Higher education institutions play an important role in the transition processes to sustainable development through developing critical thinking (CT) in their students. The case of the Research Methodology course of the International Cooperation Master’s degree at the Universitat Politècnica de València is a paradigmatic case of experiential learning, where students face their own realities related to sustainable topics through an action research project with the Agroecological Market (AM). The learning methodology is project-based learning and helps the participants to deeply analyze problems related to the transition of socio-technical systems, such as sustainable food. The objective of this research was to analyze the contribution of project-based learning to students’ critical thinking through a qualitative analysis of the pedagogical outputs obtained during the course. The analysis and results are structured in three dimensions of critical thinking: (i) students’ critical attitude towards reality; (ii) students’ ability to reason and analyze in order to form their own rigorous judgments; and (iii) students’ capacity to construct and deconstruct their own experiences and meanings. The results show that project-based learning using a real-life scenario helped students reflect on their critical thinking and the challenges that our societies face for a transition to sustainability.

The concept of climate justice extends traditional environmentalism by emphasizing the social dimensions of environmental issues. Recently, it has gained much attention due to the growing impacts of climate change, especially on vulnerable communities that contribute minimally to global emissions. Based on the need for research in this field, this paper reports on a study that examined how higher education institutions (HEIs) are integrating climate justice into education, based on a literature review and a set of case studies. These cases highlight actions undertaken by various HEIs to incorporate climate justice into education across the globe. Based on the increasing number of publications, the findings show a growing research interest in the topic and reveal that some countries such as the US, the UK, China, Australia, and Germany have a visible presence in the literature. It also provides a wide range of perspectives on educational practices in climate justice, including real-world examples of courses implemented in HEIs. The findings reveal that HEIs have significant potential to address climate justice in their educational programs, which may help to transform students’ values and actions despite challenges.

(analytical)Considering the central role of young people in climate justice movements, this qualitative researchuses a just energy transition perspective to critically analyze intergenerational issues in relation to the ecological crisis. This research focuses on reflections co-produced with twelve young people from three South American countries who were participants in the "Education, youth and climate justice" laboratory that was part of the III Open Forum of Sciences of Latin America and the Caribbean, 2021 and organized by Unesco. The results identify young people as protagonists in just transition processes that affect them in the short, medium and long term. The results of the study point to the need to redefine the role of education in the construction of more just and sustainable societies.

This chapter presents an overview of Knowing Global Youth, a youth-centred curriculum development project that engaged youth from the Global North and South (Canada and Chile) in processes of co-creating a unique intercultural curriculum that is adapted to culture, context, place and space. We discuss the results of our work with 13 youth, ten educators, three Elders and their community members in the archipelago of Chiloé, Chile in relation to climate justice and shifts for education for sustainable development. While providing a brief overview of the project-based learning outcomes of the work, this chapter focuses on how this type of land-based education responds to individual and community wellbeing and the need for education for just sustainable transitions.

This chapter provides an overview of the project Wekimün: a school with and for Indigenous youth and their communities, a six-year international, intercultural, intergenerational and transdisciplinary collaboration between the Young Lives Research Lab of Canada and the Williche communities of Chiloé archipelago of southern Chile. Developed and implemented with/by/for young Indigenous Williche and their community members and based in the concept of wekimün, meaning ‘new knowledge’ in the Williche language of Mapudungun, this partnership employed community-led needs assessment, project-based learning methods and land-based teaching and learning practices anchored to aspects of relevance and care to create a unique Indigenous school, curriculum and pedagogy. The school and curriculum that resulted from this work provide a model for just transitions in education for sustainability, a model that could be replicated, on larger and smaller scales, as we make strides towards quality education for all.

The United Nations has identified overarching ecological, climate and social crises as causes of unprecedented declines in human wellbeing in 90% of the world’s countries and cautioned about a “generational catastrophe” for youth wellbeing (2020). This paper presents our process and methods of working alongside youth in Chile, Canada, Costa Rica, and Belize in our Partnership for Youth and Planetary Wellbeing project. We describe our social ecology of youth wellbeing framework and the research practices that are youth-centred, participatory and anticolonial including the development of Youth Advisory Committees, co-design of research activities and co-analysis of 117 youth interviews. Co-analyses examines perceptions of wellbeing amidst overlapping social and ecological crises and what it means for young people to live well based in relations with community, territory and biosphere. Implications for youth and planetary wellbeing partnerships and research are offered as we continue to learn alongside these young people and their communities.