Elements of transformative learning in higher education art-science course on climate change

Climate change is a challenge that calls for educational approaches that lead toward sustainability transformation. Transformative educational approaches not only increase the learner’s knowledge on sustainability challenges, but also challenge the learner’s fundamental conceptions, even values and worldviews, and lead to more sustainable action. Here, we studied student reflections on an eight-day residential higher education course organized in Finnish Lapland. The course was founded in art-science collaboration and constructed on the theme of climate change. Our aim was to explore learning conditions and processes that support elements of transformative learning in an exploratory case study among adult learners. The students reflected on several elements of transformative sustainability learning (ETL) related to course learning processes, outcomes, and conditions. We conclude that a residential transdisciplinary art-science course can provide a platform for building relationships with nature, collective processing, creative methodologies and reflections that support elements associated with transformative sustainability learning.