Adapting to anthropogenic climate change requires informed citizens capable of managing personal and societal risks. This study explores the contribution of climate change education (CCE) to build adolescents’ cognitive adaptive capacity. As defined by Grothmann and Patt’s (2005) Model of Private Proactive Adaptation to Climate Change (MPPACC), cognitive dimensions of adaptive capacity correspond to climate change risk perception and adaptation appraisal as preconditions for individual adaptation actions. Their model has been operationalised to examine adolescents’ cognitive adaptive capacity in a pre-test–post-test design, and the educational programme Generation F³–Fit for Future is presented as a quasi-experiment linking this concept with CCE. Because cognitive adaptive capacity is a complex and multifaceted concept, this contribution also studies the influence of CCE on knowledge and thinking skills, which are important dimensions as well. Overall, 173 upper-secondary school students aged between 16 and 18 years actively collaborated with 57 scientific and practical experts on climate change adaptation (CCA) in North and South Tyrol. Additionally, the programme included control groups. Over two school years, Generation F³–Fit for Future encouraged students to follow constructivist inquiry-based CCE, and they carried out their own research-oriented CCA projects. A mixed methods approach compared data from a multivariate multilevel mixed model collected by web-based questionnaires (N = 231) and qualitative data from problem-centred interviews (N = 47), which were analysed by documentary method. The results suggest a mismatch between quantitative and qualitative data. Quantitative data do not show any change in adolescents’ risk perception and adaptation appraisal, but qualitative data reveal that intervention group students demonstrated increased levels of adaptation knowledge and elaborated critical as well as forward thinking skills. Control group students did not show such capacities after standard curriculum education. It is concluded that CCE holds potential to build several dimensions of adolescents’ cognitive adaptive capacity. Upcoming research should further explore mixed research approaches and advance adaptive capacity theory to better understand this concept.

适应人为气候变化需要有能力应对个人和社会风险的知情公民。这项研究探讨了气候变化教育（CCE）对建立青少年的认知适应能力的贡献。根据Grothmann和Patt（2005）的私人主动适应气候变化模型（MPPACC），适应能力的认知维度与气候变化风险感知和适应评估相对应，是个体适应行动的前提。他们的模型已经投入运行，可以通过测试前-测试后设计以及教育计划“ F ^3-适应未来”来检验青少年的认知适应能力。作为将这个概念与CCE联系起来的准实验而提出。由于认知适应能力是一个复杂且多方面的概念，因此该贡献还研究了CCE对知识和思维技能的影响，这也是重要的方面。总体而言，在北蒂罗尔州和南蒂罗尔州，有173位年龄在16至18岁之间的高中学生与57位科学和实践专家积极合作，共同应对气候变化适应（CCA）。此外，该程序还包括控制组。在过去的两个学年中，F ³代–适应未来鼓励学生遵循基于建构主义探究的CCE，并开展了自己的研究型CCA项目。混合方法方法比较了基于网络的问卷调查（N = 231）从多变量多层次混合模型中获得的数据和以记录方法进行分析的以问题为中心的访谈（N = 47）中的定性数据。结果表明定量和定性数据之间不匹配。定量数据未显示出青少年对风险的认知和适应能力评估的任何变化，但定性数据显示，干预组学生表现出了更高的适应知识水平，并阐述了批判性和前瞻性思维能力。对照组学生在接受标准课程教育后没有表现出这种能力。结论是，CCE具有建立青少年认知适应能力的多个方面的潜力。即将开展的研究应进一步探索混合研究方法，并发展适应能力理论以更好地理解这一概念。