In order to achieve the climate goals, educational actors play an essential multiplier role in the societal transformation. In research on climate education, the discussion of what the addressees of climate education, e.g. pupils or pre-service teachers, should know and be able to do, as well as the investigation of their content knowledge or climate protection actions, seems to be the main focus. Conversely, however, little is known about how these addressees evaluate their previous climate education and the role of their respective educational institutions in relation to climate protection.

Within the framework of a qualitative questionnaire study of 80 secondary school students and 18 pre-service teachers (B.Ed), we investigate the perceptions of both cohorts regarding 1) the importance and challenges of their role as potential "change agents" for the multiplication of climate change content, 2) the role of their educational institutions school and university for climate protection, and 3) which emotions climate education evokes in them.

Here you can find the current publication on the project:

• Winter, V., Kranz, J. & Möller, A. (2022). Climate Change Education Challenges from Two Different Perspectives of Change Agents: Perceptions of School Students and Pre-Service Teachers. Sustainability, 14(10), 6081. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14106081

Project participants: Veronika Winter, Andrea Möller

Cooperation partners: Johanna Kranz - Rhineland-Palatinate Competence Center for Climate Change Impacts (DE)

Critical thinking in the climate crisis

Basic science education and critical thinking with regard to evaluating information and making decisions are central educational goals in science education. This becomes especially important in the context of anthropogenic climate change - the central challenge of our epoch - as causes, consequences and possible adaptation strategies are still controversially discussed and, moreover, misinformation and conspiracy theories accompany the discourse.

Previous  research in science didactics has focused on the successful teaching of technical knowledge as well as affective attitudes towards the climate crisis. However, it has been shown that even an increase in specialized knowledge about the climate crisis does not necessarily lead to climate-friendly behavioral changes. This phenomenon is referred to as the 'Knowledge-Behavior Gap'. Recent approaches therefore recommend the promotion of basic science education and critical thinking for successful climate education, in order to be able to ensure action decisions based on informed judgment processes. Critical thinking should enable individuals to deal confidently with scientific information and to make decisions on the basis of this - this requires open-mindedness and at the same time skepticism towards new information. Such teaching-learning settings, which aim to teach action-oriented strategies for dealing with the climate crisis, can be used to investigate how individuals deal with scientific information and how they can make this information useful for their own everyday lives.

The project is embedded in the research and education project Climate Education4uture and is conducted in cooperation with the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Vienna. The focus is on the diagnosis and promotion of critical thinking. Thus, learners should not only be able to assess complex problems of the climate crisis in an evidence-based and value-oriented way, but also be empowered to participate democratically and to act in a climate-friendly way.

Project participants: Linda Hämmerle, Andrea Möller

Cooperation partners: Johanna Kranz - Rhineland-Palatinate Competence Center for Climate Change Impacts (DE); Marko Lüftenegger - University of Vienna (AU)

Professional Responsibility in the Climate Crisis: Teaching Climate Change

Project description: In the interdisciplinary education and cooperation project Climate Education4Future, per year about 90 pre-service biology teachers are trained as climate education multipliers. For this purpose, an innovative seminar concept was developed, which is evaluated in the context of intervention and interview studies. The core of the project is the cooperation with Scientists, Psychologists and Teachers For Future, which enables comprehensive preparation for the challenging teaching topic of climate change.

Here you can find the current publication on the project:

• Möller, A., Kranz, J., Pürstinger, A., & Winter, V. (2021). Professionsverantwortung in der Klimakrise:  Klimawandel unterrichten. Befähigung Lehramtsstudierender zur Klimabildung als wichtiger Beitrag zum Erreichen der SDGs.[Professional responsibility in the climate crisis: teaching climate change. Enabling student teachers to teach climate change as an important contribution to achieving the SDGs.] In M. Kubsch, S. Sorge, N. Graulich, & J. Arnold, Lehrkräftebildung neu gedacht. Waxmann, S. 208-217.

Chapter as PDF (Open Access): www.waxmann.com

Supplementary material as PDF (Open Access): www.waxmann.com

Project participants: Veronika Winter, Agnes Pürstinger, Andrea Möller

Cooperation partners: Johanna Kranz - Rhineland-Palatinate Competence Center for Climate Change Impacts (DE)