30. Environmental and Sustainability Education Research (ESER)
Paper
The EDUCLIMAD Project: School Climate Assemblies to Foster Sustainability Competences amongst Youngsters
Núria Monterde, Gisela Cebrián, Mercè Junyent
Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Spain
Presenting Author: Monterde, Núria
France and the United Kingdom pioneered the organisation of citizens' climate assemblies to involve a broad representation of citizens in proposing measures and recommendations to address climate change at the national level (Climate Assembly UK, 2020). The EDUCLIMAD project aims to explore the innovative potential of climate assemblies, by contextualising and adapting it to the school context. Thus, this investigation presents school climate assemblies, conceived as an innovative educational tool for the co-creation of climate change and sustainability solutions within educational institutions and communities. An intervention research project has been designed and piloted in 24 Primary and High Education Schools in the region of Tarragona (Spain). This study is situated in a qualitative-interpretative research paradigm (Bisquerra, 2019) and is an Intervention Based Research (Tricket et al, 1996), which consists of designing and carrying out interventions to study the effects of the implementation of school climate assemblies.
The study emphasizes the potential of co-creation methods in the educational context and underscores the critical role of education in fostering sustainability citizens and empowering students to become active change agents in their local community. The main objectives of EDUCLIMAD are: 1) Design, validate and pilot an instrument to assess the sustainability competences of primary and secondary school students, 2) Assess the influence of school climate assemblies on environmental awareness on the development of sustainability competences in primary and secondary school students, and 3) Design, test and develop a methodological framework and recommendations for conducting school climate assemblies. The activities foreseen in this project are organized in 3 phases: A first preparatory and design phase of educational and methodological materials and resources, including the design of an assessment instrument aligned with European competence framework on sustainability Greencomp (Bianchi et al, 2022). This instrument is adapted to primary and secondary education and consists of a questionnaire related to sustainability knowledge, attitudes and behaviors, with 4 Likert-type response possibilities and 4 contextualised situations, following the pre-test and post-test design with the aim of measuring the level of competence among the students before and after implementing the school climatic assemblies. The second phase of the project involves the organization and development of school climate assemblies in 24 schools and the elaboration of an action plan and policy recommendations by the participating educational communities, and the third phase consists of evaluation and dissemination of the results, the educational resources derived from the project will be disseminated to agents of the territory, including political representatives and other educational centers in the area. The organization of a fair is foreseen in which the proposals can be presented to the different educational agents, entities of the territory and policy makers. The results suggest policy implications for integrating co-creation approaches into school curricula, aiming to empower students and drive sustainable action. This project is considered of scientific relevance because it presents the methodological conceptualisation for implementing climate assemblies in schools and the results of a pilot with primary and secondary school students, establishing a framework that can be replicated in different contexts and educational levels, which makes it adaptable and scalable.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedIn Europe, citizens' climate assemblies have been organised in different countries such as Finland, Ireland, Scotland, Denmark, Germany, Austria and Spain (Stack & Griessler, 2022). Based on these existing experiences of citizen climate assemblies, the school climate assemblies adopt a three-phase process related to their design and implementation and guided by facilitators (Grewin, 2018; Ferejohn, 2008). The first phase is preparatory and material design, including the design of an assessment instrument aligned with the European Commission's GreenComp sustainability competency framework (Bianchi et al, 2022). This instrument is adapted to both educational stages and consists of a questionnaire related to sustainability knowledge, attitudes and behaviors, with 4 Likert-type response possibilities and 4 contextualised situations, each of them related to one of the competence areas that structure the European GreenComp framework (Bianchi et al, 2022). Also, this instrument is applied following the pre-test and post-test design with the aim of measuring the level of competence among the students before and after implementing the school climatic assemblies. As for the post-test, the students have to qualitatively evaluate the process of the assemblies including its positive and negative aspects. The second phase consists of the organization of school climate assemblies in Primary and High schools and the elaboration of an action plan and policy recommendations. The last phase contemplates the dissemination of the project results and the educational resources designed.
