD goal for 2030—societal transformation—is to foster students’ responsible behavior and attitudes in a personally authentic manner, thereby fostering sustainable learning and understanding.

1. Introduction

Eco-innovation denotes the concept of environmentally friendly innovation, which represents a useful greening technology [1]. A review by Diaz-Garcia, González-Moreno, and Sáez-Martín [2] indicated eco-innovation had been broadly considered in terms of different categories, including performance (market value), drivers (implementation of innovation), process (research and development management), context (country or region), types (services, product design, or process), and policy [2] (pp. 6–7). Such innovation has been applied in several industries, including agriculture [3], manufacturing [4], tourism services [5], and hospitality [6].

Rennings [7] redefined eco-innovation with reference to “the double externality problem, the regulatory push/pull effect, and the increasing importance of social and institutional innovation.” [7] (p. 319). According to the definition, two specific key determinants—“push and pull,” as shown in Figure 1—have been proposed to construct an eco-innovation system [8] in greening supply chain management and a circular economy [9]. Figure 1 is divided into two parts to indicate how the notion of “push and pull” supports eco-innovation. The push aspect consists of technology and regulation. The pull aspect represents the market. These concepts accord with supply chain management because the upstream component of the greening supply chain is to push business-to-business (B2B) actions toward being environmentally friendly, whereas the downstream component uses eco-innovation results to pull (attract) customers to businesses (business-to-customer; B2C).

Based on these concepts, part of the push component is technology that may solve “the double externality problem” associated with economic activity [10] and environmental sustainability [11]. This includes the product’s design, palette, materials, production, manufacturing, quality, as well as energy use. At the same time, regulatory approaches may also be considered to maintain technological performance, such as environmental conservation laws. For example, the problem of air pollution [12] has a strong relationship with CO₂ emissions reduction [13]. When the push component has been prepared, the pull component thus connects with users or customers via service image [14], market competition [15], and customer demand for green energy [16].

Although the eco-innovation concepthas developed by Rennings [7], teaching and learning eco-innovation in higher education remains difficult, particularly in education for sustainable development (ESD) [17]. Societal transformation has identified ESD goals for 2030 [18]. The sustainable development goals (SDGs) [19] also emphasize the need to learn sustainability in societal, cultural, and economic contexts rather than, for example, learning about climate change from textbooks or classroom videos. Eco-innovation requires interdisciplinary knowledge to connect with the complicated problems of technology and regulation. Therefore, it is not easy to present a simple model of sustainability learning in a societal or cultural context [20].

Given this background, we considered that eco-innovation needs a renewable basis to meet the 2030 ESD goal—societal transformation within a sustainability learning context. Accordingly, we posed several critical questions:

• How does Rennings’ [7] eco-innovation (“push and pull”) theory apply to a real case in situated learning [21]?
• How does situated learning foster student’s responsible behavior [22] and reflection in the context of personal authenticity [23]?
• How should one construct a framework for sustainability learning in STEAM?

To answer these questions, we considered a case study in science, technology, engineering, the arts, and math (STEAM) education. STEAM education was chosen in part because the work of Yakman and Lee [24] supports our choice of questions. One piece of vital evidence is a key sentence, namely STEAM can make “students create their own portfolio texts so that their knowledge is as current as possible, and they solve real-life problems that empower them as well as deeply seed their knowledge in multiple ways for transference.” [24] (p. 1083). This sentence supports several key points of the present study.

The first point is helping students to solve real-life problems by themselves, as sustainability learning usually occurs in everyday life situations. Students must learn how to solve real-world problems through self-directed learning [25]. When self-directed learning is used to solve a real problem, knowledge or skills are obtained from the process of problem-solving. This process is also consistent with educational psychology theory [26], namely that a successful experience enhances subsequent learning motivation. The second point is that solving a real-world problem leads to knowledge transference through lived experience, because a real-world problem represents an opportunity to understand or observe the implicit evidence underlying uncertain situations. Through self-directed learning in the context of lived experience, personal feelings or reflections may help the individual understand the process of societal transformation. This also represents the application of the theory of learning by doing [27]. Experiences are created during actions, and these personal experiences support transference in a societal-cultural context.

An educational case study is suitable for elucidating the unknowns underlying a given social and cultural context [28] and, hence, is suitable for explaining how eco-innovation can apply in ESD. Educational case studies of ESD are not novel; Venkataraman [29] reviewed many such cases, thereby determining practical challenges that exist in current ESD. For example, Ilisko and Badyanova [30] used a case study to investigate how sustainable leadership could be used to implement ESD in two schools. Scholz et al. [31] developed a transdisciplinary case study to understand the problems of ESD in complex human-environment systems. Their study successfully revealed how sustainability learning can be adopted for a project management model (representation, assessment, and strategy building).

