Narratives of change as an approach to sustainability education in real-life sustainability education

Fecha de evento: 02/04/2025
Hora: 10:00-12:00
Lugar: Aula 170, Facultad de Psicología y Educación, Universitat de Girona  

Some scholars denote the sustainability crisis as a crisis of the imagination. From this view, the sustainability crisis challenges our human ability to make sense of the world through the narratives and visions that we create for and about ourselves, guiding our interaction in sociomaterial, cultural contexts as we integrate action with motives and a fundamental sense of who we are at the personal and the societal levels. In this complex landscape, the capacity to question prevailing narratives and shape new ones as we navigate and envision viable and alternative futures becomes crucial. This seminar will explore narratives of change as a concept and methodological approach in open schooling collaboration projects—projects in which schools collaborate with out-of-school actors seeking well-being aims in their local communities—in sustainability education.

Erik Knain – Faculty of Teacher Education and School Research, University of Oslo, Norway. 

Erik Knain has a strong background in science education and works at the University of Oslo, where he focuses on inquiry-based teaching, scientific literacy and education for sustainability. His research explores how students engage with science through representation, participation and real-world issues, thereby fostering interdisciplinary collaboration and action-oriented learning. He is a full professor in the Department of Teacher Education and School Research at the University of Oslo in Norway. His research areas include science education, scientific literacy, multimodality and education for sustainable development. He led the «Science Education for Action and Engagement towards Sustainability» (SEAS) project, which was funded by the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme and focused on promoting science education for sustainability. He has also published numerous research papers on inquiry-based teaching methods, the relationship between science education and sustainability, and the use of multimodal representations in science learning. He recently participated in the ODS Conference in Bergen in 2024, where he discussed the role of universities in transformation processes towards sustainability.