Welcome to our EE and Civic Engagement mini-blog series! This series highlights key insights from a panel discussion hosted by Cornell University and the NAAEE ee360+ program in February 2025. Each post will feature one panelist, sharing their segment of the webinar along with a thoughtful essay that expands on their ideas. Stay tuned for more!

This essay was written by Dr. Yun-Wen Chan from Texas State University, San Marcos, USA. Yun-Wen Chan is an Assistant Professor of Curriculum and Instruction at Texas State University. Her research focuses on environmental citizenship, which is located at the intersection of sustainability education and civic education. She asks how to balance human and natural needs, how cultural orientations and economic pressures interact, and where education fits in mediating these challenges. Dr. Chan has closely worked with teachers and students in the United States, Taiwan and mainland China about deliberations of sustainability challenges and controversial issues.

Multi-Stakeholders Deliberation

My experiences working with teachers, students, scientists, and stakeholders in varied sustainability contexts in Texas, Georgia, Wisconsin, Taiwan, and China have helped me learn an important fact: political tensions and value conflicts have characterized sustainability challenges. To address these challenges, multi-stakeholders’ deliberation is crucial but difficult. As an advocate for healthy democracy and a sustainable world, I aim to prepare students' civic capacities to tackle issues of sustainability in increasingly multicultural and polarized societies.

Pluralistic Environmental Citizenship

The concept I am advocating for is “pluralist environmental citizenship,” which comprises four key elements: conception of community, conception of environment, legal and institutional knowledge, and pluralistic values (Chan, 2023). Among these, “pluralistic values” play a crucial role in enabling citizens to navigate the diverse and often conflicting perspectives inherent in environmental controversies and sustainability challenges. These values encompass respecting differing viewpoints, showing concern for vulnerable interest groups, and actively participating in discussions on public issues.

Place-Based Deliberation

The model of pluralistic environmental citizenship is cultivated through a democratic deliberation pedagogical approach called place-based deliberation (PBD). PBD aims to engage participants in deliberating local sustainability challenges or environmental controversies. One key element of PBD is that it requires participants to identify the stakeholders involved in the controversy, analyze their competing viewpoints, and examine the causes, effects, trade-offs, and relationships among these stakeholders based on the three pillars of sustainability. Students then explore different perspectives from the stakeholders’ viewpoints before progressing in their learning. This is an essential democratic process, as all decisions should be made through careful deliberation, ultimately leading to a consensus. While the outcome is often a compromise, it is reached through a thoughtful deliberative process that considers all relevant factors.

PBD in Schooling

For the past 10 years, I have been implementing PBD in formal schooling, including middle schools in Taiwan and social studies methods courses in teacher certificate programs in the US. Rooted in the deliberative approaches in social studies education, PBD can also be integrated with various content areas—such as scientific argumentation, human rights education, and mathematics—making it more adaptable for schoolteachers to align with state standards and implement in their classrooms. Beyond acquiring content knowledge, students engage in democratic participation by discussing significant public issues. This is especially crucial in today’s increasingly polarized societies, where democratic systems face growing challenges. I firmly believe that democracy is built on respect and mutual understanding; even when we disagree, we must strive to listen, engage in meaningful discussions, and make informed decisions together.

Lesson Cases for Place-Based Deliberation

One key aim of PBD is to specifically address environmental controversies that arise at local levels, which are common in most sustainability challenges. A controversial issue provides a space for democratic discussion of different perspectives. PBD is flexible and can be adapted to (1) different grade levels, (2) varying content focuses, and (3) different teaching timelines. Here are some articles focusing on various issues in different contexts.

The Changhua Coastal Wetland Designation Controversy in Taiwan

• Controversy: Whether the Changhua coastal wetland should be designated as a national protected wetland?
• Learner level: 13 and 14 youth
• Content area: social studies
• Article:
  • Chan, Y.-W., & Forsythe, M. E. (2020). Mapping stakeholders: Tools to scaffold students in deliberating about environmental controversies. Science Scope, 44(1), 50-57. https://doi.org/10.1080/08872376.2020.12291361

The Permian Highway Pipeline Controversy in Texas, USA

• Controversy: Should we build up the Permian Highway Pipeline in central Texas?
• Learner level: college students
• Content area: social studies
• Article:
  • Chan, Y.-W., & Alviar-Martin, T. (2022). Linking the global to local sustainability challenges: Deliberating the Permian Highway Pipeline controversy in Texas. Social Studies Journal, 42(1), 41-55.

The Hollywood Film Studio Controversy

• Controversy: Should we build the film studio on the Edward Aquifer Recharge Zone?
• Learning level: college students
• Content area: science & social Studies
• Articles:
  • Chan, Y.-W., & Forsythe, M. E. (2024). Integrating scientific argumentation and democratic deliberation in addressing environmental issues. Social Education, 88(5), 301–308.
  • Forsythe, M., & Chan, Y.-W. (2024). Building from scientific argumentation to democratic deliberation: An interdisciplinary approach to decision-making about socioscientific issues. Journal of College Science Teaching. https://doi.org/10.1080/0047231X.2024.2417180

Pedagogical Steps for PBD

1. Explore the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
2. Science Informing Local Issues
3. Identity Stakeholders
4. Stakeholders Proposing Statement
5. Analyzing Stakeholders’ Viewpoints
6. Mapping Stakeholders
7. Making Informed Decisions

References:

Chan, Y.-W. (2023). Developing youth toward pluralistic environmental citizenship: A Taiwanese place-based curriculum case study. Environmental Education Research, (29)1, 121-147. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2022.2093334