Lived democracy - Classroom engagement on environmental issues and development of critical mathematical competence

The purpose of the three months stay is to work with an underdeveloped area of research: how and why environmental issues can be part of mathematics education. Very little is published internationally in this area. This may be surprising since research on critical mathematics emphasize benefits of working with authentic problems in the classroom: a) student engagement and b) enhancement of useful skills for future citizens. One explanation is that environmental issues, as for example climate change, are o ften complex and controversial. Still, democratic societies frequently base decision making on public hearings or stakeholder engagement. This generates two key questions: 1) How can researchers dealing with complex and controversial problems communicate their results in a way that non-experts can evaluate their significance and relevance? 2) How can education prepare students for the role of evaluating scientific advice? Research inspired by post-normal science has developed methodological approaches a nd frameworks for handling the first question. Regarding the second, research on mathematical education concentrate on simple questions, and very few mathematics educators raise the crucial question of how to deal with complex problems in mathematics educ ation. The host, Professor Richard Barwell, and the applicant of this proposal, Dr. Kjellrun Hiis Hauge, are exceptions as they have started developing ideas centered on this question. Collaboration between these two seems promising as they partly have co mplementary expertise. Dr. Hauge has long experience in incorporating post-normal ideas into her work as a marine scientist, now a mathematics educator, and Professor Barwell has long experience from being a mathematics educator and researcher, now focusi ng on environmental issues. The objectives of the collaboration will be addressed through seminars, discussions and classroom studies. A further aim is to settle the collaboration for future externally financed