The specific phases of the school climate assemblies were carried out in the following steps: in the first step, students share their different perspectives related to a topic related to climate change proposing its challenges, positive and negative aspects in a conceptual map. Afterwards, 10 actions that are favorable to climate change are discussed and agreed upon collectively and written down in a decalogue. Then, each group presents its actions to the rest of the group and students must vote for the actions they prioritize according to their interests and needs. Once these decalogues are rigorously categorized by the team of technicians, the students are given feedback on the most voted actions so that they can reach a broader consensus with other members of the assembly in a critical manner to produce action plans, with the help of the team of facilitators. Finally, students will present their chosen policy recommendations at a fair where the educational community, families and political representatives will be invited to listen to their proposals and give feedback to the students.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsThe expected impacts of EDUCLIMAD project respond to real social and scientific challenges, which recognise the importance of promoting the active participation of citizens in climate action and sustainability, which include: increasing environmental awareness and development of GreenComp sustainability competences in primary and secondary school students through the school climate assemblies; design, implementation and validation of a GreenComp competencies assessment instrument that can be replicated in other schools and contexts; the co-creation of climate change adaptation and mitigation measures at local and regional level through the development of action plans and policy recommendations, and last but not least, the dissemination of the school climate assemblies through different communication channels like the project website, social networks and media aimed to interested audiences such as the educational community, social and political agents of the territory, and open publication of all materials and results in 3 languages (Catalan, Spanish and English). School climate assemblies can contribute to the development of sustainability competencies in students, associated with interpersonal competence and collective action and competencies related to values-thinking, future-thinking and collective action, which focuses on acting for change in collaboration with others and promoting learners’ ability and will to engage in democratic processes to achieve more sustainable societies. All this information is collected through the pre and post design instrument that is applied before and after implementing the school climate assemblies. For this reason there is a need to operationalise sustainability competencies at different educational levels through the design, validation and implementation of competency assessment instruments in order to assess and measure these kinds of competences. This approach has also the potential to inform and influence policy-making through the identification of actionable priorities and indicators where community learning and action can make a significant contribution and drive meaningful action to address climate change and sustainability challenges.
ReferencesBianchi, G., Pisiotis, U. and Cabrera Giraldez, M. (2022). GreenComp The European sustainability competence framework, Punie, Y. and Bacigalupo, M. editor(s), EUR 30955 EN, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2022, ISBN 978-92-76-46485-3, doi:10.2760/13286, JRC128040.
Bisquerra (2019). Metodología de la Investigación Educativa (6a edición). Madrid: Arco-La Muralla.
Grewin, M. (2018). Citizens’ assemblies. Guide to democracy that works. Kraków: Open Plan Foundation.
Cebrián, G., Boqué, A., Camarero, M., Junyent, M., Moraleda, A., Olano, JX & Renta, AI (2023). Las asambleas escolares por el clima: una herramienta para empoderar a la comunidad educativa en la acción climática, en M. Sánchez-Moreno & J. López-Yáñez (eds) Construir comunidades en la escuela. ISBN 978-84-277-3098-4
Climate Assembly UK (2020). The path to net zero. Climate Assembly UK. Full report.
Ferejohn, J. (2008). The Citizens’ Assembly Model. En M. Warren y H. Pearce (Eds.), Designing Deliberative Democracy (pp. 192-213). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Leicht, A., Heiss, J., y Byun, W.J. (2018). Issues and Trends in Education for Sustainable Development. UNESCO. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000261445
Shared Future (2020). Climate Assemblies and Juries: A people powered response to the climate emergency.
Stack, S., & Griessler, E. (2022). From a "half full or half empty glass" to "definitely a success": Explorative comparison of impacts of climate assemblies in Ireland, France, Germany and Scotland. (IHS Working Paper, 39). Wien: Institut für Höhere Studien (IHS). https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-78385-6
Trickett, Edison., (1996). Elavorating Developmental Contextualism in Adolescent Research and Intervention: Paradigm contributions from Community Psychology. Journal of Research on Adolescence 6 (3), 245-269.
