Exploring the educative potential of disruptive existential experiences in climate change education: an analytical approach

Abstract

This paper examines the educative potential of disruptive existential experiences in climate change education (CCE) and introduces an analytical approach to studying this topic. Such experiences, often marked by despair, confusion, or anxiety, are commonly seen as pedagogical risks, yet this paper suggests that they can serve as entry points for inquiry in which their educative potential can be unlocked. Drawing on pragmatist educational theory and Dewey's transactional perspective, learning is conceptualised as a trajectory elicited by such experiences. In this perspective, educative potential is realised when disruption leads to the reflective reconstruction of experience, i.e. the formation of more flexible habits of thinking, noticing, feeling, and acting. The paper proposes a methodology and illustrates it with qualitative material from two higher education practices: a multidisciplinary summer school on climate change and an English literature master's course. These illustrations clarify how different forms of educative potential can be unlocked such as new creative answers to deal with the existential challenge of CC, coping with one's emotional responses, and person formation. The paper concludes by discussing the methodology and the findings it generated, and by outlining future didactic research directions for harnessing the educative potential of disruptive existential experiences in CCE.