Two ideas appearing more frequently in the academic literature are “engaging young people as next generation leaders” and “listening to children's voices.” This paper discusses the importance of each idea in relation to climate change education. The discussion draws upon a government funded project in Australia entitled “Climate Change + Me.” This paper also includes (1) a summary of the emerging field of climate change education research from an international perspective and (2) background information about the use of participatory and child-framed methodologies for educational research.
Key findings from the literature review include the need for new approaches to climate change education, as the practice of embedding climate change education into other related disciplines -- such as environmental education, science education and education for sustainable development -- fails to adequately address some of the social, economic, and political issues related to climate change. Findings from the literature review also indicated that, while climate change education is essential for all children and young people, their voices on environmental issues have often not been solicited or considered. Yet, as reported in a recent study of 10– to 14-year-olds in Australia, 50% of children were deeply concerned about climate change, and 25% were concerned that the world would end in their lifetimes.
The Climate Change + Me project is designed to provide a platform for children and youth to engage directly in the climate change debate and their associated education. Research relating to the project involved working with 135 children and young people as co-researchers. The children expressed their awareness, attitudes and actions towards climate change through artworks, essays, videos, photographs, poems and fictional works. These works were assembled into a public touring exhibition and provided the resources for a transdisciplinary climate change curriculum implemented in schools in New South Wales, Australia. Children's input throughout the project helped shape the process as it unfolded in real time. The children's understandings of climate change and their input in shaping the project did not reveal limited or inaccurate knowledge. Instead, their insights proved to be insightful and creative; and their involvement in the project indicated that children and young people can be meaningfully involved in “producing finely tuned research outputs.”
This research indicates that the need for climate change education to become an entirely new field of educational experience and inquiry can be justified, but that the process needs to be inclusive of and led by young people. Young people's involvement in the process can provoke a re-thinking of curriculum that goes beyond the question of climate change content. Young people's contributions to this project “revealed their capacity to conduct research outside of the cognitive, human-centered schematics induced by traditional schooling.” Inviting and honoring the contributions of young people in the development of climate change education may prove helpful in replacing the anthropocentric and scientific modes of education currently in place.
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