An experimental phenomenological study of a systems thinking & contemplative education approach to teaching climate change in educational settings.

Abstract: Educational systems constantly shape and rebuild our lives. Faced with the urgency of climate change, the development of knowledge by students about the climate crisis and their own role in global systems is critically important to prepare them for their future lives as global citizens and decision makers. This calls for educational systems to take a more prominent position in educating educators on how knowledge-making and the learning approach to teach climate change can be rethought. Hence this thesis investigates which paradigms can be changed in order to inspire systemic change in the educational system, particularly in the way climate change science is being taught to students. This research investigates a specific case: The online intergenerational Compassionate Climate Programme offered by the Center of System Awareness. It recounts some of the participants' stories and experiences of engaging with a combination of systems thinking and a contemplative education approach to teaching climate change. The experiences of the participants and educators are compared and covered using an experimental phenomenological approach. Through the analysis of interviews, this research shows how the combination of systems thinking and a contemplative education approach can reveal common themes that are described as leverage points for restructuring paradigms in how education on climate change is being taught to students. Within these themes, this research shows how contemplative education creates a room of reflection that can offer an ontological shift in the individual’s attitude towards climate change and shows how ontology is inseparable from the individual’s cultural context. This means that cultural context and ontology play a crucial role in forming the individual’s experience of climate change and this must be considered in how climate change is being taught to students.