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In this paper, we attempt to do a kind of theorizing that we think is compatible with new materialisms. To do this we explore the idea of what it might be to separate ontos- from -logos, and give suggestions to readers for ways of experiencing this idea. We posit that it is not only possible to make diffractive readings and re-readings of texts, but also that experiences themselves can provide a diffractive context for ontos. Thus, not only can different concepts held in the forefront of our minds allow us to encounter, interpret, and understand differently but so too can positioning and entangling ourselves differently. As such we will ask the reader to do things beyond simply reading the text as they engage this paper. We also tell stories, two from an Anishinaabe knowledge keeper of Chris's acquaintance, to provide another way for shifting conceptualizing towards a different ontological position compatible with an immanent materialist position. We explore the capacity of words to tell a story about experiences that are inherently non-verbal, in which human I-ness shares a being state with what are normally thought to be separable objects in the natural world. The paper concludes with a short discussion of pedagogy in light of this discussion/action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change threatens hard won progress in the education and life outcomes of adolescent girls in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) by compounding the harmful effects of gender inequality and poverty. In recent years, there has been a rise in global advocacy for gender transformative education for climate justice that addresses the underlying gender inequalities driving climate vulnerability for adolescent girls in LMICs. But, has the international development and education community responded to this call? This paper seeks to establish a baseline for answering this question through a landscape analysis of actors working on issues of gender and climate change with youth, especially girls, as well as a landscape analysis of publicly available curricular materials on climate justice and gender equality. We find that although there are many nongovernmental efforts focused on different entry points into the nexus of gender, education, leadership, and climate change, there is much more room for aligning gender equality and climate justice programming for girls. This paper highlights the gaps and opportunities for doing so and offers a taxonomy of programming approaches to guide actors and their collaborators toward more intersectional educational programming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The extreme inequality in South African education is well-documented by researchers. There is also a rich literature concerned with education for sustainable development (ESD) in the country. The relationship between these two phenomena has, however, been sparsely investigated. Drawing on biopolitical theory and fieldwork conducted in South Africa, this paper queries how ESD programmes handle the lifestyle gap that separates rich and poor populations. The article demonstrates how ESD, through ostensible sensitivity to local 'realities', is adjusted to comply with different socio-economic living conditions, and how different roles are assigned to rich and poor in the quest for sustainable development. This differentiation, it is argued, can be understood biopolitically. The paper further argues that the differentiation between populations in rich and poor settings implies a depoliticized notion of local 'realities' as something isolated and given, rather than relational and produced. While the overall findings suggest that ESD unfolds through a regime of practice wherein inequality has become effectively normalized, the paper also points to rare disruptive moments where the normal is rendered abnormal. Ultimately it is argued that the South African case is a useful entry-point for discussing generic problems of globally implementing ESD in an enormously unequal world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study utilized a pre-and post-intervention design to assess pre-service teachers' self-efficacy, perceived content knowledge, and perceived pedagogical knowledge before and after a teaching practicum in the Pakistani context. The data were collected in two phases. In the pre-practicum phase, data were collected from 419 pre-service teachers enrolled in B. Ed, M. Ed, and MA Education programs to assess the general level of self-efficacy for teaching ESD-related concepts, their perceived content knowledge, and perceived pedagogical knowledge concerning ESD. In the post-practicum phase, the data were collected from 215 participants who participated in the first phase and consented to participate in the second phase. One-way ANOVA, Independent sample t-test and paired sample t-test were utilized for data analysis. Results suggest significant differences in pre-service teachers' self-efficacy based on the university, program, and age. Similarly, a difference was found between pre-service teachers' perceived content knowledge based on the university they were enrolled in. The difference in pedagogical knowledge was also found based on university and gender. Further, the post-practicum analysis suggests a significant difference in pre-service teachers' self-efficacy, perceived content knowledge, and pedagogical knowledge after undergoing a teaching practicum. Conclusion, limitations, and recommendations are provided at the end of the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although interest in ESE policy studies is on the rise, we argue there is a gap in scholarship about the nature and extent of interactions between policymakers and researchers in the ESE field. This paper addresses this gap by discussing one example of such interaction – an ongoing research-practice partnership (RPP) between the New York City Department of Education Office of Sustainability and Teachers College, Columbia University. Using qualitative document analysis, we – a researcher and two policymakers – make two contributions to the literature. First, we analyze the emergence of the partnership and point to the importance of trust, social relationships, and production of local and relevant knowledge. Second, we demonstrate how policymakers use knowledge produced in the RPP to inform specific programmatic decisions (instrumental use) and to clarify assumptions about the system (conceptual use). We also show how engagement with research informs participants' views towards improving school engagement with ESE. Implications for furthering research-policy relationships in ESE include: supporting comparative and longitudinal research designs, giving more attention to the socio-political context shaping partnerships, investigating other forms of knowledge use in RPPs, and reflecting on the politics and priorities given to conducting research with policymakers that demonstrate contributions to the collective good. