Children and young people can play an important role in promoting pro-environmental habits in their families and communities. The researchers of this study developed an educational program called the WaterCircle (WC) project to involve children in discussions relating to the environment. The WC project had three main objectives; include young students in the discussions of environmental problems and solutions, create conditions to talk about socio-political nature of environmental issues, and foster students' role as agents in their community. This study presented the initial findings of the WC project, specifically the efficacy of the project in raising young people's empowerment toward pro-environmental action. The WC project involved participatory research, in which the students themselves were a part of the research process. The researchers investigated whether the participatory research aspect of the WC project contributed to students' awareness of socio-political dimension of environmental problems and whether online tools were efficient for mobilizing young students to participate in research projects.
The WC project consisted of the design, implementation, and evaluation of an educational intervention within a school setting, in which students were involved in the research process. The intervention involved three classroom sessions where students became familiar with environmental issues. In the first sessions, students formed research teams and created an Instagram account to share and talk about environmental problems. In the second session, students were mentored on what a research process entails. The last session involved a collaboration among research teams and each class developed solutions to environmental problems they discussed through Instagram. The students then presented their work as a scientific poster.
This study took place over two months with 361 adolescents from randomly selected classes from grades 7 to 9 in a school in Northern Portugal. Of the 361 students involved, 158 students took part in the WC project intervention, which was the experimental group for this study. The other 203 students involved did not take park in the intervention, which was the control group for this study. A questionnaire was distributed to the experimental and control groups before and after the WC project. The questionnaire asked about attentiveness, engagement, sense of efficacy, and willingness to act. The questionnaire results and student discourses produced in the classroom activities were analyzed for themes.
In the posters the experimental group created, students identified community environmental problems that were meaningful to them. These included water scarcity and quality, litter on the ground, citizen's practices and political management of the public space, students' practices in school, and good practices at school. They then proposed solutions for these different environment problems. Solutions for the identified problems included individual behavior change, involvement of the community and the local government, and environmental policies and practical measures. The results of the posters suggested that the WC program fostered students' awareness of the socio-political dimensions of environmental problems.
Overall, the researchers found that the intervention program had the potential to empower young people regarding their awareness of environmental issues. Particularly, the intervention improved environmental self-efficacy of the students in the experimental group as compared to the students in the control group. For example, students viewed themselves as citizens and believed that their contributions could impact policymakers and local government. The researchers found no difference among groups regarding social media usage and could not conclude whether online tools are efficient for mobilizing young students to participate in research projects.
This study posed limitations. The small sample size in this study could have limited the results. Other limitations include the short period in between questionnaires, there might have not been enough time for students to change their behaviors.
The researchers recommend that educators let students explore environmental problems that they identify within their own school. They also suggest that EE curriculum would benefit from modifying content to address environmental topics that students view as meaningful to their interests and identities.
The Bottom Line
<p>Youth can play an important role in promoting pro-environmental habits in their families and communities. This study looked at the WaterCircle project, an educational program which aims to include students in the discussion of environmental problems and solutions, and engage them in the research process. The researchers investigated whether participatory research contributed to students' awareness of socio-political dimensions of environmental problems and whether online tools were efficient for mobilizing young students to participate in research projects. The WaterCircle project took place over two months with 361 adolescents from randomly selected classes from grades 7 to 9 in a school in Northern Portugal. Final posters created by the students demonstrated that the WaterCircle project fostered students' awareness of the sociopolitical dimensions of environmental problems. No conclusions were drawn about the role of social media. The researchers recommended that educators let students explore environmental problems that they identify within their own school.</p>
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