Researching the Teaching and Learning of Action Competence in relation to Sustainability

Description

While we are exposed to aggravating sustainability problems, education faces some pressing challenges: to overcome the gap between knowing about sustainability problems and acting in the pursuit of tackling them, that feelings of worry, anxiety, ‘ecological grief’ do not only severely affect young people’s health and wellbeing, it also brings about ‘eco-paralysis’ that prevents people to act. Yet, there is limited research that can support teachers to tackle these challenges. Thus, the aim is to develop knowledge about teaching and learning action competence (AC), since it is argued that such competence amongst students could overcome the knowledge-behaviour gaps and paralysis.

Three cases where students engage with sustainability problems are investigated: STEM makerspaces, Remaking activities in Sloyd, and Living Labs in Physical and Health Education. With the aid of a transactional theory, a practical epistemological analysis and ‘teachers moves’ analysis, it is possible to do much needed research, i.e. to i) investigate the role of the bodily dimension – the affective (affect, feeling), the senses (e.g. touching) and movements – for learning AC ii) research the entanglement of the bodily and the cognitive dimensions in the learning of AC iii) conduct high-resolution research on the learning process and its outcome, iv) develop knowledge on crucial conditions and principles of teaching and learning AC by investigating the impact of teachers’ actions on students’ learning.