Environmental education in transition: A critical review of recent research on climate change and energy education

Figures & data

Table 1. Types of environmental action (adapted from Jensen, 2002, p. 327; Jensen, 2004, p. 413; Stern, 2000, p. 409–410).

Type	Defining characteristics
Individual	Action by individual actors (persons/organizations)
Collective	Action by groups of individual actors (persons/organizations)
Private	Action in the private sector (e.g., households, private firms)
Public	Action in the public sector (activist/non-activist)
Direct	Action that benefits the environment directly (actor-to-environment)
Indirect	Action that benefits the environment indirectly (actor-to-actor)

Table 2. Examples of individual and organizational actors, by sector, in sustainability transitions (adapted from Avelino & Wittmayer, 2016).

Sector	Individual actors	Organizational actors
Public	Politician, policymaker, citizen, voter	Political parties, official state agencies, governmental departments
Private	Family member, neighbor, friend	Households, informal networks, community groups, clubs
Private (market)	Entrepreneur, consumer, employer, employee	Private firms, businesses, multinationals
Public-private	Activist, volunteer, student, researcher	Cooperatives, schools, universities, NGOs

Table 3. Recent EE research that uses the energy behavior of individual persons to measure the effectiveness of educational interventions.

	Primary focus	Population	Energy behaviors measured	Type (Stern, 2000)
Dijkstra & Goedhart (2012)	Climate change education	Secondary school students	Energy conservation and consumption	Private sphere
Ojala (2012)	Climate change education	Young adults	Energy conservation	Private sphere
Lee, Lin, Guu, Chang, & Lai (2013)	Energy education	Elementary school students	Energy conservation	Private sphere
Clayton, Luebke, Saunders, Matiasek, & Grajal (2014)	Climate change education	Adults	Energy conservation and consumption	Private sphere
Walker & Redmond (2014)	Environmental education	Small business owners	Energy conservation and consumption	Private sphere
Carmi, Arnon, & Orion (2015)	Environmental education	University students	Energy conservation	Private sphere
Barata, Castro, & Martins-Loução (2017)	Environmental education	University students	Energy conservation	Private sphere
Kil (2016)	Environmental education	Adults	Support for renewable energy subsidies	Policy support (individual)
Yang, Lin, & Liu (2017)	Energy education	University students	Persuading people to conserve energy	Non-activist political (individual)
Aguirre-Bielschowsky, Lawson, Stephenson, & Todd (2017)	Energy education	Elementary school students	Energy conservation and consumption	Private sphere
Stevenson, King, Selm, Peterson, & Monroe (2018)	Climate change education	Secondary school students	Support for adaptation and mitigation efforts Energy conservation	Policy support (individual) Private sphere

Figure 1. A series of painted murals depicting energy systems past, present, and future. Artist Carolyn Shapiro (2004) working with Champlain Elementary School students through the Vermont Energy Education Program.

Jensen, B. B. (2002). Knowledge, action and pro-environmental behaviour. Environmental Education Research, 8(3), 325–334.

 Google Scholar

Jensen, B. B. (2004). Environmental and health education viewed from an action-oriented perspective: A case from Denmark. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 36(4), 405–425.

 Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Stern, P. C. (2000). Toward a coherent theory of environmentally significant behavior. Journal of Social Issues, 56(3), 407–424.

 Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Avelino, F., & Wittmayer, J. M. (2016). Shifting power relations in sustainability transitions: A multi-actor perspective. Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning, 18(5), 628–649. doi:10.1080/1523908X.2015.1112259

 Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Dijkstra, E. M., & Goedhart, M. J. (2012). Development and validation of the ACSI: Measuring students’ science attitudes, pro-environmental behavior, climate change attitudes and knowledge. Environmental Education Research, 18(6), 733–749.

 Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Ojala, M. (2012). Hope and climate change: The importance of hope for environmental engagement among young people. Environmental Education Research, 18(5), 625–642. doi:10.1080/13504622.2011.637157

 Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Lee, L.-S., Lin, K.-Y., Guu, Y.-H., Chang, L.-T., & Lai, C.-C. (2013). The effect of hands-on “energy-saving house” learning activities on elementary school students’ knowledge, attitudes, and behavior regarding energy saving and carbon-­emissions reduction. Environmental Education Research, 19(5), 620–638.

 Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Clayton, S., Luebke, J., Saunders, C., Matiasek, J., & Grajal, A. (2014). Connecting to nature at the zoo: Implications for responding to climate change. Environmental Education Research, 20(4), 460–475.

 Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Walker, B., & Redmond, J. (2014). Changing the environmental behaviour of small business owners: The business case. Australian Journal of Environmental Education, 30(2), 254–268.

 Google Scholar

Carmi, N., Arnon, S., & Orion, N. (2015). Seeing the forest as well as the trees: General vs. specific predictors of environmental behavior. Environmental Education Research, 21(7), 1011–1028. doi:10.1080/13504622.2014.949626

 Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Yang, J. C., Lin, Y. L., & Liu, Y.-C. (2017). Effects of locus of control on behavioral intention and learning performance of energy knowledge in game-based learning. Environmental Education Research, 23(6), 886–899.

 Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Kil, N. (2016). Effects of vicarious experiences of nature, environmental attitudes, and outdoor recreation benefits on support for increased funding allocations. Journal of Environmental Education, 47(3), 222–236.

 Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Aguirre-Bielschowsky, I., Lawson, R., Stephenson, J., & Todd, S. (2017). Energy literacy and agency of New Zealand children. Environmental Education Research, 23(6), 832–854. doi:10.1080/13504622.2015.1054267

 Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Stevenson, K. T., King, T. L., Selm, K. R., Peterson, M. N., & Monroe, M. C. (2018). Framing climate change communication to prompt individual and collective action among adolescents from agricultural communities. Environmental Education Research, 24(3), 365–377.

 Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Shapiro, C. (2004). Energy systems past, present, and future [Painting]. Burlington, VT: Champlain Elementary School, Vermont Energy Education Program.

 Google Scholar