Therefore, this study employed a STEAM case study to clarify the determinants of eco-innovation and sustainability learning in ESD for 2030. The case examined was an industry-university cooperation from 2020 to 2023. Wanluan Township in Pingtung County in southern Taiwan wanted to improve the rural economy and promote agricultural products. Although Wanluan is a small rural village, it strives to use organic farming and environmentally friendly actions for sustainable rural development. Based on university social responsibility (USR) [32], Meiho University lecturers from the tourism and hospitality management departments guided students from the tourism, hospitality management, sports and leisure management, and food science and nutrition departments.

Two roles of push and pull were played. The role of push is upstream of the supply chain, which is business-to-business (B2B). In comparison, the role of pull is downstream of the supply chain, which is business-to-customer (B2C).

B2B sustainability learning was assigned to hospitality students. The role of these students was to provide organic food and beverages. They were asked to prepare a natural dining environment through teamwork. The primary mission was critical thinking regarding how to cook and serve farm-to-table meals. By contrast, B2C sustainability learning was designed for the other three departments (tourism, sports and leisure management, and food science and nutrition). These students played rural travel tourists, representing the concept of table-to-farm. They played tourists who visited Wanluan’s attractions, which included cultural and natural ecological experiences that involved rural landscapes and heritage buildings. The students’ observations and reflections were recorded to elucidate the cultural and ecological impacts on rural sustainable development.

All learning processes were experienced by the students themselves. They were asked to complete the assignments using reflective and cooperative methods. The practical tasks were all outdoor activities. Accordingly, situated learning consisted of discovering how personal experience can support authenticity.

This paper is structured in five sections. The Section 1 provides a theoretical background to eco-innovation and sustainability learning. The Section 2 presents how qualitative data were collected and analyzed in the case study. The Section 3 presents the results of students and lecturers as participant observations. The Section 4 discusses what theory can be constructed after the implementation of ESD. Finally, we conclude that the proposed questions were answered, and subsequently explore the implications and possible topics for ongoing study.

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. Justification for Case Study

The case study is used to understand a specific phenomenon, especially in social science research. Drost [33] suggested that the reliability and validity of social science research require verification with sufficient evidence. Accordingly, VanWynsberghe and Khan [34] redefined what case study methodology can meet the requirements of social science research. The renewed definition [34] (p. 90) has the following stipulations:

(a)

Detailed descriptions must be obtained from immersion in the context of the case;

(b)

The case must be temporally and spatially bounded;

(c)

There must be frequent engagement between the case itself and the unit of analysis.

The renewed definition provides a concrete recommendation of how the reliability and validity of a case study can be examined via the evidence obtained. The first such aspect is data reliability, which is a concept consistently used in behavioral research. When conducting a case study, the data are usually obtained in a selected context (see point a). The data can be repeated measurements collected from a single person to improve data consistency. The second aspect is data validity. This core research component is usually considered in terms of internal and external validity. A case study occurs at a specific time and place. Temporal and spatial (see point b) data can be collected from interaction behavior such as activities, festivities, or social networks [35], all of which could represent the unit of analysis (see point c). To synthesize these aspects, case study methodology in social science research is sufficient to explain how and why a specific phenomenon occurs. Following the theory of case study methodology, the scope of the study is elucidated in the following section.

2.2. The Scope of a STEAM Case Study

To explore the proposed questions, an educational STEAM case study was adopted. A STEAM case study was considered appropriate to connect theory and practice in the learning process. In particular, STEAM disciplines focus on problem-solving skills that involve inter-discipline knowledge. For example, Jesionkowska, Wild, and Deval [36] developed a STEAM case study in a workshop format, namely “active learning for understanding augmented reality (AR) within a workshop methodology”. One finding was that “the activity itself is structured into a theoretical and a practical part.” [36] (p. 4). That is, the learning itself is an “activity”, and through the interactive process, students can learn and then continue the process of “active learning”.

We adopted a STEAM case study because STEAM disciplines emphasize that students can learn by doing. Yuichiro and Simon [27] explained a theory of learning in which doing is a specific process that enables students to solve a problem within its context. STEAM disciplines also involve emotions during learning. When students solve a problem in the process of learning by doing, positive feelings will result; the practical learning actions are transferred into emotions. That is particularly relevant to the field of “art” within the STEAM disciplines.

In particular, Mejias et al. noted that “many practices of STEAM are non-pedagogical, that is, they are present in popular culture, the contemporary arts, or in the STEM fields.” [37] (p. 11). That is, STEAM does not have a traditional teaching or learning method, but rather, these differ according to cultural context. As such, STEAM disciplines are suitable for assessing authentic learning within cultural contexts.

With reference to prior theories, a STEAM case study was constructed to explore the aforementioned research questions. The scope consisted of an eco-innovation location (local rural community) that incorporated B2B to B2C sustainability learning; the scope was consistent with eco-innovation theory, according to Rennings [7]. The B2B aspect presented the push using technology and regulation, whereas the B2C component presented the pull via the market or customer (as in Figure 1).