30. Environmental and Sustainability Education Research (ESER)
Paper
Citizen Science in Schools: the development of eco-citizenship capabilities.
Claire Ramjan1, Greg Mannion2
1University of Glasgow, United Kingdom; 2University of Stirling
Presenting Author: Ramjan, Claire
Introduction
Young people are taking increasingly public and overtly political action in response to environmental concerns. There is a need for schools to support young people in navigating current environmental challenges, however, the capacity for schools to do this is inconsistent and often inadequate. Research is needed to understand how we can better support schools and young people in confidently responding to contemporary and evolving environmental issues. This presentation explores how environmental citizen science can contribute to lived eco-citizenship in young people while they are in formal schooling. A major finding is that environmental citizen science experiences offer opportunities to connect pupils with scientific research practices in a way that offers authentic citizenship opportunities not ordinarily available in schools. The research took a qualitative, in-depth, multi-method, case study approach, exploring the experiences of school-based participants (n=74, pupils, teachers and scientists) across three different school-based citizen science projects, and a small number of pupils who had no citizen science experience in schools as comparison.
Theoretical Framing
The capability approach (Nussbaum, 2011, Sen, 1993, Robeyns, 2017) offers an alternative to considering ‘environmental action’ as a key end goal. Instead, taking a processual approach to the identification of a suite of eco-citizenship ‘capabilities’ that can be brought into being as ‘functionings’ should the pupils involved feel compelled to do so. Robeyns (2017) describes three ‘conversion factors’, or “the factors which determine the degree to which a person can transform a resource into a functioning” (ibid. P.45), ‘personal’ or internal to the person, ‘social’ or stemming from the society, and ‘environmental’, the physical or built environment. In this analysis, the ways in which the citizen science experience can be considered to provide the different types of ‘conversion factor’ will be identified and the opportunities and constraints of these explored.
Hayward (2012) suggests that young people have different experiences of environmental citizenship than adults. Emphasising the everyday experiences that young people may have, at home, in school or with their friends, rather than ‘adult’ experiences like voting or environmentally conscious consumerism, offers a way of realistically understanding eco-citizenship in young people. Kallio, Wood and Hakli (2020) describe lived citizenship in a way that explores the reality of citizenship in everyday situations rather than relying on the formal, legal status of citizenship. This analysis draws upon that conception, placing the embodied experiences and acts of eco-citizenship in the daily life of young people at its core. The concept of lived citizenship (Kallio, Wood and Hakli (2020) offers an approach to considering the citizenship related experiences of young people as part of the mundane, everyday experience of formal schooling. Situating the citizen science experience within this conception also acknowledges the non-voluntary nature of the young people’s participation in the experience.
Findings
Across the responses from participants in citizen science projects (and non) in this research, for these pupils who all participate in environmental or scientific subjects through their formal school experience, the nature of the citizen science experience did not inspire a radical change for them. Environmental, social and personal conversion factors were, however, recognised and reported in my observations of the pupils engaged in the citizen science activities, and in their reflections and responses. These include, physical and sensory encounters, working with others, and caring for the environment. While the short-term, single encounter with citizen science, as experienced here, could not be shown to move the pupils towards more public actions such as campaigning and protest, the nurturing of eco-citizenship capabilities can begin with relational, sensory and affective experiences. Environmental citizen science affords young people opportunities that offer a springboard towards authentic eco-citizenship actions and dispositions.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedPupil participants in different citizen science projects over the duration of this research, and two additional classes of pupils who had not participated in any citizen science in school (n=74), were asked to respond to five statements selected from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology Evaluation Research, ‘Self-Efficacy for environmental action’ evaluation tool. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology Evaluation Research survey instruments were selected as they were designed specifically for use with citizen science experiences rather than environmental education more broadly. Selection of the self-efficacy survey related to its explicit definition as “a person’s beliefs about his/her capabilities” (Phillips et al, 2018), which builds a picture of the confidence that the young people in this study may have to actually enact eco-citizenship capabilities. Furthermore, self-efficacy is seen (by Berkowitz et al, 2005) as an essential component of environmental citizenship, the authors define self-efficacy as “having the capacity to learn and act with respect to personal values and interests in the environment” (ibid. p. 230).
