Developing Sustainability Competencies Through Play: How Improv Training Enhances Adaptability, Comfort With Ambiguity and Divergent Thinking

The 21st century's global sustainability challenges, including climate change and resource depletion, demand adaptive, innovative, and ambiguity-embracing skills. However, traditional education systems often emphasize structured, linear thinking, leaving students unprepared for these complex, interconnected issues. Improvisational theatre training offers a transformative pedagogical approach, fostering creativity, collaboration, and adaptability. By helping individuals become comfortable with uncertainty and less reliant on rigid structures, improv enhances key competencies needed for sustainability problem-solving. Research demonstrates that improv promotes resilience, divergent thinking, and openness to diverse perspectives, all crucial for navigating dynamic challenges. This paper presents empirical findings from improv workshops, showing participants' increased tolerance for ambiguity, adaptability and divergent thinking. By aligning these results with the goals of sustainability education, it advocates for incorporating improv-based learning to empower students to thrive in ambiguity and address sustainability challenges with creativity and flexibility. Improv thus emerges as a valuable tool for fostering future-ready, sustainability-minded leaders.