2.3. Data Collection and Analysis

2.3.1. Data Source

The STEAM case study was based on short-term industry-university cooperation between Meiho University and Wanlaun Township Office from 2020 to 2023. Since 2019, COVID-19 has affected the rural economy seriously, and tourism and agricultural sales decreased. In particular, young residents working outside the region had no compelling reason to return. As this situation occurred in most rural areas, the government expended considerable effort and resources to address several aspects of the damage.

One government effort toward recovery was to encourage universities to engage in energy-related cooperation with affected industries in rural areas. Therefore, from 2020 to 2023, Meiho University began projects to assist the local rural community. Such projects fall under the auspices of university social responsibility (USR). As shown by Bokhari [38], USR can effectively assist local communities in adopting sustainable development. In the past three years, Meiho University engaged in USR projects with Wanlaun Township Office to alleviate COVID-19-related economic damage.

Notably, COVID-19 remains a threat. Therefore, in 2022 and 2023, we considered how eco-innovation efforts might improve the rural economy. Hospitality management and tourism lecturers at Meiho set up a team to address this important topic. Hospitality management lecturers took charge of B2B sustainability learning with hospitality management students. By contrast, B2C sustainability learning was provided as an elective by tourism lecturers, which involved students taking a rural travel assignment.

Therefore, the stakeholders of the STEAM case study consisted of university students and lecturers, agricultural farmers, small businesses, local government, and external customers. In particular, the STEAM case study provided a blended social-cultural context for ESD and an understanding of the benefits of eco-innovation.

2.3.2. Data Collection from B2B and B2C Sustainability Learning

In the STEAM case study, qualitative data were collected by the stakeholders. The data collection period was the first semester of September 2022 to January 2023. Data cleaning, transcription, coding, storage, and explanation occurred in the second semester, from February of 2023 to June of 2023.

Participant observation [39] was employed for data collection. B2B and B2C sustainability learning occurred at different times and places, and generated original data from multiple sources. Therefore, data processing and cleaning were important. For consistency, the study scope was classified to build different data sets.

The B2B aspect of sustainability was farm-to-table; that is, hospitality management students role-played farm owners whose organic agriculture practices were used to supply food and beverages. The learning activity occurred four times, twice in November of 2022 and twice in December of 2022. The participants were 10 students (6 females, 4 males; age range: 18–19 years) who volunteered to role-play teamwork to assist farmers in setting up dining using their farm fruits and vegetables. The tasks for students were to set up the dining service and to serve guests. The authors observed how the students worked together, and how they perceived being a farm owner who provided low-carbon food and service to customers.

The B2C sustainability learning focused on table-to-farm. This was part of an elective subject—community cultural tourism—that was taken by 58 students (34 females, 24 males; age range: 18–19), 36 in tourism, 16 in sports and leisure management, and 6 in food science and nutrition. The students were required to complete self-guided travel within Wanlaun Township. The students adopted the role and perspective of outside tourists.

The task appears simple, but it has numerous complexities. The trip assignment was to promote the Cocoa Cultural Industry Festival in December of 2022. Therefore, participant students needed to complete self-guided travel before/during the festival. Their trip required considerable planning as they needed to design their travel itinerary considering several questions, such as where to go (which attractions to see), when (time/period), the budget, and which culture to observe (rural community, economy, and production). In particular, students were required to reflect on their feelings when they saw the heritage embodied by a 100-year-old building in which people continued to live.

The B2C and B2B sustainability learning were created to obtain different data during the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, the qualitative data were affected by the need to observe personal social distancing [40]. The qualitative data were divided into primary and secondary data. Hox and Boeije [41] explained that primary data are original data collected for a specific research goal. Secondary data represent a different purpose and may be reused to address another research question. In this study, a specific research goal with respect to sustainability learning was to understand how and why eco-innovation can meet the needs of ESD. Therefore, the primary data were face-to-face interviews and observations. The primary sustainability learning data included photographs, videos, travel narratives, and semi-structured interviews with transcripts. All electronic data were cleaned, coded, transmitted, and stored by the authors themselves. Secondary data were also incorporated into the analysis, such as website information, local government newspapers, catalogs of agri-food products, students’ meeting minutes, and students’ reflective reports.

2.3.3. Reliability and Validity of Qualitative Data

Reliability and validity were assessed. When assessing the collected data, the triangulation method [42] was used for the data analysis. Regarding reliability, we assessed data consistency with reference to different sources (people), places, and times. The people consisted of students, industrial experts, local government members, and residents. The places consisted of fixed dining locations and different attractions. Regarding times, the B2B aspect included four dining events, and the B2C aspect occurred at various times. Overall, we strictly ensured the internal and external validity of the collected data.

