Project-Based Learning: A Climate Change Education Proposal in the Contexts of Inequality and Vulnerability

Introduction

More than a year after the global pandemic derived from COVID-19, multiple voices, in various forums, have discussed its impacts and have agreed that it has become a social phenomenon (Alves Pereira, 2020; Espada, 2020; Plá, 2020). Specifically, in the field of education, the debates have been on the purposes of education (Plá, 2020; Santos, 2020) and the meaning and relevance of the contents (Orozco Fuentes, 2020). The fields of didactics, pedagogical operations (De Alba, 2020), and teacher training (Duhalde, 2021) have been of special interest. The field of environmental education has not escaped the COVID-19 education debate (Alves Pereira, 2020; Carabias, 2020; Caride & Meira, 2020). The conclusion is overwhelming: It is urgent to rethink not only the meaning of schooled education, but also the social function that educational institutions have in the face of the socioenvironmental situation that people are experiencing.

The multiple actions to face the pandemic at the global, national, and regional levels have showed that the capitalist model and neoliberal policies have led to the precariousness of social security in areas such as health, they have increased economic inequalities, and access to vital services, such as water, food, and schooling (IDB, 2021). This phenomenon has also impacted the educational systems of all governments, but in a different way. Those who had the infrastructure and Internet accessibility resources managed to migrate to virtuality with fewer obstacles. Instead, for countries where Internet access is limited to certain regions or sectors of the population, such as Mexico, the isolation derived from the pandemic has meant a real educational challenge to be able to continue with schooling (Universidad Johns Hopkins, Banco Mundial, & UNICEF, 2021). These conditions of accessibility and inequality of educational opportunities (Blanco, 2021) integrate teachers’ training and experience in the management of educational practices in virtual environments, that is, the management of the Internet, online resources, as well as educational activities in these contexts.

In this pandemic scenario, the global climatic and the environmental emergency are intersected, although they seem unrelated phenomena. The first reason is that they are planetary phenomena, so all inhabitants are questioned by both in a different way (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [IPCC], 2020). Their implications are putting lives at risk and questioning the role of all social systems, institutions, and organizations at international, national, and regional levels. One of these systems is the educational system, specifically in relation to the generation of educational proposals to face these challenges and help prevent the degradation of the planet (Conde, 2018; IPCC, 2020).

In this climate scenario, in Mexico the Secretary of Public Education (SEP) has incorporated CCE strategies in the Educational National System, from Basic Education to Middle High and Normal Education (SEP 2017). Such incorporation matches the educational model in this system, the pedagogical approach is based on competency learning and student-centered learning from constructivism theories, emphasizing the social context and peer interaction as key elements in the learning process. The formal curriculum suggests knowledge and understanding CC as a key learning element., implementing actions that involve activities such as knowledge and estimation of the carbon foot print, according to the educational level.