The climate crisis as an impetus for learning: Approaching environmental education from learners’ perspectives1

Maria Stimm; Jörg Dinkelaker

doi:10.3384/rela.2000-7426.5123

Authors

Maria Stimm University of Koblenz, Department of Educational Sciences (Education and Pedagogy), Research Unit: Adult Education and Gender Studies
Jörg Dinkelaker Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Faculty of Philosophy III – Pedagogy, Department of Education and Pedagogy, Research Unit: Adult and Continuing Education https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8056-361X

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3384/rela.2000-7426.5123

Keywords:

ecology, learning contexts, mass media, social movements, organisation

Abstract

This contribution examines the kinds of situations in which people begin to learn in the context of the climate crisis. This approach differs from how learning is usually debated in environmental education, which typically focuses on why adults should learn and how this learning can be induced by educational efforts. To understand why and how adults initiate learning, we engage with the debate on concepts of exploring ‘impetuses for learning’ (Lernanlässe), which has been a topic of discussion in the German-speaking context over the past decades. We explore how this concept provides an empirical perspective on the diverse contexts in which adult learning currently occurs and could potentially occur in the future as the climate crisis continues to unfold.

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Author Biographies

Maria Stimm, University of Koblenz, Department of Educational Sciences (Education and Pedagogy), Research Unit: Adult Education and Gender Studies

Maria Stimm is research assistant at the University of Koblenz in the research unit “Adult Education and Gender Studies”. She was previously research assistant at the Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg and the Humboldt University of Berlin. She earned her PhD at the University of Rostock in 2018. In this empirical study, she analysed adult learning in science communication formats. Her research interests include adult learning in the socio-ecological transformation and counselling services for adults.

Jörg Dinkelaker, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Faculty of Philosophy III – Pedagogy, Department of Education and Pedagogy, Research Unit: Adult and Continuing Education

Jörg Dinkelaker is professor for adult and continuing education at the Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg since 2016. He earned his PhD in 2008 at the Goethe-University in Frankfurt with an empirical study on the communicative display of learning in informal contexts. From 2019 up to 2023 he was head of the research training group “Mediation and translation in transition”. His research fields are adult learning, knowledge translation, history of adult education and qualitative research.

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