The analysis procedure consisted of text (keyword) search, comparison, and double-checking with the different stakeholders. The meaning of collected photos and videos was analyzed, helping to explain the behavior and interactions. Therefore, the internal validity was assured; this included determining which process has associated problems and which results were not easily interpreted. Regarding external validity, we checked with local government and domain experts (such as farmers) whether the same learning activity could be extended to other rural developments.

3. Results

3.1. Destination: The Eco-Innovation Strategy in Rural Development

3.1.1. The History and Problem of Wanlaun Township

According to the website of Wanlaun Township Office [43], Wanlaun is a small rural area in Pingtung County, in southern Taiwan. Wanlaun Township has a rich history, and its changes are representative of most of Taiwan’s rural development. Wanlaun Township has a good reputation because of its mixed cultural and social history. When people recall this history, they also remember conflict and fusion. Historical records indicate that the area experienced the Qing dynasty, 50 years of Japanese occupation, the movement of the national government to Taiwan, and so forth.

As Wanlaun is near Taiwan’s central mountain range, cultural conflict has often occurred. This is because fighting was necessary for survival. For example, the Indigenous Paiwan mountain dwellers fought with the lowland Aboriginal Pingpu. In turn, the Pingpu fought immigrants from China—Hakka or Fujianese. However, those conflicts also enabled a fusion to arise from misunderstandings and living requirements. Therefore, today, Wanlaun Township is an example of cultural and societal diversity.

Although conflict and fusion represent the history of Wanlaun, new challenges have emerged with new generations. These include how a local community can engage in sustainable development given challenges such as population decrease, young people remaining outside the area, and a production economy. We briefly explain these issues as follows. First, the population has decreased to c. 19,415. The birthrate is not sufficient for population replacement. The population decrease indicates that people are generally unwilling to live there, and the cost of elder care will increase. The second problem is related to the first; because the area has few opportunities, young people choose to work elsewhere. This then causes the third problem, as productive ability decreases or disappears because there are too few human resources; farming must be carried out by fewer residents.

However, a crisis is often accompanied by opportunity. The aforementioned problems have threatened sustainable development, but residents must also determine other ways to survive. For example, Wanlaun Township has a famous agri-food, namely Wanluan pork knuckle. This delicacy attracts many tourists to the area. The residents consider how to provide different agri-foods for tourists, and thereby encourage tourists to remain for longer and contribute more to the local economy. This idea is simple, but its execution is challenging for a rural area.

3.1.2. The Geographic Condition of Wanlaun Township

As Wanlaun Township is located in Pingtung County in southern Taiwan, near the Central Mountain Range, it has distinct geographic conditions. As shown in Figure 1, Wanlaun Township has an area of approximately 60.73 square kilometers. The climate is subtropical and comfortable for dwelling in the region. Summers are hot, and winters are dry. The average temperature is 26 to 33 degrees Celsius. There is sufficient water supply throughout the year from the Central Mountain Range; therefore, Wanlaun is a good location for different types of agriculture at different altitudes. Agricultural products include betel nuts, pineapples, bananas, mangos, wax apples, pawpaw, guava, litchi, red dragon fruit, honey, and flowers [43].

For example, cocoa has become a new agricultural product in the region because the cocoa bean needs a specific temperature of c. 20 to 30 degrees Celsius. Other places are unsuitable for farming, such as Kaohsiung, Tainan, or Taichung. Therefore, the Soil and Water Conservation Bureau [44] has supplied different resources to this area to support the new agricultural product—cocoa. From 2019 to 2023, Taiwan’s cocoa and related products, such as oil, fat, and chocolate, have created significant benefits for Wanlaun. Currently, cocoa is not the main crop of Wanlaun Township, but its cocoa quality is better than that of other places in Taiwan.

3.1.3. The Eco-Innovation Strategy of Wanlaun Township

When our research team visited and executed the study, the aforementioned problems—population decreasing, young people remaining outside the region, and maintaining a productive economy—were being discussed by the population. Most residents and local government members believed that only by constructing an environment of well-being could people be attracted to return and stay. Therefore, the Wanlaun Township Office has begun to apply for some projects supported by the government, such as the Soil Water Conservation Bureau, to improve the environmentally friendly character of the region.

For approximately 10 years, there has been increasing innovation and construction related to the ecological environment. Although residents and local governments do not know the term eco-innovation, the concept of environmental conservation is deeply appreciated by most residents. Some environmentally friendly actions executed by residents include painting walls in rich colors, aquaponics, ecological pool, and farm practices, changing farming methods (nontoxic or organic farming), reducing chemical pesticide use, food and agriculture education, cooking local food for older residents, starting a fruit festival, employing a river cleaning, and restoring Erfeng Canal (the underground dike was built 1923, during the Japanese occupation). Farmers were particularly encouraged to change agriculture to conserve water and soil, such as changing from cultivating Areca catechu (betel nut) to more economically valuable products, such as coffee and cocoa.