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a meta-review approach organized historically in relation to critical policy incidents, this paper critically reviews the process of developing and (re) invigorating Environment and Sustainability Education (ESE) (policy) research as ESE policy engagement over a 30+ year period in a rapidly transforming society, South Africa. It offers an example of long term policy-research meta-review in a context of policy flux. It adds to a body of international ESE policy studies that are seeking to understand and develop the ESE research/policy interface as this relation emerges under more complex conditions. In particular, we respond to the finding in the systematic review of ESE policy research undertaken by Aikens, McKenzie and Vaughter (2016) which reports a geographic under-representation of Africa (amongst other places) in ESE policy studies, and González-Gaudiano (2016, 118)'s insight that ESE policy research in current neo-liberally dominated political conditions and as political process, is essentially an "open, unsteady, incomplete, and relational process". The Aikens et al. (2016) finding informed our decision to offer a substantive 'meta review' of 30+ years of ESE policy research in South Africa including approximately 150 studies, thus making this body of research more visible and available for scrutiny in the international ESE policy sphere, while also offering us an opportunity for the reflexive introspection that is advised for ESE policy studies by Van Poeck and Lysgaard (2016). The paper develops around a concept of ESE research as policy engagement oriented towards a 'politics of potentia' (Dussel, 2008), framing the ESE policy-research meta-review within a theory of politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last years we have observed a growing interest in the use of gamification approaches for climate change education. While most practices are related to digital gaming, there is a new trend which is still academically unexplored: escape rooms. The main objective of this paper is to serve as an initial exploratory study in this field by identifying and analysing climate change-related escape rooms. For that purpose we carried out a web search and a qualitative content analysis. A total of 17 initiatives are described and compared, unravelling their main audience, country of origin, topics, scenarios and objectives covered. The paper also highlights what escape rooms can offer to climate change education: experiential and immersive learning, problem solving and critical thinking skills, and a sense of collaboration and urgency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Addressing the consumption of animals as an educative and environmentally crucial question, this paper empirically examines the meaning of meat and animal consumption for learners in school settings. This study is based on focus groups with Swedish upper secondary students and is centred around their responses to a vegan month at their school as an initiative to emphasise the environmental consequences caused by human consumption of animal products. In order to make sense of the students´ responses in light of the disruption of animal products in the school restaurant, the school initiative is analysed as a dislocatory intervention. The analysis shows that 'eating environmentally' in education caused conflictual responses closely connected to political and gendered aspects of animal consumption. In conclusion, the author argues that a neutral or un-political position is not possible when animal consumption is on the educational table, and moreover, that there is a need to take political–conflictual responses seriously within education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Relying on a nudge—a simple, non-paternalistic tool that spontaneously triggers behaviours in a volitional, predictable and expected way—as an education instrument, and more particularly relying on social labelling, this paper demonstrates that an extremely frugal protocol can foster children's intentions to behave pro-environmentally. In an experiment conducted among 115 children (aged between 7 and 12 years), whose gender and levels of environmental perception before the experiment were controlled for, we show that applying an 'eco-friendly' label is sufficient to trigger more subsequent intentions to behave ecologically than what was observed in the control group. We also provide evidence that the most effective age for using this nudge is above 10. Our results show that the intentions to behave ecologically persist a week after labelling. This on-going effect suggests that the influence of social labelling is not limited to the immediate response. An ethical discussion on the issue closes the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents findings from a research study exploring the effectiveness of three environmental education programs. The first was an interpretive program where visitors learned to safely interact with and 'pet' bees (control group), the second was the same interpretive program with the addition of post-visit action resources (interactive treatment group), and the third was a contributory citizen science bee box building project (citizen science treatment group). Using personal meaning maps, interviews, and participatory observations we explored learning outcomes in relation to Transformative Learning Theory. This study found that the interpretive program facilitated a more complex learning experience across all transformative learning domains. The participants who engaged in a contributory citizen science bee box project demonstrated a narrower, albeit more focused learning experience where their knowledge increased specifically in relation to understanding the issues native bees face and actions related to native bee conservation. These findings have important implications for experiential learning where action outcomes and transformative learning are interrelated goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considered the changes in education that are needed in response to the rapidly deteriorating state of the Earth's environment. We argued that such changes should be focussed on developing an effective education that equips inhabitants of the Earth to understand their environment towards contributing to its conservation, especially with respect to climate change mitigation and adaptation. This is crucial because previously colonised people and their environments are marginalised in their Eurocentric education systems. To escape ethnocentricity, education should be transformed using a polycentric approach that legitimises all knowledge systems and places. Therefore, this study employed a qualitative approach to explore teachers' perceptions of the extent to which their education system is based on local knowledge and places, and how the concept of place might be engaged as the foundation for learning. A selection of teachers participated in the study, which employed in-depth interviews. Factors that contributed to the place-detachment of participants' practice were analysed, along with a discussion of educational reform ideas that included place-based approaches and indigenous methods. The correlation between these ideas and a critical pedagogy of place has implications for environmental conservation in local and global contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effective environmental justice education poses unique challenges to both educators and students. For students, this pursuit is cognitively challenging at best and emotionally paralyzing at worst. It requires deconstruction of culturally produced narratives that uphold privilege, conceal complicity, and promote individual-level response to systemic problems. In this paper, we explore critical approaches to pedagogy, place, and community engaged learning, as well as their specific resonance with the challenges inherent in environmental justice education. We then thematically analyze student responses to two critically oriented community-engaged learning projects. Student experiences proved transformative as students came to see the structural elements that maintain environmental racism more clearly, demonstrated