The surveys were completed after the citizen science fieldwork day, typically around 2/3 weeks, and in the case of the non-citizen science participants, as part of Advanced Higher Biology/Geography classes (it is expected that these pupils would have some environmental awareness as part of their course of study). It is acknowledged that there are many factors that contribute to the self-efficacy of young people throughout their school experience, as such it is not assumed that any differences in the self-efficacy responses are solely related to the citizen science experience, or lack thereof. The responses were collated in Microsoft Excel, and changed into a percentage to mitigate for the differing participants numbers in each category (MICCI = 19, OPAL = 21, SFL = 9, NONE = 25). The self-efficacy tool (Phillips et al, 2018) was used to generate an overall ‘score’ for each individual or group involved, however for this research it is also useful to look at the responses to each statement in relation to the development of eco-citizenship capabilities.
In addition to the survey responses, situational maps (Clarke et al, 2018) generated by participant observation, fieldnotes and pupil focus groups of the citizen science partipants were considered in relation to the four dimensions of lived citizenship (Kallio, Wood and Hakli, 2020). These maps enabled the experiential responses of pupils during and after the citizen science experience to be analysed alongside their survey responses.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsAcross the four dimensions described in Kallio, Wood and Hakli’s (2020) conception of lived citizenship, the spatial, the intersubjective, the performed and the affective, findings will be presented in relation to the experiences of the young people involved:
In the spatial dimension, the environmental conversion factors identified for pupils were: physical and sensory experiences, authentic practices in place, and opportunities to reflect and situate themselves as active response-makers to global and local environmental concerns.
In the intersubjective dimension, the social conversion factors identified for pupils were: peer interaction and communication, and intergenerational relationships, providing a relational context for young people to explore environmental concerns.
In the performed dimension, personal and social conversion factors were identified for pupils:
• The personal conversion factors were: making a contribution, and personal environmental actions. The adults expressed greater value in relation to the ‘contribution’ component of the citizen science experience than the pupils. For pupils, participation in their respective projects resulted in an increased awareness of citizen science as a way to take positive action for the environment.
• A social conversion factor of involvement in public actions, such as campaigning and protest, was also identified. My participants described a general reluctance to engage in overtly political acts, this suggests that their environmental citizen science experiences did not directly support this type of eco-citizenship action.
In the affective dimension, the personal conversion factors identified for pupils were: actively caring for a place, and alleviating environmental concerns or anxieties through participation in collective action. These led to feelings of hope and empowerment in relation to environmental issues for the pupils involved.
This research suggests that schools can provide a vital context for young people to encounter and engage with citizen science practices and that these experiences can lead to the development of important eco-citizenship capabilities.
ReferencesClarke, A., Friese, C. and Washburn, R. (2018) Situational Analysis Grounded Theory After the Interpretive Turn 2nd ed. California: Sage.
Hayward, B. (2012) Children, citizenship and environment: Nurturing a democratic imagination in a changing world. Routledge.
Kallio, K.P., Wood, B.E. and Häkli, J. (2020) Lived citizenship: Conceptualising an emerging field. Citizenship Studies, 24 (6), pp. 713-729.
Phillips, T., Porticella, N., Constas, M. and Bonney, R. (2018) A Framework for Articulating and Measuring Individual Learning Outcomes from Participation in Citizen Science. Citizen Science: Theory and Practice, 3 (2), pp. 1-19.
Robeyns, I. (2017) Wellbeing, Freedom and Social Justice: The Capability Approach Re-Examined. Cambridge, UK: Open Book Publishers.