As a brief summary, the eco-innovation strategy for rural sustainable development in Wanlaun Township includes educating farmers not to continue to use chemical pesticides that harm people and land. Another aspect is changing agricultural products, such as from betels nut to coffee and cocoa, and adopting organic farming for those new products. This will foster an environment of health and well-being and thus attract people to visit the rural natural landscape and experience local traditional culture, thereby engaging in sustainability learning.

3.2. B2B Sustainability Learning: Farm-to-Table

Wanluan pork knuckle is famous in Taiwan, but fewer people know that the region has a high yield of passion fruit. To promote other fruits in winter, the Agriculture Section of the Wanlaun Township Office invited local farmers to take part in dining for outside customers.

The dining event took place four times in November and December of 2022. The Agriculture Section brought sellers and buyers of agricultural products together. This was a dining event, but also an exhibition of agricultural products. The sellers were local companies, such as local small farmers, but restaurants, food processing companies, souvenir companies, and so forth were also present. The buyers were the end users (i.e., general consumers), food manufacturers, logistics companies, wholesalers or retailers, and export and import companies. The dining was characterized by a successful lineage of the agri-food supply chain [45] from upstream to downstream.

The dining was focused on the slogan that “to eat local is to eat healthily.” This slogan was based on the products all being fresh; further, the Agriculture Section highlighted that an organic farming approach was taken, without the use of chemical pesticides. The water and soil were clean, without any pollution, and the food and beverages were high quality and suitable for further food processing or for direct consumption. Traceable agricultural products (TAP) [46] were also used, such as for eggs and pork.

Farm-to-table is a specific concept for hospitality management students. These students learn cooking skills at university, but they are provided with food materials that are not generally in their original form. For example, they cook with eggs but do not see chickens. Therefore, students readily volunteered to provide services to a local rural area. The students received brief training from a lecturer of the restaurant service course, who had direct contact with the Agriculture Section of Wanlaun Township Office; as a USR project, the lecturer was required to control all aspects of the work.

Setting up a dining environment or providing table services was not difficult for the students because most knew how to execute a single task without time limitations (Figure 2). However, a real project has many limitations and requirements, such as the concept of just-in-time, whereby meals and beverages should be delivered at the same time. The required services needed reactions in real-time, such that the tasks were consistent with a real business.

The teamwork was taught, but the actions were executed by the students themselves. During the dining event, students were in charge of everything; the lecturer only observed the proceedings (Figure 2a). Students were divided into groups, namely table staff, who served the attendees (Figure 2b), and kitchen staff who prepared the meals (Figure 2c), Any temporary problems were solved by the team leader. The first time the team leader and members worked together, problems occurred, and the students were nervous. However, the third and fourth events ran smoothly. Students felt free to talk with the farm owners and attendees.

3.3. B2C Sustainability Learning: Self-Guided Travel to a Rural Community

A qualitative study by Noy [47] described backpackers’ travel narratives, noting that travel experiences enable one to feel what is authentic. The experience of authenticity is a psychological process that underlies the human behavior of self-change. The process also involves the individual’s reflection or understanding. Their self-guided travel was connected to the eco-innovation of Wanlaun Township.

Table 1. Students’ self-guided travel connected with eco-innovation in Wanlaun Township.

Attractions	Travel Experiences and Their Eco-Innovation Meaning
Million Gold Mary Temple	This Catholic temple was built in 1860. It is the residents’ religious center but also an example of live heritage because the building used local materials such as honey, lime, unrefined sugar, and soil mixed together. Although it has been damaged several times, it remains standing in its original location. The eco-innovation meaning is that an old building has a new function (education) and represents a local cultural–social attraction.
Liou Family Ancestral Hall	The building was constructed in 1864 and is occupied by descendants of the original inhabitants. The building is located at the front of a traditional Hakka settlement because the occupants, the Liou family, had a good reputation and were wealthy at that point in time. In particular, the building has a rich Chinese cultural heritage and arts. The students saw Chinese feng shui in the design. For example, the river flowing in front of the house represents wealth and protection from external forces. The eco-innovation meaning is wisdom, as the building was designed in harmony with nature, without damaging the environment. The old building is not only a residence but also has a new function for cultural tourism.
Life Memorial Park (Columbarium Pagoda)	The park was built in 2019. It has a special place in Taiwanese culture. As most Taiwanese people revere their ancestry, many people are unwilling to support change. However, this problem was overcome, and the park was constructed, including two pyramids. Younger people frequently visit the park to take photos. The eco-innovation means effective use of land, and making the landscape more beautiful and friendly.
Kulaluce Tribe (Permanent House for Typhoon Morakot Disaster)	Typhoon Morakot caused massive damage in southern Taiwan in August 2009. After the disaster, the Indigenous people were moved to this location to begin a new life. The Permanent House was built in a traditional cultural style, and has become a popular park that promotes high sea-level coffee. The eco-innovation meaning is re-construction, cultural conservation, and the production of high-quality coffee.

shows their preferred rural experiences.

