Scaffolding, software and scenarios: Applying Bruner's learning theory to energy scenario development with the public

Abstract

While there is a literature on public and stakeholder engagement in environmental research and scenario development, less attention has been given to the learning processes that take place in these contexts. We present public perceptions of emissions contraction scenarios for the UK city of Manchester and discuss this in terms of learning theory developed by Lev Vygotsky and Jerome Bruner. A key theme of this is the combination of three learning tools of use in social and individual learning: scaffolding techniques, scenario building and backcasting. We discuss the ways in which our structured scenario-building process, employing Greenhouse Gas Regional Inventory Protocol (GRIP) backcasting software, bring together these components. Following Bruner, learners are treated as scientific reasoners, but with the acknowledgement that there are also important affective and other dimensions to learning. Highlights We reflect on the learning processes of energy scenario participants  GRIP energy-emissions backcasting software was used with 4 groups of the public  The process required envisaging strong CO 2 reduction scenarios for a city region  Key to the theory is Vygotsky's concept of scaffolding, developed by Bruner AbstractWhile there is a literature on public and stakeholder engagement in environmental research and scenario development, less attention has been given to the learning processes that take place in these contexts. We present public perceptions of emissions contraction scenarios for the UK city of Manchester and discuss this in terms of learning theory developed by Lev Vygotsky and Jerome Bruner. A key theme of this is the combination of three learning tools of use in social and individual learning: scaffolding techniques, scenario building and backcasting. We discuss the ways in which our structured scenario-building process, employing Greenhouse Gas Regional Inventory Protocol (GRIP) backcasting software, bring together these components. Following Bruner, learners are treated as scientific reasoners, but with the acknowledgement that there are also important affective and other dimensions to learning.

Creating a national citizen engagement process for energy policy

“…Using interactive scenario tools for conducting public engagement is a relatively novel methodological development, with documented examples from campus-wide (33) and city-level energy projects (16). The scenario-building tool used in the Energy System Project was a national-level model developed before this project by the UK government's Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) and the United Kingdom's public engagement with science program of Sciencewise-ERC (Fig.…”

“…Some recent research has begun to explore aspects of this question, either by eliciting people's judgments of portfolios of energy supply options (12)(13)(14) or of future energy scenarios for particular cities and communities (15,16). What was unique about our own project was the desire to develop engagement methodologies that would permit us to elicit a range of public attitudes and values toward energy system change for the United Kingdom as whole (i.e., encompassing simultaneous supply-and demand-side changes), and in relation to current national policy imperatives.…”

‘Rapid Scenario Planning’ to Support a Regional Sustainability Transformation Vision: A Case Study from Blekinge, Sweden

“…From an action research perspective, developing shared understanding in partnership with practitioners is critical as it means practical aims are more likely to be met [45]. But to support the practitioners in their goal within the short workshop timeframe the educational concept of 'scaffolding' techniques, i.e., tools that support student (or participant) learning in project-based work [46] "to develop learners' capacity for linking experience with sense making and reflection to action" [30] (p. 6). The research methodology was designed to include scaffolding, for example the scenario quadrants-to focus attention when developing the four possible future visions, and in the description of the ABCD process, as a way to operationalize the preferred vision (step A).…”

A retroductive systems-based methodology for socio-technical transitions research

“…What the observer/researcher experiences from the domain of the actual constitutes the empirical domain (Sayer, 2004). A critical realist perspective has been applied in CO2 emission scenarios and biofuels diffusion (Upham et al, 2014;Boucher, 2012).…”