ABSTRACT
The degradation of urban rivers is a serious problem and community participation is required to maintain and take care of rivers. This research aims to describe the practice of a transformative learning model among sociology students in taking care of Pepe River in Surakarta, Indonesia. The authors employed participatory action research with sociology students as the subjects of research. Data were collected using observation, in-depth interviews, focus group discussion, and documentation. Data collected were then analyzed using Freire’s theory on critical education. Transformative learning for sociology students was conducted for two semesters in the course on environment sociology and social change and results of research showed that transformative learning connects cognitive, affective, and psychomotor aspects. Through workshop, training, and public campaign, this model played a very significant role in building students’ care toward problems of river surroundings, helping the community produce information about the river, and facilitating the community in taking care of the river.
