Maria Daskolia, Anna Trigatzi, Desalegn Yayeh Ayal, Ulisses M. Azeiteiro, Henri-Count Evans, Inga Grinfelde, José Baltazar Salgueirinho Osório de Andrade Guerra, Jasenka Gajdoš Kljusurić, João Carlos Correia Leitão, Chunlan Li, Newton R. Matandirotya, Bethwel Mutai, Gustavo J. Nagy, Thierry Razanakoto, Jame Schaefer, Haile A. Shishaye, Goran Trbic, Roberto Ariel Abeldaño Zuñiga, Sane Pashane Zuka, Charles Galdies, Adriana Consorte-McCrea, Francisco Platas, Mittul Vahanvati, Pedi Obani, Safwatun Nida, Lucas Gabriel Zanon, Mayara Régia Sousa de Melo, Renato da Costa dos Santos, Alison Glover
There is a growing body of research evidence showing the need to identify and integrate innovative yet effective pedagogical approaches in climate change education. Among the ones proposed as most appropriate are those that seek to ground scientific knowledge about climate change in students’ personal real-life situations, as well as those that engage them in active and experiential learning experiences. Based on this rationale, we propose an interdisciplinary approach to teaching and learning about climate change that draws on the combination of two different disciplines and their research methodologies: citizen science and environmental oral history. We first justify from a theoretical point of view the synergy between the two approaches in the context of climate change education, and then present an educational case study in which we applied and evaluated it. Fifteen Greek high school students participated in an educational fieldtrip to explore the relation between forest fires and climate change in the Parnitha National Park, a protected nature reserve at the top of the highest mountain in Attica. The students first engaged in citizen science processes recording and identifying plant species with the use of the Pl@ntNet app and then conducted and analyzed a life narrative interview with a civil protection volunteer and forest fire expert to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the interplay between the two issues. We discuss the added pedagogical and learning value of this approach to promote interdisciplinary understanding of the complex manifestations of climate change in local contexts. © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2026.
Center for Sustainable Development (Greens), Universidade do Sul de Santa Catarina (Unisul), Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, Brazil; School of Urban and Regional Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China; Kgotso Development Trust, Beitbridge, Zimbabwe; Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience Centre, Beitbridge, Zimbabwe; Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República Uruguay, Montevideo, Uruguay; CERED, University of Antananarivo, Antananarivo, Madagascar; Marquette University, Milwaukee, United States; University of Sierra Sur, Oaxaca, Mexico; University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland; Department of Land Economy, University of Malawi, The Polytechnic, Blantyre 3, Malawi; Institute of Earth Systems, University of Malta, Msida, Malta; Academy for Sustainable Futures, Canterbury Christ Church University, Kent, Canterbury, United Kingdom; Casa de Cultura de la UAEMéx en Tlalpan, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, Ciudad de México, Mexico; School of Global, Urban and Social Studies, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia; University of Bradford, Bradford, United Kingdom; Science Education Department of Universitas Negeri Malang, Malang, Indonesia; University of São Paulo, São Carlos, Brazil; State University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas, Brazil; Universidade do Contestado-UNC, Mafra, Brazil; The Open University, Cardiff, United Kingdom; Environmental Education Lab, Department of Educational Studies, School of Philosophy, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, University Campus, Athens, Greece; Center for Food Security Studies, College of Development Studies, Addis Ababa Univesity, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; The Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies (CESAM) and Department of Biology, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal; Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Eswatini, Manzini, Kwaluseni Campus, Matsapha, South Africa
