Energy Transition in Europe | www.energy-cities.eu

By Sir Peter Gluckman, Director, Koi Tū: The Centre for Informed Futures, University of Auckland

"Citizens are not dumb; they know that things are inherently complex and that there is no free lunch, even though politicians often try to sell them the silver bullet. We need to teach in ways that reflect reality. How we do so may take time in developing the effective pedagogies. Problem based teaching is one methodology used especially in medicine, but there is much to learn from the emergence of futures studies and transdisciplinarity. Indeed, a greater focus on anticipatory framing may be a valuable tool in education.
Increasingly, young people want their education to feel relevant to them. Education needs in many places to shift its curriculum content to be more meaningful. While disciplinary knowledge is essential, the examples used can be much more relevant. For example, building mathematical models of some aspect of the climate challenge might be a far more useful way of teaching mathematics, science and other subjects than abstract calculus and physics."