Curriculum enrichment can benefit a local community's response to climate change

The impacts of climate change are apparent globally, however, communities along the coasts that rely on fishing for their livelihoods and subsistence, are at the forefront of these effects. These areas are typically more geographically isolated and have fewer educational resources than inland locations, occasionally leading to a tradition of mistrust and skepticism about climate change from the adult population there. However, it is important that coastal communities receive relevant information on climate change so that they may adapt and plan for the future as conditions are rapidly changing. The researchers focused on integrating climate education and coastal variability lessons through modules that complemented South Africa's Curriculum Assessment Policy Standards (CAPS) for seventh to ninth grade students in two rural, coastal towns. The purpose was to mitigate the mistrust in the area by having conversations about direct impacts of climate change on the community and leverage the school to share credible knowledge. This study reported on the process of creating these modules, outcomes of the modules, and challenges they encountered.

South Africa's CAPS has received some criticism as being less applicable to rural areas, especially environmental components. For example, the scenarios and descriptions of environmental topics are rather generic and center on urban issues. Further, the additional hands-on activities that CAPS suggests for the environmental components can be out of reach for rural communities due to physical distance from the experiences, lack of resources to fund the materials needed for the experiences, or lack of ability to access the materials or experiences online. Therefore, the rural, coastal teachers feel disconnected from the curriculum and students do not retain the lessons. Research has identified two educational practices that fuel positive environmental behavior change and these were used in the new modules to fill the gaps revealed by teachers. These are social learning and situated learning. In social learning, the classroom becomes a space of reinforcement because students learn by observing other students' behaviors and the consequences (positive or negative) of those actions. If the learning environment provides positive consequences for pro-environmental behaviors and discussions, students are more likely to emulate those actions. Situated learning is a three-pronged approach that aims to create an interdisciplinary learning experience, establish connections with the physical environment, and focus on environmental challenges specific to the local area. Situated learning can help students connect these lessons to their life outside of the classroom.

This study took place between 2013 and 2017 in the rural South African towns of Vermaaklikheid and Melkhoutfontein of the Western Cape Province. These communities were chosen because of their socio-economic status, geographic isolation, and vulnerability to climate change. Each town had one school that implemented CAPS. The school in Vermaaklikheid is private and had a total of 38 students between R/Kindergarten to ninth grade, and the seventh to ninth graders were taught together in one class. The school in Melkhoutfontein is public and had about 400 students between first and ninth grades. The first phase of the study took place over six months in 2013 and 2014. The purpose was to observe the teachers and students in their respective learning environments and conduct semi-structured interviews and group discussions. The semi-structured interviews facilitated open-ended conversations to find gaps in CAPS that the researchers addressed. This phase included 12 teachers, 47 students, 19 parents of students, and 14 adult community members. Then the researchers co-designed lesson modules with both teachers and students and received feedback throughout this process. The researchers held follow-up meetings with a group of teachers and a group of students to make sure all needed content was included in these lessons. The second phase of the study included a series of interviews over four months in 2015 and 2016 with the same teachers and students from phase one. The purpose was to get participant feedback and revise lesson modules. The researchers also conducted interviews with the 19 parents and 14 adult community members to understand the impact of the modules on conversations with students outside of the classroom. Both phase one and phase two included facilitated conversations between teachers and parents for more context. Lastly, in early 2017, interviews were conducted with parents and community members and group discussions were facilitated with teachers and students to get feedback on the modules.

The researchers found that the situated learning approach gave students a tangible link between subjects learned in school and their local circumstances. For example, one eighth grade student recalled that it was helpful to see a local fisherman using math to make a graph of how the surrounding sea changed over time. The modules included outdoor activities that aligned with CAPS, and these helped students relate important climate change issues to what they were seeing in their own community. One such activity was when students took part in measuring pH levels that were linked back to ocean acidification lessons. Modules were designed to spark conversations through homework assignments that asked students to interview family and community members. The interviews consisted of asking family and community members about fishing in their town and how it has changed over time. These interactions and how students learned from others showed the value of social learning. In addition, some modules had videos and slideshows on a USB to maintain the student's attention and close potential learning gaps between the seventh and ninth graders in the class.

There were limitations in this study, and the data proved and it is not generalizable. Sampling only two schools was not representative of the full scope of the types of conditions faced in South Africa. The study was also heavily centered on the nation's CAPS which is not applicable in other countries. Further, the school in Melkhoutfontein was not able to use the modules in phase two because of strict orders from the country's Department of Education to adhere solely to CAPS after low test scores as well as the time required to translate the modules from English to Afrikaans (the primary language at that school).

The main challenge of this study was to create feasible and complementary modules to CAPS. It was a priority to keep the costs of materials low and require little technology because the teachers specialized in one subject per year and taught across a range of ability for the combined class of seventh, eighth, and ninth graders. Further, the researchers did not want to override the CAPS curriculum. Therefore, the researchers recommend to other entities attempting to refine their standardized curriculum an intentional and participatory approach that focuses on local conditions. This is useful to develop curriculum enrichment programming. The researchers also assert that schools can be viewed as credible sources of information in the community and can help bridge knowledge gaps among populations, ultimately helping the community plan for and adapt to local conditions.