30. Environmental and Sustainability Education Research (ESER)
Paper
The Bleeding Water. Introducing Role Play in Science Teacher Education for Valuing Sustainability
Marianne Ødegaard
University of Oslo, Norway
Presenting Author: Ødegaard, Marianne
This paper presents a small exploratory study of how introducing role play as a learning activity in a science education class for student teachers can provide them with a powerful instruction tool in their future teaching. The role play is used for involving students in multiple emotionally charged perspectives together with cognitive challenges of attempting to resolve an ecological problem. The narrative of the role play is based on a true story involving published pieces of marine research in a sustainability context. The role play offers a setting for further deliberation of central issues of sustainability, helping the student teachers contemplate the place of sustainability in science education. Though emotional and ethical aspects are part of socio-scientific issues, many student teachers are insecure of how to deal with them in learning science. Fortus etal. (2022) highlights why the affective domain is important to develop scientific literacy. Toonders, etal. (2016) declares that drama is a relatively unexplored tool in academic science education, and addresses how the use of drama may allow science students to deepen their understanding of science innovations and the ethical dimensions of them.
One of many challenges for environmental and sustainability education is to engage students in realistic transdisciplinary issues where they can use and develop their agency and emotional reactions for dealing with sustainability dilemmas. With this proposal, the discussion is raised of how role play and other drama activities can contribute to student teachers’ involvement in sustainability. By first engaging in a personal role play the participants gain empathic and embodied understandings of different perspectives of the issue in mind. In the following reflective discussion, the level of discourse may be lifted from the individual to the collective and eventually to a global level through a lens of empathy and embodiment.
This study’s research question is:
How do student science teachers experience role play as a learning activity for reflecting on values in sustainability and preparing students for future citizenship?
There are trends in education for sustainability, sustainable citizenship and scientific literacy that points towards transformative learning (Unesco, 2018; Biesta, 2006; Van Poeck & Vandenabeele, 2013; Granados-Sanchez, 2023; Valladares, 2021), and that the perspective shifts from acquiring competences to the democratic nature of educational spaces and practices (Van Poeck & Vandenabeele, 2013). By using sustainable citizenship as a theoretical frame the role play is studied as an educational space for exploring an ecological problem in a complex environment where the participants in role “respond to each other’s divergent and mutually exclusive concerns, a space in which things are made public” (Van Poeck & Vandenabeele, 2013, p.6). In the post-role play reflecting dialogue the discussion offers links to matters of global sustainability and citizenship which refers to “a sense of belonging to the global community and a common sense of humanity” and “collective responsibility at the global level” (UNESCO, 2017 p.2).
This study leans on a framework of drama for sustainability issues (Author, 2017, 2023), based on Leinweaver’s (2015) sustainable storytelling. The Bleeding Water role play is characterized as a Little drama that is conducted on a personal level involving a story connected to individuals and how they explore their lives and make their choices based on values and facts (Author, 2001). The dramatic action is personal, exploring personal expressions (Neelands, 2000). Middle dramas, may explore conflicts on an interpersonal and sociocultural level. They have focus of explaining power relationships, organization of society and how culture shapes our collective senses. Big, symbolic dramas help people make sense of the mystery of life and the wonder of being. (Author, 2023). All three levels connect to sustainable citizenship.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedThis is a small qualitative study based on observations of teaching activities followed by group interviews. The participants are student teachers in science education from three different teacher education courses at the same institution. The role play has five roles, therefor five students from each course were recruited in order to include students with different educational experiences. The courses are; the bachelor level of the Master’s programme in teacher education; the full-time Teacher Education Programme for students with a master’s degree in Natural Sciences, and the part-time Teacher Education Programme. Det data material consists of video observations and audio-taped interviews (semi-structured). The empirical data is analysed using thematic analysis (Braun & Clark, 2006).
