Characterising educational research on climate change in the climate emergency era (2017–2024)

Caracterización de la investigación educativa sobre cambio climático en la era de la emergencia climática (2017-2024)

Marta Segade-Vázquez, Universidade de Santiago de ComspotelaFollow
Antonio García Vinuesa, Universidade de Santiago de CompostelaFollow
Ana Rodríguez Groba, Universidade de Santiago de CompostelaFollow
Júlio Conde, Universidade de Santiago de CompostelaFollow

DOI

10.22550/2174-0909.4110

Abstract

Recent national and international statements have put the state of the climate in a new paradigm, that of a climate emergency demanding urgent action. In this context, contributions from educational research are essential to inform educational policies and practices. Previous studies identified a marked increase in scientific literature on this topic over the period from 2008 to 2017. Seven years on, with more than 2300 climate emergency declarations having been issued by jurisdictions representing over one billion people, it seems timely to update the characterisation of this field. This documentary study aims to examine educational research on secondary education students’ understanding of climate change during the period from 2017 to 2024. The study builds on an earlier review (1993–2017) and analyses current trends in the field. Following the PRISMA-ScR guidelines, an action protocol was developed, eligibility criteria were defined, and records were retrieved from the Web of Science and Scopus databases. The CADIMA online application, designed for systematic evidence synthesis, was employed to streamline the process. This resulted in 55 articles being identified. The analyses found that the increase in publication volume noted up to 2017 has continued, with research expanding to new geographic regions and including a broader range of participants. The findings also indicate new research directions, including emotional dimensions, personal contexts, and methodological approaches such as social representation theory. This study offers an updated overview of the field, intended to support education professionals in both pedagogical practice and research.

Financiación | Funding

This research was done in the framework of the project RESCLIM@TIEMPO (PID2022- 136933OB-C21/C22), funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by FEDER - A way of making Europe. Antonio García-Vinuesa thanks the Xunta de Galicia for its financial support through a postdoctoral grant (ref. ED481B-2022/059). Júlio J. Conde thanks Spain’s State Research Agency (AEI) for a postdoctoral grant (ref. FJC2021-047345-I) funded by MCIN/ AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by the European Union NextGenerationEU/PRTR. SEPA-interea and Stellae are Galician Competitive Reference Research Groups (GRC), funded by the Xunta de Galicia (refs. ED431C-2021/07 and ED431C 2023/32, respectively).

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Author Biography

Marta Segade-Vázquez. Graduate in Biotechnology from the Universidad de Santiago de Compostela. In 2021, she started her research activity in molecular microbiology through periods with various groups at the university. She completed her education with a Master’s in Virology at the Universidad de Valencia and a period as a research assistant at the Biomedical Institute of Valencia (IBV) of Spain’s Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC), where she specialised in macromolecule crystallography. In 2023-2024, she did a Master’s in Obligatory Secondary Education Teaching at the Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, specialising in experimental sciences.

https://orcid.org/0009-0007-1445-9073

Antonio García-Vinuesa. Telecommunications Engineering Degree from the Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha (2017), Undergraduate Degree in Primary Education (2016), Master’s in Research in Education (2017), and doctorate in Education (2021) from the Universidad de Santiago de Compostela (USC). His research interests are in the framework of environmental Education and, in particular, the search for educational and social responses to the climate emergency. He does his research in the social pedagogy and environmental education, SEPA-interea research group at USC.

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3969-4647

Ana Rodríguez-Groba. Degree in Pedagogy in 2011 (End of Course Prize from the Xunta de Galicia) and in Educational Psychology (2013) from the Universidade de Santiago de Compostela. She completed her education with the University Master’s in Education Processes (2013). In the same year she started her research career after obtaining a university teacher training predoctoral contract (FPU) and in 2019 she presented her thesis Enseñanza con redes sociales y aprendizaje autorregulado. Un estudio de caso en la universidad (Teaching with social networks and self-regulated learning. A university case study) (Special Doctoral Prize from the Universidad de Santiago de Compostela). She has participated in national and European projects that have technology and/or didactics as their main axis. Since 2020 she has held the position of assistant professor in the Department of Pedagogy and Didactics, in the Area of Didactics and School Organisation in the Faculty of Educational Sciences at the Campus Vida, Santiago.

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6372-6851

Júlio J. Conde. Doctorate in Chemical Engineering from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, with a thesis in the field of hydrogen-based renewable energies. In his postdoctoral stage, both in private companies and in universities, he worked on product life-cycle analysis and processes, as well as on advanced oxidisation processes in the field of waste water treatment. In 2023 he joined the SEPA-interea group as a Juan de la Cierva postdoctoral researcher, centring his research activity on climate change education and on the socioeducational potential of the interface between environmental education and the energy transition.

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8739-6893

Citación recomendada | Recommended citation

Segade-Vázquez, M., García-Vinuesa, A., Rodríguez-Groba, A., & Conde, J. J. (2025). Characterizing educational research on climate change in the era of climate emergency (2017-2024) [Caracterización de la investigación educativa sobre cambio climático en la era de la emergencia climática (2017-2024)]. Revista Española de Pedagogía, 83(290), 179-198. https://doi.org/10.22550/2174-0909.4110