Climate change education requires innovative, action-oriented methodologies to foster student engagement and reflection on sustainable behaviors. This study explores an integrated educational program implemented within the Pathways for Transversal Skills and Orientation (PCTO) framework in three Italian upper secondary schools. The program combined immersive virtual reality experiences, GIS-based image analysis, traditional instruction, and two behavior-oriented web applications. A total of 181 students completed a post-activity questionnaire assessing satisfaction, perceived learning, prior knowledge, and self-reported intentions toward behavioral change. Results show that technology-enhanced and interactive modules were associated with higher levels of perceived engagement and perceived learning (with over 80% of students reporting at least moderate learning in immersive, GIS-based, and carbon footprint activities) compared to theory-only sessions. Modules explicitly linked to everyday behaviors, such as carbon footprint estimation and fast fashion consumption, were more frequently associated with self-reported intentions to adopt more sustainable practices (approximately 70% of positive responses). Given the post-only, perception-based design, findings should be interpreted as exploratory evidence of students’ perceived educational value rather than objective measures of learning outcomes. Overall, the study highlights the potential of experiential and digitally enhanced approaches in climate change education, while underscoring the need for future research incorporating objective and longitudinal assessments.

1. The Himalaya-Karakoram range is a very complex and dynamic region, not only from an environmental and geological perspective, but also from a socio-economic point of view. This latter complexity...

In the context of climate change, glaciers in the Alps are rapidly receding. Different studies suggest that in this epoch, they are out of balance with the climate, and that glacier retreat rates have exceeded historical precedents from the early 21st century. Mountain glaciers are important resources for society because they provide different ecosystem services. Climate change is threatening the stability of these benefits, and, as a result of permafrost thaw and post-glacial debuttressing, it is causing the emergence of climate-related hazards at high altitude. To understand how mountain slopes react to deglaciation, we compiled the first inventory of paraglacial slope instability phenomena that have occurred on glaciers in the Venosta Valley (Italy) since the Little Ice Age (LIA). We mapped their geographical distribution, evaluated their relationship with deglaciation, and examined their runout to assess the potential implications of such events for alpine routes. To better quantify deglaciation, we also digitized the outlines of the glaciers based on imagery from 2020, updating the archives and providing valuable data for comparison with previous studies. Between 2000 and 2020, a total of 500 slope instability events occurred within a region that, since the LIA, has experienced strong glacier area contraction (-69.44%). This research demonstrates how the mountains are rapidly responding to climate change and deglaciation, highlighting that alpine routes crossing the glaciers in our study region cannot be considered outside the potential runout zone of a rockfall.