New Elite Centre recommends a higher ecoliteracy into schools

Ecoliteracy - using our knowledge of sustainability and nature to act in the climate crisis - is too low in the formal education system according to the head of SDU's new elite centre, CUHRE

The Danish education system has a long tradition of not only educating but also shaping its students. This shaping is often integrated into the teaching and daily life of the school; for example, students are shaped to live in a democracy by being socialized into practices where they actively participate in democratic processes in their school life.

- We do this in the education system because as a society, we want our citizens to know how to engage in a democratic society. We also want citizens who can act sustainably and with consideration for the environment and nature. However, ecoliteracy is relatively low within the formal education system, which is from primary school to university. As a result, when citizens leave the education system, they are not capable of living, constructing and creating gardens, businesses and organizations that are truly sustainable, says Michael Paulsen, an education researcher at the Department of Media, Design, Learning and Cognition and head of the new elite centre, CUHRE.

He believes that the neglect of ecoliteracy has serious consequences and emphasizes that the education system has a responsibility for cultivating an idea of a better future and a path to get there.

Asked about the new elite centre, Sebastian Mernild, professor in climate change and head of SDU Climate Cluster, says:

- CUHRE is an exciting elite centre with significant scientific potential. We must not only educate but also shape young people; for this an understanding of the climate transition and its potentials is crucial. We are facing a climate challenge, and one way through this transition is to let positive narratives and opportunities motivate us.

The Legacy of the Age of Enlightenment

There are several reasons why ecoliteracy is not incorporated into the school system in the same way as other literacies, but the history of the education system plays a big role, says Paulsen.

- Schools of today are shaped by the Age of Enlightenment and its closed spaces where teaching primarily takes place indoors in classrooms. Students learn about nature and living beings through classification, not by cooperating with the living world, which could e.g. be by planting eelgrass.

However, he also acknowledges that there are ecoliteracy initiatives within the school system where students are not only taught about nature and have a project week on the disasters of the climate crisis; that they also actively engage and gain experience in reflecting on the conflicts that arise when they want to do something good for the climate while still wanting to keep the benefits from overconsumption of resources.

School gardens as ecological education

School gardens, found in Danish schools for some years now, are good examples with great potential to include all students in ecoliteracy, according to Michael Paulsen.

It turns out that many students who struggle in traditional classroom teaching, flourish and develop an interest in biodiversity. So here, we have an ecoliteracy teaching method, capable of including large groups.

Research also indicates that there seems to be a higher level of ecoliteracy outside the education system, which CUHRE's researchers look forward to exploring. Various small and large ecoliteracy initiatives are emerging, such as the "Vild med vilje" ("Wild with Intent") movement, which has spread to both private and public gardens.

- People have gardening once a week like they have football once a week and learn about permaculture and regenerative cultivation. Practice and theory often go hand in hand. We want to investigate if such collaborations can be brought back into the formal education system. That is the fundamental purpose of CUHRE: to identify ecoliteracy potentials for the education system, says Michael Paulsen.

Creating positive visions for the future

One significant challenge in creating a higher ecoliteracy in the population is the discouragement and hopelessness that particularly affect many young people.

- The young people of today largely grow up with dystopian visions of the future. They believe that the future will be a catastrophe. If you carry such a view of the future, it can be demotivating, paralyzing, anxiety-inducing and non-constructive, says Michael Paulsen.

The challenge here is to find an educational approach that can convey and enlighten students about the enormous challenges the world is facing without demoralizing them. One possible solution could be to develop climate role-playing games where children and young people can experiment with constructive fantasies about the future. After all, our perceptions of the future also contribute to our ecoliteracy.

With this grant, CUHRE, like the other elite centres under SDU Climate Cluster, now has four years to conduct interdisciplinary research at a high international level, supporting SCC's mission to achieve climate neutrality by 2050.

The 5 cornerstone projects in CUHRE are:

WHAT CAN WE LEARN IN GARDENS? It is necessary to find a more sustainable way of cultivation that benefits both human and non-human organisms. Can experience from Denmark's many gardens provide a basis for new teaching methods?

HOW DO WE TALK ABOUT REWILDING? Rewilding is a method for creating better conditions for biodiversity and climate neutrality. It is also a topic for highly heated debates. How do we create didactics that enable a more constructive and ecoliteral discussion about rewilding?

CAN WE PLAY WITH CLIMATE CATASTROPHES? First came sci-fi, now we have cli-fi; climate fiction. The idea here is to use role-playing to fantasize and dream about the future in a way that can motivate and inspire young people to a more constructive view of the future.

WHAT CAN WE LEARN ABOUT OURSELVES THROUGH COASTAL LITERATURE? Climate change is particularly hard at the coasts because there is a special intensive contact zone between land and sea. Literature is an archive full of past and future coastal practices that have either worked or not worked. Also, it tells us about a fundamental understanding of nature and perceptions of humanity's place in the world, which in many cases are problematic but also, in certain cases, quite visionary and sustainable.

WHAT SHOULD CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE LEARN? What educational materials can CUHRE develop to support students and teachers in ecoliteracy so that students not only think sustainably while in school but also in all the other life situations where they can contribute to the decisions about our common future?

By Birgitte Svennevig, birs@sdu.dk, 6/23/2023