systems thinking, expressed feelings of agency, and articulated their own positionalities in thoughtful and constructive ways. From these data, we offer critical community-engaged pedagogy as transformative practice for environmental justice education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to methodological discourse about research approaches to environmental education. More specifically, the paper explores the current status of the ‘empirical–analytical methodology’ and its ‘positivist’ (traditional‐ and post‐positivist) ideologies, in environmental education research through the critical analysis of three criticisms outlined in Robottom & Hart (1995). Their negative discussion of this methodology relates to its ideology and assumptions it makes about the purpose and role of the environmental education curriculum and goals, teachers, students, learning, teaching content and environmental action(s). It is suggested that their critiques misrepresent empirical–analytical methodology in their dismissal of it as behaviourist and/or traditional positivist in nature and, consequent undesirability in research in environmental education. Such discussions of the perversity of ‘positivist’ empirical–analytical methodology are not constructive. This paper seeks to reorient the debate by providing a critical analysis of the arguments proffered by Robottom & Hart as a way of opening opportunities for diverse pathways of research in environmental education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we describe an informal science program where specific program elements were designed to support youth development of a 21st century naturalist identity, which we call out as an important subtype of environmental and scientific identity. As part of a research-practice partnership, we conducted a case study of a teen youth program held in an urban park in order to examine how program elements support naturalist identity development. The program drew on naturalist practices to deepen youth interest and skills and provide community with human and more-than-human nature. Through participant observations, interviews, and artifact analysis, we identified three program elements that contributed to youth naturalist identity development: (1) encouraging physical interaction between humans and more-than-human nature; (2) providing meaningful opportunities for youth to be stewards of land and waters; and (3) exposing youth to possible visions of their future selves. Using ecological thinking that draws on Indigenous, post-humanist, and new materialist philosophies, we aimed to shift our gaze from individual youth experiences and towards relational processes between youth, educators, and more-than-human nature, describing how these actors work together iteratively and reciprocally to support the co-construction of naturalist youth identity development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How can we ‘desettle’ the colonial discourse and worldview of botanical gardens and its practices in teaching about plants? How can we move towards engaging deeply with who we are and think we are in relation to place, land, and the world, grounded in an intricate sense of harmony? How can we move our work in botanic gardens beyond regarding land, plants, and nature as commodities for causal consumption, or as places to rapidly observe but typically not touch? I explore these three questions in this paper through a weaving together of some of the literature on education and informal learning in botanical gardens and narratives from my research with urban youth of color in the Botanical Garden of Montreal. In doing so, I make evident youths’ navigations of botanical gardens and their bids for recognition as other than detached from nature. Together, these narratives help to rethink taken for granted practices of education about plants in gardens grounded in Western views of science and lack of a more serious engagement with holistic perspectives of humans in and with nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper makes a contribution to the debate that has been described as a tension between instrumental and emancipatory educational objectives in environment and sustainability education. The contribution involves a methodological approach (introd-) using the concept ‘dislocatory moments’, to identify and analyse moments in classroom practice that address educational objectives relating to ‘change for sustainability’ and ‘thinking and acting independently’. A case of business education, when ‘sustainable development’ is integrated in a series of lessons, is used to exemplify the approach involving analysis of the emergence and closure of a dislocatory moment and the change of logics that occur. The illustrative case shows how room for subjectivity and change can be intertwined in educational practice. It is suggested that the methodological approach could be used in empirical research of classroom practice to further knowledge about the kind of situations that contribute to ‘business as un-usual’ without compromising emancipatory education ideals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over 25 years ago, the ‘wicked problems’ concept was introduced into forestry to describe the increasingly complex work situations faced by many natural resource management (NRM) professionals and at the same time the demand and frequency of public involvement in NRM issues also grew. Research on the impact of these changes for NRM professionals resulted in many studies calling for NRM professionals to learn a host of new social science-related skills and knowledge. Twenty years later, research continues to show that NRM professionals are struggling to develop these ‘new’ skills and calls for integrating the social sciences in NRM education and practice endure. This paper discusses the challenge of integrating social science skills and knowledge into NRM public involvement practice and continuing professional education. The paper argues for a reconsideration of how social science theories relate to professionals’ practical theories and concludes with some implications and proposals for NRM continuing professional education. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Emerging posthuman paradigms are beginning to influence approaches to educational research and pedagogy, including the ‘common worlds’ investigations of relations among children and wild animals in early childhood settings. This paper turns to child-animal encounters in a secondary school wetlands project to explore some of the implications of posthumanism for environmental education. It explores how singular encounters with wild animals – a swamp hen, a turtle and an eel – became pivot points for young people’ s affective and creative engagement with the site and emerging issues of environmental responsibility, sustainability and urban land and water management. Though initially the neighbourhood lagoon in the middle of a new housing development seemed to be a tenuous, degraded and domesticated wetland, the students and their teachers began an inquiry into the deep interconnectedness of the site with natural waterways, the animals that move through them, and themselves. Open-ended interdisciplinary inquiries enabled students to choose a range of modes of response including a rap song about the ‘rescue’ of a swamp hen, a picture book that documented the passage of eels from the Pacific to the urban wetland and a dance about a dead turtle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Academic development is one means of reorientating education within higher education (HE) to include sustainability