Project Pedagogy of Hope completed!

We are delighted to announce the completion of our "Pedagogy of Hope" project, funded by the Dutch Research Agenda (NWA-route Jeugd). Together with a transdisciplinary team from the faculties of Social Sciences, Geosciences, in collaboration with Stichting Technotrend and secondary education teachers, we developed lesson packages for high school students. The lessons focused on climate change, future thinking, and active hope. Lessons were tested by enthusiastic teachers. Their valuable feedback helped us to further improve the materials.

What have we discovered?

• The materials offer a stimulating way to activate future thinking among young people
• They spark engaging classroom discussions
• Climate change proves to be an engaging topic that connects well with conversations about the past and future. Even students who initially had little interest find the subject fascinating.

 What have we achieved? 

• Education: We developed practical and accessible teaching materials for secondary schools. No expensive knowledge about climate change is needed.
• Research: We collected extensive longitudinal data (3 measurement points) on topics such as climate-related mental health (eco-anxiety and eco-depression), climate change related attitudes and emotions, eco-identity, pro-environmental engagement, hope and future expectations (e.g., anticipated temperature rises).

What are we doing now?

Research & Publications

• Articles about the teaching material have been published in Geografie (paid access). The complete lesson material, including teacher guides and worksheets, is freely available. Please contact Tim Favier (t.favier@uu.nl) if you would like to receive these materials.
• We are developing a codebook with all data from the longitudinal Futuring Pedagogies
• Annabelle Christiaens is currently validating the ECO-Self questionnaire. This questionnaire measures how young people who grow up in a world threatened by climate change come to see pro-environmental engagement as part of their identity. With increasing concerns about the health of our planet, especially among young people, pro-environmental engagement can become a central aspect of who they are and want to become. More updates on this study will follow soon!

New projects 

This project has inspired new initiatives and funded projects, including testing materials for VMBO students. Are you or do you know a VMBO teacher? We'd love to involve you in this exciting new project!

We continue working on publications related to this project. If you're interested in the lesson materials, two articles have been published in Geografie (available via our website: www.didactiekvandehoop.nl). The complete lesson material, including teacher guides and worksheets, is available for free by contacting Tim Favier, t.t.favier@uu.nl. Importantly, the material doesn't require deep climate knowledge from teachers, making it accessible for educators at all levels of expertise.

Training for teachers

For those interested in implementing these materials, we offer training for teachers through our Masterclass Sustainable Education. Learn more and sign up at  www.masterclassduurzaamonderwijs.nl

Collaborate?

Thanks to the committed students and teachers, we were able to collect tons of data and are happy to share and collaborate!

If you are interested in working with the data and have research questions related to climate change related mental health, climate change education, youth perspectives, or any of the concepts we've studied, please reach out to Andrik Becht, a.i.becht@uu.nl

We're happy to share data and collaborate.

Find more updates here: www.didactiekvandehoop.nl

Thanks to: Tim Favier, Frank Goethals, Mark Boode Wiebe Bor, Annabelle Christiaens, Patrick van der Hofstad Stichting Technotrend, Britta Ricker, Karin Rebel, Dynamics of youth, Pathways to sustainability, Julia Kasch