Survey link: https://forms.gle/jXZzUfjxsMdjqTYB7
Research question:
What role does environmental education and energy literacy play in shaping the national energy transition in Germany?
Research summary:
Germany has undergone massive transformations in its energy infrastructure and policy to transition away from fossil fuels, with the aim of mitigating the nation’s contribution to climate change and increasing its energy security. Despite its success over the last decade, renewable and nuclear energy sources still make up less than half of Germany’s total energy supply (Germany – Countries & Regions, 2020). Shifting socio-technical regimes takes time and hinges on particular cognitive abilities, affective dispositions, and behavioral outcomes (Hermwille, 2016; DeWaters & Powers, 2013). The Energiewende is the work of both German society today and future generations of decision-makers. This research will explore if and how education supports energy literacy among young people, thereby promoting the energy transition and its underlying goals. The if will be largely addressed through surveys conducted in Germany with parents and caregivers of young people, as well as potential school visits. The how will be primarily addressed through literature exploring existing models of environmental education and how they shape and are shaped by national energy agendas. This research will operate out of the assumption that environmental education and energy literacy are important tools for shifting socio-technical regimes and realizing the Energiewende’s ambitious goals (Bridge et al., 2018, p. 264).
One major insight from the literature is that the foundations for environmental education were developed in the 1980s and 90s when behavior change and resource conservation were seen as adequate pathways to address environmental problems (Jorgenson et al., 2019). Just as the energy transition is demanding new policy, technology, and ways of thinking nationally, so too is environmental education happening in homes and schools. Another key finding is that “consumption patterns are widely discussed in school education” in Germany and that they are often accompanied by a “moral code” whereby behaviors can be considered “good” or “bad”. This study also found that environmental education often encounters a tension between communicating “universal values” to young people that prescribe attitudes and behaviors versus encouraging “reflexivity and critical thinking” in shaping their futures (Kowasch & Lippe, 2019).
References
Bridge, G. (2018). Energy and society: A critical perspective. Routledge.
DeWaters, J., & Powers, S. (2013). Establishing Measurement Criteria for an Energy Literacy Questionnaire. Journal of Environmental Education, 44(1), 38–55. https://doi.org/10.1080/00958964.2012.711378
Germany—Countries & Regions. (2020). IEA. https://www.iea.org/countries/germany
Hermwille, L. (2016). The role of narratives in socio-technical transitions—Fukushima and the energy regimes of Japan, Germany, and the United Kingdom. Energy Research & Social Science, 11, 237–246. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2015.11.001
Jorgenson, S. N., Stephens, J. C., & White, B. (2019). Environmental education in transition: A critical review of recent research on climate change and energy education. The Journal of Environmental Education, 50(3), 160–171. https://doi.org/10.1080/00958964.2019.1604478
Kowasch, M., & Lippe, D. F. (2019). Moral impasses in sustainability education? Empirical results from school geography in Austria and Germany. Environmental Education Research, 25(7), 1066–1082. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2018.1557112