experiential learning

Background: Despite advancements in environmental policies and education, many individuals remain disconnected from nature, leading to ecological neglect and unsustainable behaviors. Aims: This study explores the institutionalization of environmental intelligence in education, emphasizing an Iranian perspective within the context of globalization. It argues for an educational paradigm that integrates traditional ecological wisdom with contemporary learning models, fostering a holistic, experiential, and culturally grounded approach. Methodology: Using literature synthesis and philosophical interpretation, this research draws on the spiritual and ethical teachings of Attar and Rumi alongside modern educational theories, including experiential, interdisciplinary, and quantum education. Discussion: The study examines how globalization and urbanization have reshaped traditional environmental perceptions, particularly in Iranian culture, where mountains once held deep ecological and cultural significance but have become overlooked in modern urban life. Additionally, it investigates the role of global communication and virtual education in shaping environmental consciousness. Rather than proposing a replacement for existing environmental education, this study introduces a complementary framework that blends Iranian philosophical heritage, contemporary pedagogy, and digital learning. By fostering spiritual, ethical, and ecological awareness, this paradigm encourages a collective, participatory approach to sustainability. Conclusions: It envisions an education system where cultural wisdom and modern innovation work together to cultivate deep, empathetic connections between people and the environment.

This study investigates the developmental outcomes of Van Life as an emerging form of child-centered tourism in Iran. Van Life, defined as short-term, vehicle-based travel involving family participation and nature immersion, offers educational and emotional benefits for children. Despite its growing global appeal, this model remains largely unexamined in the Iranian context. Using a qualitative, exploratory-descriptive design, the study collected data from 15 families and 25 children aged 6–12 years who had engaged in Van Life-style travel. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and children’s drawings and were analyzed thematically. The findings indicate that Van Life positively contributes to children’s development in four domains: emotional (increased self-confidence and emotional regulation), cognitive (hands-on problem-solving and nature-based learning), social (strengthened family bonds and cultural openness), and environmental (awareness of sustainability and responsible behavior). Nonetheless, key barriers were identified, including inadequate infrastructure, cultural conservatism, and limited parental preparedness to support experiential learning during the travel. The study concludes that Van Life holds potential as a sustainable, inclusive, and educational tourism model for families in Iran. To address these limitations, this study recommends promoting environmental education, expanding support services, and designing policies that recognize the developmental value of child-centered tourism experiences.

This article interprets design not merely as a technical activity but as a site for the realization of ethical life in Hegel’s sense. Its theoretical framework builds on Hegel’s tripartite ethical model, right (recht), morality (moralität), and ethical Life (sittlichkeit), to show how design experience, when situated in institutional roles, mediation of value tensions, and practices of mutual recognition, contributes to the actualization of freedom and responsibility in the social sphere. Methodologically, the study adopts an interpretive–analytical approach, drawing on a close reading of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right and major commentaries, brought into dialogue with contemporary literature on design ethics. Findings indicate that the legal and institutional structuring of design, while necessary as the formal ground of freedom, remains insufficient unless complemented by the internalization of responsibility at the individual level and its further embedding within social and professional institutions. Only through this progression can design approach what Hegel conceptualized as “freedom realized in the world of human institutions.” The analysis further reveals that ethical tensions, arising from conflicting stakeholder demands or gaps between individual ideals and institutional realities, are not peripheral but constitutive drivers of moral reflection in design practice. Yet the same institutional structures that enable recognition and accountability may also impose constraints that limit the scope of freedom’s realization. The study concludes that design can serve as a formative arena of ethical life, where freedom, duty, and mutual recognition are historically and socially shaped and reinterpreted. This reframing provides a conceptual foundation for future research on how design experience both reflects and shapes moral life within diverse institutional contexts.