principles. This paper identifies the requirements of academic development programmes that will provide educators with the skills to engage students in the ideas of sustainability and sustainable development. In order to determine what an ideal academic development programme for sustainability education might look like, a theoretical framework for sustainable education and academic development (SEAD framework) was constructed. This was based on an analysis of the literature in the areas of sustainability education, academic development and organisational change in HE. The aim of this paper was to present and analyse the theoretical SEAD framework against three international academic development programmes in sustainability education for HE, which utilised different approaches and delivery modes. From this analysis, it is possible to determine the elements of academic development that would most likely result in a change in educational development and delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The purpose of this paper is to explore what thinking with a philosophy of ‘becoming’ might produce in terms of conceptualisingLearning for Sustainability (LfS), a recent development in Scottish educational policy. The paper posits that animism and the immanent materiality of a philosophy of becoming have important ramifications for contemporary approaches to sustainability education. ‘Becoming’ is described and its relationship to prevailing ‘systemic’ approaches to sustainability education explained.LfSis then described and conceptualised with a philosophy of becoming by examining its implications for Education for Global Citizenship and Outdoor Learning. The concepts of communication as expression; the subject undone (as haecceity); the distinction of ‘nature’ as ‘other’; and the centrality of a storied world are discussed as important elements ofLfSbecoming. Lastly, teaching materials and interviews with two initial teacher educators help create a rhizomatic assemblage of teacher education practice andLfSas becoming. This assemblage creates lines of flight for considering practice, including making explicit the expressivity of communication in course descriptor/teaching/learning relationships; highlighting the place/becoming assemblages of ‘indoor’ and ‘outdoor’ learning environments; and storying the world with learners through haecceity description/experimentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the impact of short immersive residentials at a radical institution for staff currently working in a mainstream one; in this instance, at Schumacher College for those at the nearby University of Plymouth (UK). Schumacher is an independent, alternative college offering residential courses in 'transformative learning for sustainable living'. Using a qualitative research design, we explore the potential of a University staff Scholarship Scheme partnering with Schumacher to catalyse change towards sustainability in the university's curriculum and pedagogy. Our findings suggest that whilst many of the scholarships realised their anticipated potential to effect change, there was no simple correlation between the scholars' learning and experience at Schumacher and their subsequent personal and professional change. However, since the Plymouth-Schumacher route offers a promising pathway to bring innovation and fresh ideas into thinking and practice, the paper also explores how the mainstream and the radical could interact to better effect, drawing on wider thinking on the principles, challenges and tensions of pursuing sustainability, partnership, institutional learning and change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This explorative paper works across discourses to suggest the possibility and potential of an integrative paradigm for sustainability education that reconciles instrumental and intrinsic educational traditions, informed and infused by resilience theory and social learning. It argues that such an integrative view is required in the context of the urgency of building more resilient local social-ecological systems (SES), and that such a view offers the possibility of new energy and direction in the sustainability education debate. The paper is essentially a thinkpiece that attempts to look at touchstones between discourses to suggest the possibilities and potential of mutual illumination and better integration. The paper begins by reviewing tensions between an instrumentalist view and an intrinsic value view of environmental and sustainability education, the former seeing such education as a means to individual and social change, the latter upholding the primacy of the autonomous learner who, secondarily may - or may not - take action towards sustainability. The paper then considers the discourse of the resilient learner, before reviewing social learning literature linked to resilience and discussing how far these various views can be brought together and reconciled. Parallels are made with tensions in the debate on sustainability when seen as a desirable ideal, or as a process. Transformative learning theory is then introduced in relation to addressing the paradox of resilient but maladaptive worldviews and the need to educate for resilience. The paper concludes with an argument for a transformative education paradigm - 'sustainable education' - which necessarily integrates instrumental and intrinsic views and which nurtures resilient learners able to develop resilient social-ecological systems in the face of a future of threat, uncertainty and surprise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plant blindness is an important phenomenon with a growing body of literature. According to researchers, the educational system is listed both among the causes and solutions to this issue. Therefore, previous work regarding this matter has mainly focused on the educational context. While sustainable development is a top priority for every modern society, it has not yet been established whether plant blindness can be a substantive impediment towards this direction. This paper is an attempt to examine any significant relation between this phenomenon and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as these are determined by the United Nations. Through an in-depth, narrative literature review, we show that plant blindness should not be examined lightly as just a differentiation in preference regarding plants and animals. Ignoring flora can be an opposing factor to environmental balance and directly hinder the achievement of the vast majority of SDGs. In that context, the restriction of plant blindness becomes a vital issue for the scientific community and the policy makers. Moreover, sustainable education steps in as the main social process for changing perceptions and dealing with this kind of challenges, but through a modern perspective of place-based education, collective consciousness and vital coalitions of stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable development is now widely held as a transcendental ideal of town and country planning, yet the way in which it is taught in planning schools remains problematic. This arises from a range of factors, including the all-persuasive nature of sustainability and the lack of solid examples of success through implementation. The issue of how best to promote learning for sustainable development in planning has arguably intensified in the last two years in the case of the Royal Town Planning Institute-sponsored 'fast track' one-year Masters, which has reduced the opportunities for students to engage in wider (and perhaps even deeper) concepts, including that of sustainable