Undergraduates often express that they feel powerless to help solve important challenges such as climate change and environmental degradation, consistent with the broader phenomena of ecoparalysis. Viewed through value-expectancy frameworks for motivation, value for an outcome and self-efficacy to achieve it lead to goals, which motivate…

Education for sustainable development is needed at all school levels. The aim of this systematic literature review is to increase knowledge on sustainability competences in the context of primary school education for sustainable development. The sustainability competences considered in this study are systems thinking competence, futures thinking…

Fostering interdependence with nature is a central goal of environmental education. Exposing students to nature has been a common practice in environmental education for nurturing this connection among students. However, this exposition is not always feasible, especially in the context of higher education, nor is it clear that exposure to nature…

As a case study on the presence (or absence) of environmental education in history textbooks, this paper examines how Singapore's nationally mandated secondary school history curriculum portrays the relationship between humans and the nonhuman environment. It analyzes all seven government-authored lower-secondary-level history textbooks, published…

The question what the focus of climate change education should be has been debated by academics and policy makers. However, this debate is informed to only a limited extent by empirical research on the position of teachers. Based on interviews with nineteen experienced secondary geography teachers in the Netherlands, nine orientations were…

In order to mitigate climate change, individuals need to make lifestyle changes that help reduce carbon emissions. As teachers play an important role in modeling pro-environmental behavior to their students, this study investigated whether there are some types of climate actions which pre-service teachers themselves are most reluctant to take. The…

Environmental and sustainability education cannot disconnect itself from politics. In order to achieve sustainable societies, we need approaches that educate students capable of coping with the political complexities of environmental issues in a civic environmental context. This study proposes a pluralistic environmental citizenship approach based…

Emotion is a central aspect for protecting the environment in environmental and sustainability education (ESE). As such, positive emotions toward nature can increase motivation to learn and take environmental action. This qualitative case study explored the complex interrelationship among place-based education, emotions and values related to ESE,…

People who regard nature as important and personally meaningful are often compelled to conserve it. This compulsion is increasingly vital in a world where global climate and biodiversity crises are worsening, with younger generations set to bear most of the resulting ecological burden. By understanding why children and adolescents value nature, we…

A primary aim of environmental education is to promote environmental values. Significant life experiences (SLE) are a powerful, fast and long-lasting way to achieve this objective, but they have received little scholarly attention thus far. As examples to help us characterize SLE and understand their function, the cases of three well-known…

Transformative Learning Theory is instrumental in fostering sustained positive change in adult learners as it explains how critical reflection in crystallization processes results in emancipatory learning. Despite its relevance, there is no reliable approach that can systematically produce Transformational Learning for sustainability purposes.…

This article develops a series of speculative propositions for an immanent environmental ethics that is responsive to the challenges of the Anthropocene epoch. The article is framed within a new materialist approach to environmental education, and specifically works to re-imagine the notion of justice in terms of performative gestures,…

The roots and goals of outdoor education (OE) in Canada are often linked to the Canadian summer camp tradition that emerged in the early 1900s which centered around character development, and the environmental movement of the 1950s and 1960s. However, a comprehensive understanding of the philosophies, goals, and activities of modern Canadian OE…

With an interest in the role of emotions and values in students' meaning-making in Environmental and Sustainability Education a case study was carried out in a Swedish school-class with students, 12 years of age. During a six-week thematic group-work focusing environmental and sustainability issues related to food, the students were observed and…

In this article, I report the findings from a qualitative study involving seven ecologically minded teachers who participated in a Critical Friends Group. Ecologically minded teachers are not necessarily trained or required to teach about environmental issues, yet they do so because of their values and beliefs. The participants shared the…