Advance Online Publication
Received 27 Aug 2026
Accepted 27 Aug 2026
Published Online 18 Oct 2026
Editorial Note: This is an invited research article. In accordance with the journal’s policy for invited contributions, it received editorial review and one external peer review.

Exploring Interactive Learning for the Era of Climate Change

Authors

Gerry Stahl1*
1 Drexel University
* Corresponding Author
DOI: https://doi.org/10.68791/jiil2026001
Keywords:
Anthropocene group cognition dynamic geometry dependency shared understanding group practices virtual math teams

Abstract

        The world changed significantly about 70 years ago. The atomic bomb, population explosion, exponential growth of fossil-fuel usage with CO2 emissions, urban/suburban sprawl and numerous other socio-economic transformations led to a dangerously increased influence of human behavior on worldwide natural systems. Public understanding now has to catch up with these changes so we can comprehend and moderate the new and potentially catastrophic processes. Learning researchers should urgently develop transformed approaches to understanding and teaching about this new world of climate change, in which natural and societal processes are inexorably entangled. This will require new conceptualizations of knowledge and new methods of education. This essay reports on a research project that may indicate a direction for designing education in and about the era of climate change. By reviewing the project’s empirical results, it suggests a direction for the future of interactive and intelligent learning. Specifically, it sketches focal points of a philosophy of computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) that emerged from research on teaching and learning dynamic geometry. As an illustrative case study of educating for the new age, it suggests that dynamic geometry as taught in the project can provide student collaborative knowledge building with a model of “dependencies ” in interconnected systems, preparing groups of students to understand the interactions among human and natural systems in the present era. Review of this research project exploring the development of mathematical cognition by student groups learning dynamic geometry in online teams elaborates a theory of learning and thinking as “group cognition” – thinking by means of social and semantic interaction within group discourse, mediated by physical and digital artifacts, rather than within individual minds. The recommended approach to learning centered on technologically supported group interaction aligns education with the multidisciplinary nature of science in the present, and suggests promising approaches to interactive and intelligent learning in this challenging epoch.  

Author Biography

  • Gerry Stahl, Drexel University
    Gerry Stahl, born in 1945, received his BS in mathematics and humanities from MIT in 1967, his Ph.D. in Philosophy from Northwestern University in 1975 and his Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Colorado Boulder in 1993. He is Professor Emeritus of Computing and Informatics at Drexel University, and the founding Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (IJCSCL). He is interested in computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL), group cognition, and the design of interactive learning environments.

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    Published

    2026-10-18

    Data Availability Statement

    Many forms of documentation are available at https://gerrystahl.net/research/index.html

     

    Competing Interests:

    None

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    Vol. 1 No. 01 (2026): Online First

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    Copyright (c) 2026 by the author(s). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

    How to Cite

    Stahl, G. (2026). Exploring Interactive Learning for the Era of Climate Change. Journal of Interactive and Intelligent Learning. https://doi.org/10.68791/jiil2026001

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