The role play is conducted with the use of personal role cards. A small group of five students played out a situation of a family dinner where the nearby river turns out to be invaded by poisonous algae that indecently colors the water red. The plot is inspired by the novel “And the Waters turned to Blood” by Rodney Barker (1998), which is based on a true story. The context affects the family members in different ways. One gets sick after bathing, one has his trade as a pig farmer threatened, one is studying the algae in her master’s degree, the local tourist guide is afraid of the lack of visitors and a fisherman fears for the fish.
After the role play, the students reflected on what happened in the play and why, trying to analyse the situation in the local context, and eventually the discussion was guided into a more global perspective. The following group interview focused on the student teachers’ own experience with the role play and their reflections on the role play as a tool of instruction for exploring sustainability issues.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsThe analyses of student teachers’ role play dialogues, reflections and future expectations will be discussed in a local and global sustainable citizenship perspective. The analyses are still preliminary, but other similar studies of secondary students may provide valuable ideas of expected outcomes.
Using the same role play with secondary science students, Kristoffersen (2021) revealed that the complexity in the situation initiates high order argumentation using both scientific facts and ethical considerations, critical thinking and socio scientific reasoning. Other studies have explored how role play can provide inclusive contexts for socio-environmental controversial issues, where students’ different voices enrich the learning activity, and students deal with decision-making and conflict. Role play offers situations where students practice negotiating values and making decisions at personal, interpersonal and global levels (Author, 2001, 2003; Colucci-Gray, 2007). Drama and role play enable teachers to bring real-life situations into the classroom and generate incidences where students can rehearse bringing together factual knowledge, values and norms in order to explore how to change existing practices (Boal, 1985; Jackson & Vine, 2013). Simultaneously, in the encounter, they jointly reflect on and perhaps build new transdisciplinary knowledge about sustainability issues. Being students-in-role forces them to also consider personal values and ethical concerns (Author, 2023).
The participating student teachers experienced a transition from holding traditional discussions about environmental science issues to practicing the act of living through an environmental issue by behaving and talking in context, and further touching upon thoughts of collective responsibility at the global level. Hopefully they will use and develop role play as a creative and powerful tool in their own teaching.
ReferencesAuthor, (2001)
Author, (2003)
Author, (2017)
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Biesta, G. (2006). What's the point of lifelong learning if lifelong learning has no point? On the democratic deficit of policies for lifelong learning. European educational research journal, 5(3-4), 169-180.
Boal, A. (1985) Theatre of the Oppressed. New York: Theatre Communications Group.
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative research in psychology, 3(2), 77-101.
Colucci-Gray, L. (2007). An inquiry into role-play as a tool to deal with complex socio-environmental issues and conflict. Open University (United Kingdom).
Fortus, D., Lin, J., Neumann, K., & Sadler, T. D. (2022). The role of affect in science literacy for all. International Journal of Science Education, 44(4), 535-555.
Granados-Sánchez, J. (2023). Sustainable Global Citizenship: A Critical Realist Approach. Social Sciences, 12(3), 171.
Jackson, A. & Vine, C. (2013) Learning Through Theatre: The Changing Face of Theatre in Education. New York: Routledge
Kristoffersen, K. D. (2021) Rollespel i naturfag. Eit reiskap for utdanning for medborgarskap? [Role play in Science, A tool for educating citizenship?] Master thesis. Oslo: University of Oslo.
Leinweaver, J. (2015) Storytelling for Sustainability. Deepening the Case for Change. Oxford: Dõ Sustainability.
Neelands, J. (2000). Drama i praksis: teori, ideer og metoder. Gråsten: Drama.
Toonders, W., Verhoeff, R. P., & Zwart, H. (2016). Performing the future: on the use of drama in philosophy courses for science students. Science & Education, 25, 869-895.
UNESCO (2017) Education for Sustainable Development Goals Learning Objectives. Retrieved January 2024: https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000247444
Valladares, L. (2021). Scientific literacy and social transformation: Critical perspectives about science participation and emancipation. Science & Education, 30(3), 557-587.
Van Poeck, K., & Vandenabeele, J. (2013). Sustainable citizenship as practice. Lifelong Learning in Europe, 2013(2).
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