Abstract
Ecological degradation and climate change are not only environmental problems but manifestations of political, economic, and epistemic systems. When approached critically, environmental and science education can support learners in naming these crises and imagining transformative, justice‑oriented responses (Davies, 2004, Evans, 2019). Praxis is central to this endeavour. Freire’s assertion that learning is never neutral and hooks’ framing of education as a practice of freedom grounded in care, community, and resistance to domination underscore that educational transformation must be enacted, not merely theorized. Ecopedagogy (Misiaszek, 2020) extends these commitments by situating learning within planetary interdependence and challenging the colonial and capitalist logics shaping mainstream environmental discourse. Moving beyond banking‑style instruction requires treating schools as relational ecosystems in which knowledge emerges through dialogue, embodiment, and shared responsibility (Wahl, 2016). In this view, praxis becomes the ongoing negotiation between reflection and action through which learners collectively reshape their ecological and social realities.
CREA+BIRD (Creative Methodologies for Sustainability Education Inspired by Birds) operationalizes this understanding of praxis. Rather than transmitting sustainability content, teachers and students co‑create pedagogical tools that weave bird ecology, cultural narratives, and creative expression into collective inquiry. Through art, storytelling, and games, ecological relationships become lived experiences rather than abstract concepts. Working within the GreenComp framework (Bianchi et al., 2022), the project places scientific knowledge alongside cultural reflection, transforming individual overwhelm into shared competence and community‑rooted action. Grounded in participatory action‑research with approximately 500 participants, CREA+BIRD treats social justice and ecological concern as inseparable struggles. Its three modules, rooted in play, embodiment, and hands‑on learning, invite learners to question whose knowledge is missing, grasp ecosystem dynamics, and practice more collective ways of knowing. Their intentionally unfinished structure exemplifies praxis as relational, creative, and situated engagement with the more‑than‑human world.