development. This paper explores this through discussion of a specific project developed at Queen's University Belfast, facilitated by a grant from the UK Higher Education Academy. Working with a local community, this entailed a group of students working on their Masters thesis collectively addressing issues of sustainable regeneration in a small Irish market town. The design of the project draws heavily on the concepts of enquiry based learning, experiential learning and action competence, which are seen as being central to improving education for sustainable development (ESD). The paper explores the benefits of such an approach and discusses the ways in which this experience can help enhance student's experience of ESD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a systematic literature review of policy research in the area of environmental and sustainability education. We analyzed 215 research articles, spanning four decades and representing 71 countries, and which engaged a range of methodologies. Our analysis combines quantification of geographic and methodological trends with qualitative analysis of content-based themes. Significant findings included temporal spikes in published policy research occurring in the mid-1970s, late 1990s, and after 2005, as well as geographic under-representation of Africa, South and Central America, Eastern Europe, and North and West Asia. The majority of articles reviewed were non-empirical; empirical articles overwhelmingly focused on teaching and learning directives, rather than exploring the complexity of policy development or enactment. We conclude our analysis by describing key research gaps as highlighted by the review and propose directions for moving forward policy research in environmental and sustainability education. In particular, we suggest greater research attention to critical policy theory and methodology, issues of intersectionality, and climate change education policy research. By outlining in greater detail the policy research that has been undertaken to date, the review provides a platform for a broadened diversity of policy studies in environmental and sustainability education. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, we report on an investigation into sustainability education in schools in the Australian state of Tasmania following the implementation of the Australian Curriculum. Sustainability is one of three cross-curriculum priorities in the new national curriculum and is the focus of this research (sustainability cross-curriculum priority (CCP)). Principals and Curriculum Leaders (PCLs) from all schools in Tasmania were invited to complete a survey that asked them about their understanding of various aspects of sustainability and how the sustainability CCP was integrated across learning areas. Sixty-eight PCLs (24%) responded to the survey. They reported generally good understandings of sustainability and education for sustainability, but lesser understandings of the sustainability CCP and the nine organising ideas. Respondents’ understandings of sustainability were dominated by an environmental focus. The PCLs’ responses in relation to sustainability implementation across learning areas gave insights into ways that the sustainability CCP can serve as a pivot for cross-curricular teaching and learning, which is strongly advocated for achieving transformative sustainability education. We conclude this paper with a discussion of how the sustainability CCP is an important asset in the necessary reorientation of the Australian formal education system for a more sustainable future. We note the importance of professional support so that educators may better understand sustainability and its complexity as a cross-curricular priority and envision ways in which the sustainability CCP can be realised within education. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper outlines a qualitative investigation where wolf-focussed education was examined from the perspective of educators who work at programmes/centres around North America. Using a phenomenological methodology and a critical lens, methods involved semi-structured interviews with 17 educators from 15 different wolf centres, a brief content analysis of the centres' websites, observations at two sites, and photographs. When it came to the experience of being a wolf educator certain motifs or essences emerged and these are discussed in light of the academic literature and their relevance to environmental education and research and include: the significance of personal, political, regional and cultural contexts; the key role that scientific knowledge and learning has for many wolf educators, the importance of ethics to the educators when teaching about and working with wolves, the significance of direct experiences with wolves, and engagement with conservation issues. This research highlights the importance of education as one strategy for wolf conservation, especially if it does not shy away from the messiness of controversial conservation issues and helps people grapple with the social, ethical, regional and cultural aspects of knowing wolves and our relationships as humans with them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contributes to the debate about the absence of nonhuman animals (The term 'nonhuman animal' is used to emphasise the interconnection with the human being, viewed as a human animal. Using this terminology does not avoid a homogenising, stereotyping and simplifying of a multiplicity of animal (and human) beings. Nonetheless, we think that such a 'simplification' of concepts is inescapable in academic discussions concerning humans and nonhuman animals.) in environmental and sustainable education (ESE) and the challenge of the anthropocentric characterisation of European education. Relating to the debate about a pluralistic approach in ESE as a 'one-species only pluralism', we draw on Val Plumwood's ecofeministic dialogical interspecies ethics and Rosi Braidotti's understanding of a posthuman/nomadic subjectivity. By regarding 'difference' as a constituting force, we present a 'critical pluralistic' approach to human-animal relationships in ESE. Instead of drawing new lines of moral consideration for nonhuman beings, an ethical and political appreciation of what nonhuman others can do in ESE is suggested. Recommendations for educational practice are to recognise nonhuman agency to reveal political and ethical dimensions, recognise the agency of non-living animals and stay in conflicts and 'study up' and develop an immanent critique, which could lead to alternative pedagogical approaches to human-animal relationships in different cross-curricula settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This non-traditional article identifies a series of questions pursued and/or critiqued within inquiries about climate change education (CCE) and research. The questions and clustering format were initially crystallised from summaries and critical discussion with editors, referees, and critical friends of this journal, during the process of bringing together a series of international studies for various CCE collections in Environmental Education Research. First offered as a supplement to a Virtual Special Issue, launched at Education Day of COP23 in Bonn (2017), the 'key questions' were subsequently revised in light of community feedback and further analysis of the 'blind, blank, bald, and bright spots' for environmental education and CCE research that they might represent. Sources used to guide the initial compilation and revision were submissions to, reviews of, and studies published in the journal between 