From Facts to Action: How Finnish Geography Textbooks Now Teach Climate Solutions

Wood Lark

07-11-2025

Kingfisher tilts his head. “I dive. I catch fish. I know what’s real because I touch it. You dream. Is that knowing?”
Zhuangzi chuckles. “You know the water. I know the dream. Different ways of knowing.”

In Kingfisherish Wandering [1]

© Wix

How can schools equip teenagers not just to understand climate change, but to help mitigate it? A recent study by Ikonen [2] tracks how Finnish upper secondary geography curricula and textbooks (1985–2024) have presented climate-change mitigation, using the powerful geographical knowledge (PGK) framework to judge whether materials give students the concepts and agency needed for real-world participation [3]. Drawing on five National Core Curricula and 12 textbooks, the author shows a long arc from sparse mentions to a much richer, action-oriented treatment in the most recent materials.

The idea of mitigation first appeared in textbooks in 1994, mainly as calls to reduce CO₂. Textbooks aligned with the 2003 and 2015 curricula expand content but still fall short of PGK’s full spectrum—strong on facts, lighter on analysis, participation, and students’ ownership of knowledge. In contrast, textbooks aligned with the 2019 curriculum present a holistic view: cutting emissions across sectors (energy, agriculture, buildings), growing carbon sinks, international cooperation (Kyoto, Paris), lifestyle shifts, and even geoengineering—mapped across all five PGK types (new ways of thinking; analysis and explanation; power over one’s own knowledge; participation in public debate; knowledge of the world) [4].

Finland’s system is historically textbook-oriented, so the presence (or absence) of PGK shapes classroom learning. When mitigation is framed only as isolated tips, students risk acquiring knowledge but not knowing how to utilize it. But when curricula connect disciplinary knowledge to participation (global agreements, carbon trading, policy debates), personal agency (carbon footprints, informed choices), and systems thinking, learners gain the tools to act—what the study terms a shift toward meaningful, powerful knowledge in geography education [5,6].

NQ—our collective ecological intelligence—grows when education integrates what we know with what we value and how we act. The 2019-era textbooks better cultivate NQ by pairing scientific understanding with ethical orientation (fairness, responsibility to future generations) and practical pathways for participation. This aligns classroom learning with societal goals: informed citizens who can evaluate trade-offs, scrutinize claims, and contribute to climate solutions locally and globally.

Geography can move students from facts to futures. Finland’s latest materials show how: teach the science, reveal the systems, invite debate, and empower action. That mix strengthens both PGK and NQ—essential for a livable century [7,8].

References

[1] Nguyen MH. (2025). Kingfisherish Wandering. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FVLLLXNW/

[2] Ikonen P. (2025). How climate change mitigation is presented in Finnish upper secondary school geography curricula and textbooks from 1985 to 2024. Has it increased the teaching of the powerful geographical knowledge students need for active participation in climate change mitigation? International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/10382046.2025.2557595

[3] Maude A. (2016). What might powerful geographical knowledge look like? Geography, 101(2), 70-76. https://doi.org/10.1080/00167487.2016.12093987

[4] Maude A. (2017). Applying the concepts of powerful knowledge to school geography. In C Brooks, G Butt, M Fargher (Eds.), The power of geographical thinking (pp. 27–40). Springer.

[5] Cantell H, et al. (2019). Bicycle model on climate change education: Presenting and evaluating a model. Environmental Education Research, 25(5), 717-731. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2019.1570487

[6] Young M. (2008). From constructivism to realism in the sociology of the curriculum. Review of Research in Education, 32(1), 1--28. https://doi.org/10.3102/0091732X07308969

[7] Tran TT. (2025). Flying beyond didacticism: The creative environmental vision of ‘Wild Wise Weird’. Young Voices of Science. https://youngvoicesofscience.org/?p=1963

[8] Vuong QH, Nguyen MH, La VP. (2022). The mindsponge and BMF analytics for innovative thinking in social sciences and humanities. Walter de Gruyter GmbH.