Science Education for Sustainability: Strengthening Children’s Science Engagement through Climate Change Learning and Action

Abstract

Scientists and sustainability scholars continue to make urgent calls for rapid societal transformation to sustainability. Science education is a key venue for this transformation. In this manuscript, we argue that by positioning children as critical actors for sustainability in science education contexts, they may begin to reimagine what science means to them and to society. This multi-site, mixed-methods study examined how children’s climate change learning and action influenced their science engagement along cognitive, affective, and behavioral dimensions. For fifteen weeks, ten- to twelve-year-olds participated in an after-school program that combined on-site interactive educational activities (e.g., greenhouse gas tag) with off-site digital photography (i.e., photovoice process), and culminated in youth-led climate action in family and community settings. Participants were 55 children (M = 11.1 years), the majority from groups underrepresented in science (52.7% girls; 43.6% youth of color; 61.8% low-income). Combined survey and focus group analyses showed that, after the program, science became more relevant to children’s lives, and their attitudes towards science (i.e., in school, careers, and in society) improved significantly. Children explained that understanding the scientific and social dimensions of climate change expanded their views of science: Who does it, how, and why—that it is more than scientists inside laboratories. Perhaps most notably, the urgency of climate change solutions made science more interesting and important to children, and many reported greater confidence, participation, and achievement in school science. The vast majority of the children (88.5%) reported that the program helped them to like science more, and following the program, more than half (52.7%) aspired to a STEM career. Lastly, more than a third (37%) reported improved grades in school science, which many attributed to their program participation. Towards strengthening children’s science engagement, the importance of climate change learning and action—particularly place-based, participatory, and action-focused pedagogies—are discussed.

Youth-Led Climate Change Action: Multi-Level Effects on Children, Families, and Communities

“…Echoing previous articles in this series [24,36,38] and consistent with the growing literature on children's climate change engagement [45][46][47][48], findings of the present study show that children can engage positively and meaningfully with climate change in educational settings, particularly when given action opportunities. In the present study, ten-to twelve-year-olds engaged in a range of individual and collaborative actions intended to actively mitigate or raise awareness of climate change.…”

“…This article is part of a series of manuscripts examining children's constructive climate change engagement through the lens of an after-school program that used participatory methods to encourage children's individual and collaborative climate change action [24,[36][37][38]. The present mixed-methods research draws on survey and focus group data to examine how SCA impacted ten-to twelve-year-old children's climate changerelevant behaviors as well as whether and how these shifts had ripple effects in family and community settings.…”

“…The pre-and post-program survey consisted of socio-demographic items and a series of scales assessing children's climate change knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors. Findings related to children's knowledge gains and attitudinal shifts are reported elsewhere [36,38]. To examine the impacts of the program on children's climate-relevant behaviors, a 10-item scale was compiled by the author.…”

Promoting Ocean Literacy in Elementary School Students Through Investigation Activities and Citizen Science

“…The analysis of final group work done by students showed that, at the end of the activities, they were able to incorporate all the learned scientific concepts and communicate their reflections to a wider audience in an objective, accurate and creative way. Trott and Weinberg (2020) suggested that climate change learning and action can support the engagement of children with science by emphasizing its real-world significance and by connecting learning with collaborative, community-based action. Through the group work, students had the opportunity to make collective decisions and communicate to the public, promoting also the two other recognized dimensions of Ocean Literacy -communication and decision-making (Fauville et al, 2018).…”

“…Many studies have contributed to the development of climate change education including the contribution of teachers to learning (Ratinen et al, 2013;Oversby, 2015) and the importance of the ideas, questions, science engagement and learning of the students themselves (McCright et al, 2013;Körfgen et al, 2017;Tolppanen and Aksela, 2018;Trott and Weinberg, 2020). Reviews have identified effective strategies for climate change education (Monroe et al, 2019), and on international perspectives regarding climate change pedagogy (Perkins et al, 2018).…”