2010 and 2019, and those forming two additional collections of research and commentary on CCE, published in Volume 25. Other considerations were: (i) the literature base associated with these papers (drawing on citation and document analysis), and (ii) presentations and conversations on CCE topics at various international research- and education-focused events during that period, focusing on what seemed 'stale', 'fresh', and 'invigorating'. In sum, the questions: (a) suggest various 'fundamental topics' to 'niche considerations' about CCE and research in this research field, (b) reflect a diversity of question purposes and formats that may direct, underpin, and/or structure associated research projects and publications too, and (c) reveal a complex array of assumptions and ends-in-view that are not necessarily compatible with each other nor with a coherent or progressive agenda for research and practice development. Further commentary and responses to the 'essences' and 'fragrances' associated with such questions, as well as new questions and analysis from relevant sources, fields, periods and projects, are invited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many teachers are keen to implement sustainability education in primary schools but are lacking the confidence, skills and knowledge to do so. Teachers report that they do not understand the concept and cannot integrate sustainability into an already overcrowded curriculum. Identifying how teachers successfully integrate sustainability education into their teaching practice can offer important insights into how these perceived problems can be overcome. The paper is based on data from the third year of a longitudinal study about teacher education and teacher professional learning for sustainability in primary education. The third year of the study investigated teachers' understandings of sustainability and how sustainability education is manifested in eight rural and regional primary schools in Victoria, Australia. Data included photographs of school grounds and sustainability projects, audio recordings of focus groups with teachers and principals, and field notes of meetings with school staff. Sustainability education was found to be an emergent practice necessarily constituted in the relation between teachers, students and community members and the materialities of local places. Partnerships were found to be an essential part of integrated sustainability programmes which extended into communities and places beyond the schools. The processes of learning involved pedagogies of creative problem-solving and inquiry learning that enabled children to lead the way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we argue that a fundamental cultural shift is needed to effectively address anthropogenic causes of climate change. Evidence suggests that youth are well positioned to create such transformation. While various studies have contributed empirical evidence to numerous youth-based non-formal environmental engagement programmes, what is missing in the environmental education literature is discussion of a systematic approach to the development and evaluation of these programs. In this paper, we draw on the youth civic engagement literature to propose a framework that can be used as a basis to guide further development of evidence-based practices. Five major components are described as follows: (1) the engagement activity; (2) the engagement process; (3) initiating and sustaining factors; (4) mediators and moderators; and (5) outcomes. This approach to youth engagement can inform both researchers trying to study effective ways of creating change and practitioners developing environmental programmes that aspire towards a culture of sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Increasingly, humans are an urban species prone to ‘plant blindness’. This demographic shift and situation has implications for both individual and collective perceptions of nature, as well as for addressing ‘ecophobia’ and encouraging ‘biophilia’ through education. Contemporary humanity occupies a world in which extensive physical change, both in the landscape and its related organisms, is occurring. Education-related debates on these issues links to the noted phenomenon of a ‘bubble wrap generation’ growing up within ‘nature-deficit’ childhoods in ‘megalopolitan cities’. Indeed, some commentators consider that 'nature has already disappeared' and exists only in protected spaces. Such perceptions have consequences for education in ‘presented world’ settings such as zoos, botanic gardens and natural history museums. This editorial, and its associated collection of papers, considers the critical relationships between nature, culture and education in contemporary botanic gardens and the ways in which visitors navigate their journeys, as demonstrated by research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Botanic gardens, as well as being widely acknowledged as beautiful places, are often scientific organisations that aim to engage visitors, including families, in science learning. Yet, the extent to which families view them as settings for science learning is largely unexplored. Drawing upon social constructivist perspectives, this paper investigates families’ views of science learning at Kew Gardens. Kew is one of the largest botanic gardens worldwide and an internationally renowned scientific organisation located in London, UK. Twenty-four families took part in the study, which involved interviews and accompanied visits. Findings indicate that all families referred primarily to the aesthetic beauty of Kew, while its function as a site for science learning was less well acknowledged. However, interpretation helped families establish what constitutes science at Kew, and linked science to the beautiful plants, which offered avenues for families to appreciate science learning. The findings provide implications for developing interpretive provision in botanic gardens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to describe how the environment and environmental issues are conceptualized and positioned in the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) to examine underlying assumptions about the environment. The NGSS are a recent set of science standards in the USA, organized and led by Achieve Inc., that propose science education goals based on the National Research Council report, A Framework for K-12 Science Education. Drawing from critical discourse analysis, we present a detailed textual analysis of the NGSS to identify the positioning of the environment with respect to humans and human activity. This analysis shows patterns in the ways that the environment is conceptualized and inscribed in the standards as an entity separate from people through both exclusion and ambiguity. We also discuss findings about how agency is more often ascribed to actions or activities rather than people and when solutions to environmental issues are included, the focus is on technoscientific solutions. Finally, we provide implications for considering scientific and environmental literacy, education for action, and the role of standards documents in shaping educational practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we suggest that a new theoretical framework is needed within environmental education in the discussion of rural, underserved communities in Latin America. We argue that a community-resources approach, comprised of funds of knowledge and social capital, should be incorporated into contemporary research on place- and community-based education and environmental behavior. The model we present builds upon