Toward More Effective Storytelling for Raising Environmental Awareness in Young Students

Abstract

This paper addresses the need to reclaim the value of storytelling as a tool for raising environmental awareness in young children. In distinguishing between 'knowledge' and 'awareness', the paper discusses the role that the sense of wonder evoked through shaping topics in story-form can play in encouraging awareness. Through imaginative and emotional engagement with issues and ideas, children can feel the significance of the natural world around them. The role of the Story of the Universe which presents the natural environment as a living organism, in which human beings and Nature co-exist, is also discussed.

Sustainability Stories to Encounter Competences for Sustainability

“…As argued by Reason and Heinemeyer (2016, p. 560), stories have a specific value since they contain 'storyknowing', a tacit mode of knowledge that brings in lived experience, which in turn makes a story's explicit content seem believable or not. Thus, using storytelling as a reflexive participatory practice makes it a useful Journal of Education for Sustainable Development 15:1 (2021): 146-160 didactical approach to make sense of complex issues (see Alterio & McDrury, 2003;Facer, 2019;Hadzigeorgiou & Judson, 2017;Jehangir, 2010).…”

“…A story must be clear on how one thing leads to the next and thus the risk of fragmentation is reduced. Also, as stories connect people to the events, it becomes easier to engage emotionally (Hadzigeorgiou & Judson, 2017). At the same time, training action competence, it is important to balance this emotional engagement with a critical distance (Almers, 2009).…”

Interactive Game-Content-Based Storytelling for the Environment

“…Some storytelling-based approaches to environmental issues have revealed this can be an effective means to achieve natural sustainability. Effective storytelling for raising environmental awareness in young students was described as education research [7]. Over the past decade, using storytelling in energy and climate change research has become available in various forms [9].…”

“…To strengthen the environmental orientation of the consumers' mindset, researchers and marketers should seek more effective ways to craft and deliver sustainability messages to encourage pro-environmental actions. Storytelling could be one powerful form of communicating such messages, helping shape people's attitude toward the consumption of green products [7,8]. Through storytelling, artists have often used various forms of work to influence the audience on socio-environmental themes such as global climate change, ecological conservation, and social responsibility [7,8].…”

“…Storytelling could be one powerful form of communicating such messages, helping shape people's attitude toward the consumption of green products [7,8]. Through storytelling, artists have often used various forms of work to influence the audience on socio-environmental themes such as global climate change, ecological conservation, and social responsibility [7,8]. In doing so, they have used a persuasive story containing a pro-environmental message.…”