Most students’ photos were not clear; however, we considered that some photos nevertheless presented eco-innovation meaning. For example, photos of the Million Gold Mary Temple and Life Memorial Park (Columbarium Pagoda) are shown in Figure 3 and Figure 4.

Regarding Figure 3, the travel narrative of students was interesting with respect to this Catholic edifice. The students had some specific reflections after the trip, particularly in terms of why a simple building can be an important place for community residents and tourists. Their reflections are illustrated in the following points:

• Outside the building: We (the students) called this single-color church the “white house.” It has a lovely appearance, with small doors and windows. However, its appearance made us reflect on why a traditional architecture approach can make the building still live. The Catholic logo and official seal of the Qing dynasty looked ancient but nevertheless clear. These simple symbols appeared to embody a spirit in people‘s hearts. We thought that a person could live like this building, simply, but for a long time (stronger). The Catholic church has been through some disasters, such as fire, earthquake, and typhoon, but remains standing;
• Inside the building: We saw a wood carving of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This is an exquisite carving, with the face of a young girl. Although the wood is over 100 years old, the colors remain beautiful. The building inside was akin to an art gallery, with its church pews and ceiling artwork that remains clean and beautiful. Recently, the old building has been combined with new technology—a light show that takes place on Christmas Eve every year. The building fits the meaning of eco-innovation, namely that an “old building has new life.”

Figure 4 illustrates another travel narrative of students, namely, talking about the Life Memorial Park (Columbarium Pagoda). This visit was surprising to the students. Some of their specific reflections are described below.

• The students asked the lecturer, “Is green eco-innovation? In rural areas, everywhere is green.” This was an example of incomplete critical thinking. Rural areas are subject to greening, but continue to need more greening engineering. The students recalled feeling somewhat nervous when they stood in front of the Columbarium Pagoda and took photos. However, they agreed that the pagoda had created a new style for traditional customs because, prior to the new building, the location was a mausoleum. According to Taiwanese custom, the mausoleums of ancestors should not be moved; however, the mausoleum has now been replaced by an architectural pyramid. The local government faced many objections to moving the mausoleum. However, the students saw that the pyramid fit the natural background and looked pleasing;
• The students also asked, “Is this a new strategy for rural marketing?” They said that they did not often travel to rural areas because they perceived such regions as dark. After the visit, the students saw that the region was clean and nice, and they showed the photos they took on social media. However, they were surprised that many people, especially younger people, tagged the posts, which the students believed reflected new attraction to Facebook users. They believed that the Life Memorial Park was a nicer term than Columbarium Pagoda. The park beautified the living environment and calmed the heart and spirit.

3.4. STEAM within Sustainability Learning

According to Kaczynski, Wood, and Harding [48], radar charts are suitable for qualitative evaluation. The qualitative data were used to determine the extent of the student’s learning. Since eco-innovation is defined by practical knowledge, students may not clearly see the relationships to STEAM education; therefore, our research team used interviews to construct radar charts.

The B2B sustainability learning involved ten students (six females and four males). They were interviewed regarding the extent to which the learning was considered applicable to each STEAM discipline, using the categories low, middle, and high. The radar chart was used to understand basic cognitions; therefore, enabling the choice of multiple levels was considered unnecessary. Figure 5 is a radar chart that indicates to what extent sustainability learning was considered by the students to apply to each STEAM discipline during the B2B sustainability learning.

Figure 5 indicates that the applicability of the learning to science, technology, and the arts was considered greater than that to engineering and math. The students considered that dining was a type of art, in terms of presenting aesthetically pleasing meals that were also enjoyable to eat. The preparation and setup processes were related to hospitality management skills, from kitchen skills to table service. These combined tasks represented food science well. Fewer students felt that dining was akin to engineering. Such students considered that from when the task began, they needed to determine how many attendees would be present, the quantity of food materials needed, and the time required for preparation. All of these aspects required quantitative calculations; even food nutrition needed consideration. They reflected on the link between food service processes and health and that farming is a career worth consideration.