previous research in the areas of education, anthropology, social capital, and environmental education. These perspectives are discussed in accordance with their relevance to high school students in one of the most bio-diverse regions of Central America: the Osa Peninsula of Costa Rica. In this context, we suggest that promoting environmental behavior is both contextualized by and dependent upon social and community interactions, or ‘mediations,’ after Lev S. Vygotsky. We believe that the framework presented here may contribute to increased socio-economic, academic, and environmental benefits for underserved, Latin American communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores innovative environmental education strategies to conserve biodiversity in a rural-based context, in Lesotho. A case study approach was employed to investigate the community’s conception of botho philosophy and how it might promote nature conservation. Focus Group Interviews were conducted with 105 participants. The responses were analyzed to determine the community’s emerging definition and conception of botho. The findings indicate features of botho that parallel the ones that are found in the literature. In addition, botho was described metaphysically as a holistic spiritualised worldview that is concerned with a harmonious co-existence with others, nature and the Creator and empirically, in terms of moral attributes that foster co-existence within the socio-economic and natural systems. It is illustrated that botho can contribute towards environmental education discourse and nature conservation and thus diversify the pre-dominantly Euro-centric knowledge landscape in Lesotho. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Education for sustainable development (ESD) persists as an important concept within international policy and yet, despite considerable debate, there remains a lack of consensus as to a pedagogy for ESD in schools. This paper presents findings from a study investigating how an interdisciplinary approach to ESD in England developed one class of 16- and 17-year-old geography students' understandings of sustainability. The research used students' drawings of sustainable cities alongside questionnaires and semi-structured interviews to explore their understanding of sustainable development within a constructivist, case study framework. The study found that the use of poetry within a geography lesson developed students' appreciation of the social and economic dimensions of sustainability, although their focus persisted around the environmental. As such, it is argued that an interdisciplinary approach to ESD encourages students to engage more critically and affectively with the concept of sustainable development, thereby developing a more holistic appreciation of it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a study undertaken with the primary aim of investigating the effect of the storytelling teaching approach on kindergarten children's retention of ideas about the importance of trees. The study also assessed the effect of storytelling on children's intention to participate in a tree planting activity that they had to select from a list of activities. The story that was created included such elements as binary opposites, mental images, mystery, and wonder, according to Kieran Egan's theory. The study utilized a two-group design, was conducted in three phases (pre-test, intervention, and post-test), lasted 11 weeks, and its results provide evidence of the effectiveness of the storytelling approach when compared with the traditional method of expository teaching complemented with visual images (pictures) of trees and their importance to human beings. The pedagogical appropriateness of the story, which was based upon the binary pair of opposites 'security-insecurity', is also discussed in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By way of reclamation of the metaphor 'green,' this paper contends that research regarding the relationships between children's literatures and cultures and environmental experience requires a reinvigorated consideration of the role of the visual. The heightened importance of visual texts is made evident via three primary, contemporary conditions of textual dissemination: hyper-circulation, shifts from page to screen as the dominant method of textual transmission, and increases in visuals as the primary mode of information conveyance. The conditions of textual distribution also call to question the status quo understanding of children's subject formation. This paper contends that by examining new media technologies in conjunction with methodologies borrowed from studies of complex ecology and systems theories, research might be able to better theorize how and why children's texts influence children's lived experiences with environments and place. Ultimately, this paper proposes not just that a greater attention to the visual rhetoric of children's texts is crucial, but that researchers also consider how current contexts encourage child subjects to produce texts as active agents within complex networks, not only interpret them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper engages questions about ends in environmental education research. In doing so, I argue that such questions are essentially normative, and that normative questions are underrepresented in this field. After cautioning about perils of prescribing research agendas, I gently suggest that in environmental education key normative questions exist at the intersection of 'education' and 'ethics', and that they point to an area of research that deserves more attention. In describing the intersecting nature of these ideas, I show that how education is conceived in turn shapes interpretations of ethics, and vice versa. Seen this way, I also show how ethics inquiry in an educational context can be conceived as a means to explore controversy, dissonance, unconventional ideas, and to imagine new possibilities. Finally, I argue that research at this intersection of education and ethics can provide insights that can enable us to teach, inquire, and ultimately live as if the world mattered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper suggests a particular question that higher education researchers might ask: 'Do educational programs use teaching methods that are environmentally, socially and economically sustainable?' It further proposes that program evaluation research (PER) can be used to answer the question. Consideration is given to: a) program evaluation research processes and indicators, and their modifications for evaluating the sustainability of teaching methods; and b) institutional sustainability evaluation research tools and their modifications for the evaluation of teaching. North American university and college program evaluation websites and sustainability evaluation tools used to assess universities in North America are examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Campus sustainability projects provide an opportunity to explicitly link campus operations and academics. College and university buildings and grounds offer the potential for numerous hands-on sustainability projects. Few schools explicitly link sustainability projects with academics as often the academic side of an institution is separate from the operational side. This paper analyzes projects at Carleton College and the University of Minnesota that successfully combined facilities projects with academics. We analyze the academic and facilities management benefits of these projects and offer recommendations for linking academic and sustainable campus projects. The