science

GROWL

GROWL is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand GROWL rather than just read about it. In short: GROWL is an international education network for degrowth formed by academics, practitioners, researchers and political activists. One central aim of the network is to promote collective action across initiatives related to degrowth (e.g.

Key takeaways

GROWL belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect GROWL to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of GROWL from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

GROWL is an international education network for degrowth formed by academics, practitioners, researchers and political activists. One central aim of the network is to promote collective action across initiatives related to degrowth (e.g. Transition Towns, agroecology, Solidarity economy, DIY among other "nowtopias"), in order to reduce the atomization and dispersal of initiatives that hinder their capacity to scale up and present a solid alternative to the dominant economic paradigm.

History GROWL was founded in 2013 by ten non-profit, research and higher education organisations under the coordination of the think-tank Research & Degrowth. The network build-up has been supported with a ca. €200000 grant from the Grundtvig programme for the period between August 2013 and July 2015. In 2014, the first international thematic courses took place:

Social dimension of agroecology Solidarity & Cooperative Economy Mental Infrastructures Local Economic Alternatives

Philosophy The network departs from the acknowledgment of major shortcomings of contemporary education institutions in providing adequate knowledge and skills required to critically address the problems of limits to growth and engage in the transformations towards a post growth and sustainable society. The network relies on the theoretical foundations of social constructivism and the concept of peer learning based on communities of practice.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with GROWL

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what GROWL claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to GROWL before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about GROWL ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of GROWL

In research: GROWL appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses GROWL in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: GROWL is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Degrowth, Organizations established in 2013, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for GROWL outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study GROWL in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what GROWL means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain GROWL out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is GROWL in simple terms?

Why does GROWL matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study GROWL?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on GROWL.