Figure 6 presents a radar chart that indicates the extent to which B2C sustainability learning was considered to apply to STEAM disciplines. The evaluation was completed by 58 students (34 females and 24 males). The results were slightly different from those related to B2B sustainability learning. The major reason is that self-guided travel is connected to the eco-innovation of Wanlaun Township. Most students observed the natural landscape, heritage buildings, and ecological environment. Therefore, science, the arts, and technology were considered more applicable than engineering and math. The students were interested in the Life Memorial Park, and the pyramid architecture was relevant to engineering and math. However, the students nevertheless felt that architecture was more a form of art related to people’s lives. Another important aspect was the technology. Most students noted that sustainability learning during the rural trip had a strong relationship with technology. However, the technology considered was specifically information technology. This is because this generation frequently uses smartphones and other smart devices; therefore, students typically obtain information and marketing through websites, Facebook, Instagram, or other social media.

In brief summary, the main B2B sustainability learning was that students learned about low-carbon operations [48], and that “to eat local is to eat healthily” reduces CO₂ emissions. Students saw the rural regeneration alliance among farms, residents, and local government, and how to work together to attract customers to enjoy low-carbon culinary delicacies. The primary B2C sustainability learning was implemented via students’ self-guided travel, during which they experienced the rural landscape and heritage historical culture. The tasks were difficult for the students, but engendered different authentic feelings. Therefore, B2B and B2C sustainability learning were successful regarding eco-innovation for the different STEAM disciplines.

4. Discussion

4.1. Sustainability Learning Framework for STEAM and Eco-Innovation

After examining the processes in the practical case study in Wanlaun Township, we can link theory and practice. Figure 7 shows a framework for STEAM sustainability learning.

The framework is divided into three parts, which were derived from the scope of the case study as described in Section 2.2. Central to the framework is the destination for the entire eco-innovation system [8]. Then, the supply side is represented by B2B sustainability learning as a push function, whereas the demand side is represented by B2C sustainability learning as a pull function. Each part was explored in terms of its associated issues and unfolded the evidence obtained. Therefore, the research questions posed may be answered as follows.

4.2. Eco-Innovation Theory “Push and Pull” Fits a Real Case of Situated Learning

The first question is important because the “push and pull” concept supports Rennings’ eco-innovation theory [7] (p. 326). However, this concept has been studied infrequently for real cases. Therefore, our case study revealed that this concept is suitable for a real-world situation.

Wanlaun Township is located in a rural area. Although its tourism resources are not prominent, government support for environmental conservation has increased the adoption of different eco-innovation approaches. Although the rural community residents did not know the term “eco-innovation,” the improvements associated with such innovation increased the confidence of residents. Therefore, Wanlaun Township has become not only a place but also a destination. It is beginning to exhibit the core values of eco-innovation, as reflected in the different effects on society, culture, and the economy. The effects will mix, become the local community context, and then finally influence rural sustainable development. Therefore, becoming a destination is the heart of the eco-innovation system, as reflected in the functions of “push and pull” in situated learning.

4.3. Situated Learning Fosters Responsible Behavior and Reflection with Personal Authenticity

Noy [46] revealed that travel fosters self-change; this is similar to learning by doing. The core value of STEAM education is to encourage problem-solving by students themselves; through the process of learning, they understand the problems they encounter and what resources they can use, and in so doing, they attain the goal of interdisciplinary learning [49]. B2B and B2C sustainability learning represent true opportunities for interdisciplinary learning. We discuss this in the following section.

• Supply-side (B2B sustainability learning): This form of learning represents a push. This component relates to providing low-carbon services or products for customers. This is complex because different stakeholders exist, such as the local government, small farms, the community, and outside customers. We found that the students worked together, but they had relatively few prior social experiences; therefore, they were shy when talking with farmers and customers. However, they were interested in the organic approach to fruit farming. We further summarize this learning as follows:
  • Responsible behavior: The learning activity fosters students’ responsible behavior. This behavior is reflected in responsible production and consumption. Responsible production uses organic agriculture as food materials. Responsible consumption is to eat local food to reduce carbon emissions;
  • Personal authenticity: The learning activity affects students’ personal authenticity because they had to work together in the activity to solve problems. The process involves students creating a vegetarian restaurant. This is a real-life external experience that transforms the mind;
  • Reflection: After the situated learning, students reflected on environmental conservation, especially responsible production behavior. The hospitality students worked with food and found that they were careless and did think about how to reuse or recycle the food waste. In doing so, they learned that responsible production is an important issue.
• Demand side (B2C sustainability learning): This learning component is presented as a pull. The learning subject was self-guided travel in a rural community. This was chosen to provide students with a different perspective, namely that of a tourist. Another reason was to enhance cognitions regarding environmental conservation. We found that an important part of this task was to ask (not force) students to become close to their local community. Most students live in or pass through their community, but they do not know any community history, even if they are residents. The travel task was, therefore, not only a trip to the countryside, but also an experience of the local community that fostered knowing and understanding a place. We further summarize the outcomes of this task as follows:
  • Responsible behavior: Situated learning fosters students’ responsible behavior because students learn to be responsible tourists, who not only visit the rural community but take care not to hurt the local environment and cultural heritage. Irresponsible tourist behavior usually creates noise and garbage;
  • Personal authenticity: Through the learning activity, students learned that as responsible tourists, they also feel while simultaneously learning about greening the environment. Practically, students have different personal life experiences. Their observation and touch can engender emotions that affect cognition. The experience of historical heritage can enable one to understand its relationship to current lifestyles. For example, the understanding of how old buildings can continue to exist (Million Gold Mary Temple and Liou Family Ancestral Hall) involves comprehension of maintenance, recovery, and survival to today. Understanding this history fosters wisdom (accumulated experiences). A trip can engender changes in the individual [46], not only changing behavior but also changes in the mind;
  • Reflection: Self-guided travel makes students reflect more and think critically. For example, students asked how the Catholic church could be over 100 years old but still be standing. They answered that perhaps the congregation maintains the church as a service, components of architectural technology might have a role to play, as might recovery engineering and Western science and art, all of which may relate to the survival of the old building. Therefore, it has become a part of the eco-innovation in this rural community.

