Photo-elicitation foster connectedness to oceans but not necessarily conservation action

Experiential learning provides participants a hands-on opportunity to learn about and connect to a topic. Research indicates that when people actively participate in the learning process, they are able to connect more deeply and create meaning, which may result in longer-term awareness and action surrounding the topic. This study focused on an Australian program called “Show Us Your Ocean!” (SUYO!), which educated participants about ocean systems to enhance awareness, emotional connection, and ocean conservation. As part of its program, SUYO! implemented photo-elicitation in the waters off the coast of Western Australia. Photo-elicitation is an educational tool that uses participant-produced photographs to spark in-depth conversation and reflection. Few studies have assessed how photo-elicitation-based programs can meet marine conservation goals. This study explored whether participating in the SUYO! photo-elicitation experience impacted beliefs and emotions, thereby changing attitudes and leading to conservation behaviors.

This study was grounded in two theories: the cognitive-affective-behavioral (CAB) model and the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). Used together, these two theories explain how attitudes may change (CAB model), which may then lead to behavior change (TPB). The CAB model reasons that the two components of attitudes are cognition, or beliefs, and affect, or emotions. The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) describes how attitudes, along with social pressures (subjective norms), and perceived ability to do a behavior (perceived behavioral control), lead to behavior change. In order to change behaviors (or intentions to behave a certain way), these theories reason that education should aim to change attitudes by impacting beliefs and emotions. Research indicates that experiential learning may have a greater impact on attitudes, and attitude changes through experiences may be more likely to change behaviors.

This study took place in two locations in Western Australia. Researchers recruited 17 community members (aged 18-35 years) in Dunsborough through flyers, emails, website advertisements, and word-of-mouth. All participants reported prior snorkeling experience. The researchers also recruited 29 students from three high schools in Perth. Participants were in Year 10 and Year 12 and most snorkeled 1-5 times per year. Both the community and the school groups were provided an initial tutorial on underwater camera use and instruction on how to capture high-quality photos. Data collection varied for the community participants and the student participants.

Community participants: Following the tutorial, the community participants completed a questionnaire with open-ended questions intended to capture participants' experience with and emotional connection to oceans. Community participants were then given two weeks to capture images in self-selected areas, which were later noted to be healthy and have high-visibility waters. Researchers then met with community participants and conducted interviews to investigate the experience of participants. Each participant was instructed to choose 3-5 of their favorite photos. These photos were then displayed, and each person was allowed time to discuss their own pictures in front of the group. Researchers also conducted one-on-one interviews, giving each photographer the opportunity to discuss their photos.

Student participants: The student data included interviews with students and teachers, class discussions, and student photo slide decks. Prior to participation, students completed a demographics survey and a questionnaire to measure attitudes and behavioral intentions. Student participants were also given a workbook, in which they were instructed to take notes and complete the prompts. The researchers conducted a tutorial on using the cameras underwater at each school. Three of the four schools then went on snorkeling field trips, during which students took pictures; some schools opted for more days of snorkeling to take additional pictures. One school chose not to snorkel and instead took photos on the beach. The student participants also selected waters that appeared to be healthy. Following the underwater photography sessions, the students compiled their favorite pictures in slide decks, which they discussed as a group. Finally, students completed the attitude and behavioral intention questionnaire again, and the researchers conducted interviews with students and teachers after the end of the program.

To analyze the data, the researchers identified themes from individual interviews, student group interviews, teacher interviews, student photo captions, and community group discussions. The researchers used statistics to analyze students' pre- and post-participation surveys.

The results of this study indicated that participating in the SUYO! photo-elicitation experience enhanced awareness of, connection to, and positive emotions toward oceans among all participants. Awareness predominantly increased through the group discussions among both the community participants and student participants. The researchers found that this ability for members to share experiences and ideas allowed for other participants to expand their own perspectives and gain further and deeper awareness within themselves.

However, the data indicated a disconnect with behaviors among participants: both groups were less inclined to change ocean-harming behaviors as a result of participation in this program. The data indicated that student participants' beliefs that humans require the oceans for survival, ocean pollution should be controlled, humans could change their actions toward oceans and that they could change their own behavior to help oceans all decreased after the photo-elicitation experience in SUYO!. The researchers hypothesized that student participants believed that the oceans were in a more degraded condition than they experienced and were impressed to see the oceans in a healthy condition. This hypothesis was supported by class discussion of student participants' awe at the number and diversity of underwater organisms they saw during class discussions.

This study was limited in that the number of participants in both community and student groups were both relatively small. Therefore, the results of this study could be substantiated through additional research on this educational method. In addition, the participants did not visit any degraded sites, which may have influenced findings related to conservation behaviors. Lastly, while participants completed the post-participation survey immediately following the close of the group discussions, long-term data would provide a more complete picture of the impact of this program.

The authors recommend providing additional educational programming with photo-elicitation experiences. They attributed the disconnect between changes in attitudes and behavioral intentions to a lack of knowledge and argued that increasing ecological and ocean literacy could close this gap. Specifically, they recommend that marine education should include topics such as human-ocean relationship as well as ocean ecosystems and the degradation of those ecosystems. In addition, they recommend integrating “action competence,” or helping students understand how to take actions to address environmental issues. This might include civic engagement, such as becoming involved in advocacy, or individual actions, such as using less plastic. Finally, they recommend using photo-elicitation in degraded ocean areas, which can provide participants different perspective on human impacts on ocean ecosystems.