Teaching “wicked” problems in geography

Abstract

Wicked problems form the most significant challenges to society and science. The current and next generation of researchers, educators, planners and policy-makers require the inter- and trans-disciplinary understanding and skills to address these issues. Higher Education has a role and responsibility to lead research (Dentoni & Bitzer, 2015) into and also teach wicked problems (Wilson, 2009). Young people are increasingly aware of and proactively taking action on issues such as climate change, single use plastics and pollution. This demonstrates the need for module and programme designers to consider how to integrate and embed teaching of wicked problems and affiliated aspects such as environmental management, social justice, and global citizenship, into Geography curricula. There is also the need to develop the knowledge, understanding and higher-level transferable and problem-solving skills of undergraduates to equip them to deal with the challenges of researching and communicating wicked problems, whether through actively changing workplace practices, influencing policy-makers or training the next generation of teachers. Geography can be viewed as a key facilitating subject which has an important role in equipping students and researchers with the skills to confront problems and to work towards solutions (Kate et al., 2019).