5. Conclusions

Sustainability learning with cooperative and reflective elements was explored in the STEAM case study. The case study also examined how eco-innovation can be a sustainable marketing strategy to improve the local community economy and be implemented in practice. According to the results from farm owners and tourists, we revealed the goal of ESD for 2030—societal transformation—in a cultural and social context.

5.1. Implications

As societal transformation is an ESD goal for 2030, our study accords with Feola [50], namely that societal transformation represents a suitable response to global environmental change. This current work bridges the theory and ESD goals for 2030. Following the ESD for 2030, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) [51] published a roadmap for education for sustainable development. The results of this study have managerial and educational implications that may explain how the Asia-Pacific context meets the emerging policy of UNESCO [51].

The study has several implications for management regarding how to implement eco-innovation in a rural area. Through considering eco-innovation actions, we suggest that support and resources from the government are necessary. For example, we saw that river recovery engineering and rural regeneration were all executed by the Council of Agriculture. Rural activity is also related to the supporting projects. Rural sustainable development not only needs financing but also effective management of input resources. We saw that eco-innovation may reduce pesticide use, but we do not know the extent to which organic or nontoxic farming approaches have been broadly adopted and certified. Therefore, soil and water conservation is not simple; more consideration should be given to managerial aspects. The community must expend effort to manage the living environment so that there is not a situation where one farm uses pesticides, whereas a neighboring farm uses nontoxic methods. One area might seek to recover old buildings, but a neighboring area might not engage in any such actions. This would demonstrate the inconsistency of management. Therefore, this industry-university cooperation provides another perspective by which to make suggestions for local government regarding managerial implications.

Another implication related to STEAM education and sustainability learning is that when striving for sustainable education for students, it is important to ask whether this is worthwhile. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have become a popular term worldwide; however, it is not clear the extent to which lecturers truly understand the core meaning. This also applies to the term ESD. Therefore, UNESCO policy [51] may be used to support lecturers; there could be a dedicated SDG, with the support subsequently extended to others. Without such an approach, the SDGs may remain a slogan, similar to the “climate change crisis.” This pertains to the basic problem of how to teach students with different learning approaches for STEAM disciplines. The importance of STEAM is well understood, but we suggest that STEAM education needs to incorporate more social and cultural elements from industry. However, it remains difficult to connect industrial knowledge to teaching (e.g., problem-solving or self-learning). Therefore, STEAM education needs to expend more effort to explore practical issues, including the role of learning by doing through life experiences associated with situated learning.

5.2. Limitations and Future Research

The first limitation is that this is a single case from the rural community of Wanluan Township. It is primarily relevant to an Asia-Pacific context and will not apply to all situations worldwide. The proposed approach is not applicable to all students (such as elementary school students). The study period is another limitation. The rural activities occurred in specific contexts, such as B2B sustainability learning during the fruit production season, and B2C sustainability learning during the Cocoa cultural industry festival. The students did not talk about this issue; nevertheless, we note that this limitation exists.

Our suggestions for future research are combining “push and pull” eco-innovation, STEAM education, and sustainability learning. Eco-innovation theory is typically focused on implementation [52]. We recognize the importance of eco-innovation implementation, but how the factors of push and pull affect eco-innovation requires further investigation. The topic has a critical position in the greening supply chain. The second suggestion pertains to the STEAM education method. Learning by doing may promote successful outcomes in real life. This may challenge different professionals, since the teaching methods of technical and vocational education are different than those of general education. Therefore, future studies could compare the factors that affect educational implementation. Finally, we return to the original point, namely sustainability learning. The ESD roadmap for 2030 (UNESCO) [51] is focused on societal transformation. This has provided a direction for educators, but how to use or connect this to higher education has been less studied. More case studies could be used to clarify the different practices; a clear understanding of teaching and learning practices is urgently needed.