Centering Care in Transformative Climate Change Education
A Theoretical Framework for Communal Learning Ecosystems
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21392842 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Amal Ibourk (0000-0001-9019-5208, Science Education, School of Teacher Education Florida State University Tallahassee Florida USA, corresponding author), Deb Morrison (0000-0001-7733-0794, Florida State University), Deb L Morrison (Science Education, School of Teacher Education Florida State University Tallahassee Florida USA) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 110 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 1224-1245 |
| Publication date | 2026-07-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Science Education (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0036-8326 • E-ISSN: 1098-237X |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1002/sce.70054 |
| OpenAlex | W7125999294 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 55 |
Research‐practice partnerships addressing climate change education face challenges navigating political resistance, epistemic tensions, and systemic inequities within schools and communities. Recent scholarship has outlined transformative climate change education (TCCE) as requiring the simultaneous transformation of curricula, pedagogies, and assessment systems. Building on this work, we propose Communal Learning Ecosystems (CLEs) as a theoretical model addressing the partnership structures and relational infrastructure necessary to support and sustain TCCE. Grounded in an ethics of care and drawing from literature on research‐practice partnerships, Indigenous relationality, and transformative learning, the CLE framework emphasizes co‐design, adaptive strategies, relational trust‐building, and land‐based positionality. We theorize how caring, relationality, and positionality within partnerships can foster effective TCCE, particularly in politically resistant contexts. We argue this model serves as a framework for addressing structural challenges, sustaining collective action, and co‐creating just and sustainable educational futures
Climate change · Cognitive reframing · General partnership · Indigenous · Indigenous Education · Politics · Scholarship · Transformative learning · Environmental Education and Sustainability · Indigenous and Place-Based Education · Posthumanist Ethics and Activism
Caring reciprocity as a relational and political ideal in Confucianism and care ethics
Learning on the Job
Relational agency
Infrastructuring as a Practice of Design-Based Research for Supporting and Studying Equitable Implementation and Sustainability of Innovations
Indigenous and Authentic
The caring relation in teaching
Understanding Eco-anxiety
Eco-anxiety in children
Rethinking Quality Science Education for Climate Action
Locally led adaptation
Talking through the “messy middle” of partnerships in science education
Critical climate awareness as a science education outcome
Students' credibility criteria for evaluating scientific information
The role of collective sensemaking and science curriculum development within a research–practice partnership
Freedom of Movement
Climate anxiety in children and young people and their beliefs about government responses to climate change
Whose culture has capital? A critical race theory discussion of community cultural wealth
A systematic review of climate change education
The Communiversity Model
Justice in climate change education
Getting to the heart of transformation
Too late for indigenous climate justice
Indigenous Science for a World in Crisis
Towards a transformative climate change education
Hope and climate change
Confucian Ethics and Care Ethics
Teachers’ emotions in educational reforms
Authority, Status, and the Dynamics of Insider–Outsider Partnerships at the District Level
Dignity-Affirming Care in Research-Practice Partnerships
Uncovering Emotion in Youth Digital Civic Participation Around Climate Change
Transforming the Role of RPPs in Remaking Educational Systems
Learning on the Move Toward Just, Sustainable, and Culturally Thriving Futures
Affective Contradictions and Narratives of Change
How Do These Data Make You Feel ?” The Emergence of Emotional Pathways in Community Science Data Talks About Climate Justice Issues
Transformative Climate and Environmental Education for a Just Future
Dilemmas in a general theory of planning
Suspending Damage
Intersectionality & Climate Justice
Positionality, relationality, place, and land
Redressing First Nations historical trauma
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |