Feinstein is lead author on, ‘Three roles for education in climate change adaptation’

January 6, 2020   |   By UW-Madison School of Education

From UW-Madison School of Education

UW–Madison’s Noah Feinstein is the lead author on a new article published in the journal Climate Policy that explains how education can play an important role in helping society adapt to a changing climate.

Feinstein is an associate professor with the School of Education’s Department of Curriculum and Instruction. The co-author on the report is K.J. Mach from the University of Miami.

The paper’s abstract notes how “education, appropriately conceived, can be a powerful tool in enabling effective adaptation to climate change.”

The abstract then explains three policy uses:

• First, protecting and deploying education infrastructure, the social and material resources on which education depends, can reduce vulnerability and build resilience.

• Second, improving general education, measured in terms of literacy, school attendance, and overall academic attainment, can enhance adaptive capacity.

• Third, research-based adaptation learning support can accelerate social and policy change by maximizing learning before and during adaptive decision-making.

The abstract adds: “Although all three are important, the unique and transformative contribution of education lies in adaptation learning support: curricular, pedagogical, and technological resources that prepare people for complex adaptive decision-making and help them solidify learning during that work. As human societies seek to balance the old social mechanisms that ensure stability with new ones that facilitate change, our capacity to systematically support the learning that undergirds adaptation may be the limiting factor.”

To learn more about the paper, titled “Three roles for education in climate change adaptation,” visit: https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/6DEWSYAUQ6WNZSCTRYM9/full.