Traditional approaches to teaching environmental and sustainability education (ESE) often rely on the knowledge of experts, textbook authors, and teachers, who then engage with students around environmentally related topics with outcomes related to environmental knowledge, attitudes, and skills. However, this delivery of preconceived knowledge does not always leave room for students to develop their own opinions. What's more, a concern can sometimes arise that students may be presented with a specific ideology. In contrast, a participatory approach, such as student discussion, enables students to develop the competencies they need to be active thinkers in the democratic processes. This study analyzes the possibilities and constraints of using participatory approaches within ESE.
To understand how participatory approaches allow students to construct knowledge, the authors analyzed video recordings of Swedish upper secondary school students (aged 16–19) engaged in discussion. The purpose of the student discussion was to develop understanding of climate change as an environmental, social, political, and economic issue.
In analyzing these videos the authors drew on John Dewey's theory of action, in which meaning-making, or the development of knowledge, is a socially constructed process. Part of Dewey's theory is that meaning-making changes and adapts in response to varying actions. Building on this philosophy, the authors identified, categorized, and counted six different knowledge-acquiring actions, which allowed students to collectively construct their knowledge of climate change. These actions include:
1. Confirming or reinstating another person's idea
2. Affirming and agreeing with another person's idea
3. Fulfilling or completing another's unfinished idea
4. Asking clarifying questions of another person's idea
5. Asking questions to encourage another participant to reconsider their idea
6. Making statements which question and counter another person's ideas
The students involved in the discussion used these actions as they uncovered the tensions and conflicting interests in finding solutions—specifically, an international agreement—for climate change. From their critical, iterative, and open-ended discussion, students determined that the challenge of developing a climate change solution is huge—and beyond their ability to have a direct impact—and lands within the political and economic redistribution of power.
Although students were able to discuss these complex controversies and deduce the crux of the problem, they did not discuss their personal ideological differences within the group. These varying perspectives would have diversified and broadened the discussion. This hesitancy to share one's personal viewpoint is one of the risks of participatory approaches, as seen in this research study and others. The trend demonstrates students' discomfort in sharing ideas that differ from the groups' ideas, but the conformity carries the risk of falling into established power relations, such as only considering dominant perspectives. It may be possible to overcome or lessen this risk by emphasizing the importance of providing equal speaking time for each student and fostering a culture focused on the diversity of ideas as opposed to consensus.
The Bottom Line
<p>To prepare students to participate in democratic processes about complex environmental issues, ESE should strive to move beyond learning experiences that foster a culture where there is an expected “right answer.” One way to do this is with a participatory approach, which emphasizes informed open-ended discussions and varying opinions. In this way, students are allowed to weigh ideas and values and to make sense of complex issues. Students may be unfamiliar with this way of interacting with their peers and developing knowledge, but teachers can provide support and scaffolding. Using the six knowledge-acquiring actions described in this study, teachers can suggest sentence starters, such as “Could you elaborate on . . .” (a clarifying action) or “That is a valid point, but . . .” (a counter-argument action) to help facilitate student communication. Teachers can also create graphic organizers or visual concept maps for students to organize their thoughts and for teachers to monitor students' progress. Additionally, teachers can provide research and an unbiased array of information to support informed discussions.</p>
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