Abstract

The environmental challenges of society today necessitate educational approaches that motivate learners toward careers in science and foster creativity and innovation. The urbanization of society with many children growing up with little opportunity to experience nature in their daily lives has created a need to reconnect with nature, especially for children and youth, in ways that can also make natural sciences meaningful to them. This paper presents the first phase of a research and development project that explores the potential of participatory media to promote greater environmental awareness in children and adolescents. In the first phase of the qualitative study, the project has collaborated with three schools, and designed interventions where students and their teachers employed narrative, role-play and digital media in an interdisciplinary approach to science classes. The project has developed and tested a combination of integrative learning designs, including video production and role-play scenarios as well as exploring nature using scientific methods. The research methods combine observations, interviews, and qualitative surveys. The results from the first phase of the project are promising but also indicate that further research in the field is needed. There is a need to further explore the development of creative learning designs that have the potential to support the development of environmental awareness.

Citation

Gjedde, L. (2022). Gather STEAM- fostering environmental awareness using participatory media and arts. In T. Bastiaens (Ed.), Proceedings of EdMedia + Innovate Learning (pp. 677-681). Online: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). Retrieved August 9, 2024 from https://www.learntechlib.org/primary/p/221356/.

© 2022 Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE)