University of Oulu

Yli-Panula E, Jeronen E, Koskinen S, Mäki S. Finnish University Students’ Views on Climate Change Education and Their Own Ability to Act as Climate Educators. Education Sciences. 2022; 12(3):169. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci12030169

Finnish university students’ views on climate change education and their own ability to act as climate educators

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Author: Yli-Panula, Eija1; Jeronen, Eila2; Koskinen, Salla3;
Organizations: 1Department of Teacher Education, Faculty of Education, University of Turku, FI-20014 Turku, Finland
2Faculty of Education, University of Oulu, FI-90014 Oulu, Finland
3Department of Geography and Geology, Faculty of Science, University of Turku, FI-20014 Turku, Finland
Format: article
Version: published version
Access: open
Online Access: PDF Full Text (PDF, 10.4 MB)
Persistent link: http://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi-fe2022042730871
Language: English
Published: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute, 2022
Publish Date: 2022-04-27
Description:

Abstract

Climate change (CC) has widespread impacts on human and natural systems and thus threatens the future of contemporary youths. Only a few studies on climate change education (CCE) have been published in Finland, and no research has been conducted on upper secondary education. Thus, this study investigated Finnish university students’ views on CCE in upper secondary schools. According to them, the most common goals in CCE are increasing and structuring knowledge, developing thinking skills, and encouraging action both today and in the future. The respondents considered preconceived notions and opinions stemming from their inner circles, the media, and social debate to be the most difficult factor in teaching about CC. CCE was perceived to provide either a weak or relatively weak capacity to follow a climate-friendly lifestyle. By increasing and diversifying teaching and strengthening multidisciplinarity, climate-friendly lifestyles can be improved. The respondents’ views on current and future CCE differed most clearly concerning motivation and inclusion, which are not prevalent in contemporary teaching. The results indicate, however, that the university students were motivated to increase and develop CCE, and according their answers, their own capacity to address different aspects of CCE was relatively good.

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Series: Education sciences
ISSN: 2227-7102
ISSN-E: 2227-7102
ISSN-L: 2227-7102
Volume: 12
Issue: 3
Article number: 169
DOI: 10.3390/educsci12030169
OADOI: https://oadoi.org/10.3390/educsci12030169
Type of Publication: A1 Journal article – refereed
Field of Science: 516 Educational sciences
Subjects:
Copyright information: © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
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