Knowledge Agora



Scientific Article details

Title A futuring approach to teaching wicked problems
ID_Doc 9713
Authors Hoffman, J; Pelzer, P; Albert, L; Béneker, T; Hajer, M; Mangnus, A
Title A futuring approach to teaching wicked problems
Year 2021
Published Journal Of Geography In Higher Education, 45.0, 4
DOI 10.1080/03098265.2020.1869923
Abstract This paper investigates how the teaching and learning about "wicked" environmental problems may be fostered through an educational approach premised on futuring - the active imagination of the future. The growing academic interest in possible and desirable futures provides a promising starting point for restructuring education as coupling knowledge to imagination and teaching to policy practice can open up new, experiential ways of learning. Empirically, this paper draws upon research on an experimental futuring course employing a "mixed classroom" formula in which students and policy-makers learn together about sustainability challenges. Drawing on the notion of inquiry, this course is set up with the aim to foster a critical engagement with the ways futures are imagined in political debates and decision-making. Through complementary activities, the students were pushed to imagine possible futures around a central theme, the transition to a circular economy, in interaction with the policy-makers and other practitioners. This culminated in a "Museum of the Future". From our action-research-based investigation of the learning experiences in the course, we conclude that a futuring approach to teaching wicked problems results in a more active attitude of students towards the space in which wicked problems and solutions are collectively imagined and deliberated.
Author Keywords Futuring; design education; transdisciplinary education; wicked problems; museum of the Future; experiential Making
Index Keywords Index Keywords
Document Type Other
Open Access Open Access
Source Social Science Citation Index (SSCI)
EID WOS:000607089400001
WoS Category Education & Educational Research; Geography
Research Area Education & Educational Research; Geography
PDF https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/03098265.2020.1869923?needAccess=true
Similar atricles
Scroll