Environmental Literacy, Sustainable Education and Posthumanist Pedagogy: Teaching the Climate Crisis in a Global, Transatlantic Online Setting

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  • Author(s): Laurenz Volkmann (ORCID Laurenz Volkmann (ORCID 0000-0002-4033-6700); Hedwig Fraunhofer
  • Language:
    English
  • Source:
    International Journal of Development Education and Global Learning. 2023 15(2):87-102.
  • Publication Date:
    2023
  • Document Type:
    Journal Articles
    Reports - Evaluative
  • Additional Information
    • Availability:
      UCL Press. University College London (UCL), Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK. email: [email protected]; Web site: https://www.uclpress.co.uk/pages/international-journal-of-development-education-and-global-learning
    • Peer Reviewed:
      Y
    • Source:
      16
    • Education Level:
      Higher Education
      Postsecondary Education
    • Subject Terms:
      Environmental Education; Scientific Literacy; Sustainability; Climate; Global Approach; Ecology; Student Centered Learning; Higher Education; Foreign Countries; Critical Thinking; Thinking Skills; Media Literacy; Digital Literacy; Interdisciplinary Approach
    • Subject Terms:
      United States; Germany
    • ISSN:
      1756-526X
      1756-5278
    • Abstract:
      In this article, we aim to contribute to the theoretical conceptualisation and praxis of development education and global learning by engaging with recent discussions in the areas of ecocriticism, ecological literacy and posthumanism. Employing a pedagogical approach that is learner-centred and participatory, and that prepares learners to question dominant, globally relevant social norms, development education and global learning empower learners to be active global citizens. In congruence with this approach, we discuss the transformative pedagogical strategies employed in an innovative transdisciplinary course on the climate crisis jointly offered online by two institutions of higher learning in the US and Germany. We explore the philosophical and pedagogical stakes of this process-oriented, inquiry-based and immersive teaching intervention, and its logistical and organisational parameters, educational goals, course content and methodology, as well as some course specifics and impact. Adopting a critical pedagogical approach to climate change as a central global issue, our conceptualisation blends a focus on critical media skills (ecocriticism) with a posthumanist critique of dominant anthropocentric views of the more-than-human world. Centrally linking ontological, cultural and linguistic diversity in both curriculum design and pedagogy, this approach encourages learners to develop the transcultural skills needed to effect positive change on a local and global scale.
    • Abstract:
      As Provided
    • Publication Date:
      2024
    • Accession Number:
      EJ1409509