You and CO2: a Public Engagement Study to Engage Secondary School Students with the Issue of Climate Change

Jennifer A. Rudd,Ruth Horry,R. Lyle Skains

doi:10.1007/s10956-019-09808-5

Abstract

School students are growing up in a world with a rapidly changing climate, the effects of which will become increasingly apparent during their lifetimes. We designed and pilot tested “You and CO2”, a STEAM program designed to encourage students to reflect on their personal impact on the environment, while also appreciating their place within society to bring about positive societal change. Over three interlinked workshops, students analyzed the carbon footprints of some everyday activities, which they then explored in more detail through interacting with a bespoke piece of digital fiction, No World 4 Tomorrow. The program culminated with students producing their own digital fictions, allowing them the freedom to explore the themes from the previous workshops with a setting and focus of their choice. We reflect here on the experience of running the You and CO2 program and on the themes that emerged from the students’ original digital fictions.

Highlights

Climate change poses a serious threat to our planet, which will only be mitigated through a reduction in carbon emissions
We present preliminary findings from a pilot evaluation of a school-based STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) program that aimed to encourage students to reflect on their individual roles as consumers and on their ability as members of a wider society to affect positive societal change
We found that the website through which the digital fiction could be accessed was blocked, creating delays in beginning workshop 2 for the first classes in both schools

Summary

Introduction

Climate change poses a serious threat to our planet, which will only be mitigated through a reduction in carbon emissions. As citizens of the world, individuals each have a role to play, adjusting their behavior both to reduce personal carbon emissions and to fuel public pressure on bigger contributors like industry and government. We present preliminary findings from a pilot evaluation of a school-based STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) program that aimed to encourage students to reflect on their individual roles as consumers and on their ability as members of a wider society to affect positive societal change. The program combined science- and arts-based approaches, including. We outline our rationale for the approach before describing the program and evaluation methods more fully. The Need for Climate Change Engagement in Schools

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Conclusion