article advocates for intensified collaborations between academics and facilities managers, to provide win-win outcomes for both sectors of the campus community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainability in higher education is dominated by practical 'greening the campus' programs and initiatives. This paper examines sustainable university research and development projects as part of the 'greening the campus' spectrum, yet distinct in their specific holistic and scientific orientation. Sustainable university projects seek institutional transformation in strategic and systematic ways; they perceive universities as open, dynamic systems capable of learning and change. Within this system, the two interlocking subsystems of academia and operations provide many leverage points for sustainable development; when utilized together, synergies for sustainability in higher education emerge which may quicken whole-systems transformation. Sustainable university research and development not only describes and monitors such opportunities and processes of institutional transformation, it also directs institutional development toward a more sustainable university. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Beginning by highlighting considerations of the intersections among social and ecological issues and the recent diversification of critical pedagogy, this paper suggests means by which approaches such as Gruenewald's (2003) “critical pedagogy of place” can be expanded to accommodate a broader range of possible places of pedagogy. The paper is centrally concerned with what happens when we consider socio-ecological learning, not as occuring via cognitive critique or embodied place-based experience, but rather as taking place in between the thought and the sensed via a range of intersubjective experiences. It suggests that these intersubjective locations that comprise the “where” of the learning of the student can be particular physical places, but can also be in and of experiences of friendship, art, literature, irony, cultural difference, community. By expanding our possible repertoire of “pedagogical arts,” or the range of intersubjective places and spaces of pedagogy engaged, we are able to conceptualise and practise education in ways that enable a deeper connection to place but also opportunities for other modes and outcomes of student learning. In particular, the paper outlines the possibilities for learning and cultural formation enabled by spaces of collective youth engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a national evaluation project that investigated characteristics of environmental education (EE) practice in New Zealand schools in 2002-2003. The research included a review of New Zealand and international environmental education literature, a survey of nearly 200 New Zealand schools and case studies of environmental education practice in eight schools. In this paper we describe and discuss key features of environmental education practice in New Zealand schools at the time of the research. We consider the rewards and challenges for teachers, students, schools and the wider school community arising from the schools' implementation of this non-compulsory curriculum subject. We conclude by considering what the findings told us about current EE practice and how these findings might inform a greater emphasis towards environmental education/education for sustainability in New Zealand schools at a time of national curriculum policy change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many environmental problems are desperately in need of attention. Educating both adults and young people is seen as part of the solution to such problems. Given this situation, and the already considerable investment in environmental education in schools, the notion of encouraging students to initiate environmental discussions with adults at home and in the community seems attractive and worthy of investigation. To this end, this paper critically reviews education and social science literature concerning intergenerational influence. An approach is outlined to guide future efforts in research and programme development aimed at encouraging students’ to act as catalysts of environmental communication and learning beyond school boundaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental education, both in and outside of the classroom, aims to facilitate adoption of sustainable practice by both school students and the general public. This paper explores the role of free-choice learning experiences in this regard. An overview of theoretical approaches underpinning free-choice learning research is provided, examples are presented of the ways in which informal educational settings can promote environmentally sustainable attitudes and behaviour, and the factors contributing to the effectiveness of these endeavours are discussed. By reviewing research evidence in relation to these issues, the paper identifies the current ‘state of the game’ and areas where new research is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper discusses the ‘value-through-utility’ argument as a key ingredient of environmental educators' interests in traditional ecological knowledge (TEK), and examines some of the epistemological and philosophical tensions it generates in employing TEK within the context of learning with sustainability in mind. In an earlier article (Reid et al., 2002), we argued that it is important to recognize that it is outsiders rather than insiders who usually conceptualize TEK. In this paper, we develop this point further, exploring the theorization and practice of TEK-based environmental education in the context of discourses about sustainability and environmental education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This single case study, situated within a larger narrative inquiry project, closely examines the professional stories told by one Project Grow teacher. Project Grow is a 10-year-old collaborative interdisciplinary environmental education project at a New York City alternative public high school. Through the practice of an innovative participatory action research (PAR) pedagogy, Project Grow's teachers and community-based mentors have engaged with their students to transform a once barren urban schoolyard into a continually evolving outdoor green ’learnscape’. A close analysis of narrative themes and narrative voice in one Project Grow teacher's schoolyard tale reveals some of the dilemmas of professional identity and professional practice a teacher encounters in facilitating a PAR schoolyard project. This narrative study of one teacher's experiences illuminates in microcosm the variously supporting and hindering personal, interpersonal, professional, cultural and political factors that inform and shape innovative environmental education teaching. The paper also explores the implications of these findings for the education of secondary school environmental educators in institutions of higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes a multidisciplinary action research project that aimed to develop a theoretical framework and four exemplary teaching modules for elementary and secondary school that promote a pluralistic view on nature. In a 2-year study, researchers from three disciplines (pedagogy, sociology and philosophy) collaborated with curriculum developers and textbook authors. This paper presents the theoretical framework that was developed during the project. The teaching modules are described, and one of the modules is delineated. Finally, the results are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]