A futuring approach to teaching wicked problems

Journal Article (2021)
Author(s)

Jesse Hoffman (Universiteit Utrecht)

Peter Pelzer (Universiteit Utrecht)

Loes Albert (Universiteit Utrecht)

Tine Béneker (Universiteit Utrecht)

Maarten Hajer (Universiteit Utrecht)

Astrid Mangnus (Universiteit Utrecht)

Affiliation
External organisation
DOI related publication
https://doi.org/10.1080/03098265.2020.1869923
More Info
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Publication Year
2021
Language
English
Affiliation
External organisation
Issue number
4
Volume number
45
Pages (from-to)
576-593

Abstract

This paper investigates how the teaching and learning about “wicked” environmental problems may be fostered through an educational approach premised on futuring–the active imagination of the future. The growing academic interest in possible and desirable futures provides a promising starting point for restructuring education as coupling knowledge to imagination and teaching to policy practice can open up new, experiential ways of learning. Empirically, this paper draws upon research on an experimental futuring course employing a “mixed classroom” formula in which students and policy-makers learn together about sustainability challenges. Drawing on the notion of inquiry, this course is set up with the aim to foster a critical engagement with the ways futures are imagined in political debates and decision-making. Through complementary activities, the students were pushed to imagine possible futures around a central theme, the transition to a circular economy, in interaction with the policy-makers and other practitioners. This culminated in a “Museum of the Future”. From our action-research-based investigation of the learning experiences in the course, we conclude that a futuring approach to teaching wicked problems results in a more active attitude of students towards the space in which wicked problems and solutions are collectively imagined and deliberated.

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