Cognition and Learning in the Anthropocene

Aim

After completing the course, the student should be able to

• describe and critically examine the interrelationship between human cognition, modern lifestyles, and learning
• analyze human understanding of environmental and climate issues based on key concepts such as adaptation, complex systems, wild problems, goal conflicts and ethical dilemmas
• reflect on how cognitive science can be used to understand the sustainability of different environments linked to opportunities for individual and collective change
• apply knowledge in cognitive psychology to work with transformation for change and/or human development within the course area
• reflect on different cognitive responses to environmental and climate change, which can act as both obstacles and drivers of change.

Content

The course explores how human cognition interacts with the ecological crisis that characterizes the Anthropocene. By integrating theories from didactics with cognitive science, environmental psychology, neuroscience, it is analyzed how perception, attention, emotion and memory affect our understanding of complex sustainability issues including wild problems, situations that must be handled despite incomplete knowledge and disagreement about the causes of identified problems as well as desirable outcomes. Focus is placed on how cognitive biases, affective responses and cultural narratives shape our relationship to natural environments and our ability to act in them. The course also deals with how didactic methods in nature and other place-based learning can support cognitive processes that promote ecological awareness and action competence. Through a transformative learning perspective, it is discussed how teaching in and about natural environments can be designed to challenge ingrained thought patterns, create new understandings and support sustainability-related identity development. The content is concretized through analysis of didactic situations in outdoor educational contexts where the student is trained to identify cognitive and emotional dimensions of learning in nature.