Recognition and operationalization of Future‐Scaffolding Skills

Results from an empirical study of a teaching–learning module on climate change and futures thinking

Bibliographic Data

ID21392905
AuthorsOlivia Levrini (0000-0002-4267-3989, Department of Physics and Astronomy “A. Righi”, Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna Bologna Italy), Giulia Tasquier (0000-0002-7558-494X, Department of Physics and Astronomy “A. Righi”, Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna Bologna Italy, corresponding author), Eleonora Barelli (0000-0002-1468-6950, Department of Physics and Astronomy “A. Righi”, Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna Bologna Italy), Antti Laherto (0000-0001-5062-7571, Department of Education University of Helsinki Helsinki Finland), Elina Palmgren (0000-0003-0036-2282, Department of Physics University of Helsinki Helsinki Finland), Laura Branchetti (0000-0002-2926-075X, Department of Mathematical, Physical, and Computer Sciences University of Parma Parma Italy), Caitlin Wilson (0009-0003-6846-3423, Landvernd, the Icelandic Environment Association Reykjavik Iceland)
Year2021
Volume105
Issue2
Pages281-308
Publication date2021-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueScience Education (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0036-8326 • E-ISSN: 1098-237X
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/sce.21612
OpenAlexW3122681373
LanguageEN
Citations received42
References cited36

This article takes its point of departure from the younger generation's problematic relationship with time and the future. A general sense of changeability and directionlessness in society compromises young people's confidence in themselves to make a difference as individuals in important global issues affecting their futures, such as climate change. Given recent aims and commitments of science education to promote sustainable development and student agency, this study explores how science teaching can help students imagine and face possible future scenarios and develop agency in the present to influence them. This article presents a science education approach to equip secondary school students with skills of futures thinking and agency that we call “future‐scaffolding skills.” It also shows the process of building an operational definition for recognizing those skills in students' discourse and actions. For this purpose, an empirical study was carried out in the context of a teaching–learning module on climate change, consisting of activities inspired by the field of futures studies. Essays, individual and group interviews, questionnaires, and video recordings of students' final projects were collected from 24 students (16–19‐years old) from three European countries. The results contribute to operationally defining “future‐scaffolding skills,” consisting of “structural skills” (the ability to recognize temporal, logical and causal relationships and build systemic views) and “dynamical skills” (the ability to navigate scenarios, relating local details to global views, past to present and future, and individual to collective actions)

Agency (philosophy) · Business · Context (archaeology) · Empirical research · Futures contract · Mathematics education · Operationalization · Pedagogy · Science education · Social science · Sociology · Climate Change Communication and Perception · Environmental Education and Sustainability · Psychology · Science Education and Pedagogy