IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v12y2020i16p6400-d396542.html

Science Education for Sustainability: Strengthening Children’s Science Engagement through Climate Change Learning and Action

Author

Listed:
  • Carlie D. Trott

    (Department of Psychology, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221, USA)

  • Andrea E. Weinberg

    (Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85281, USA)

Abstract

Scientists and sustainability scholars continue to make urgent calls for rapid societal transformation to sustainability. Science education is a key venue for this transformation. In this manuscript, we argue that by positioning children as critical actors for sustainability in science education contexts, they may begin to reimagine what science means to them and to society. This multi-site, mixed-methods study examined how children’s climate change learning and action influenced their science engagement along cognitive, affective, and behavioral dimensions. For fifteen weeks, ten- to twelve-year-olds participated in an after-school program that combined on-site interactive educational activities (e.g., greenhouse gas tag) with off-site digital photography (i.e., photovoice process), and culminated in youth-led climate action in family and community settings. Participants were 55 children ( M = 11.1 years), the majority from groups underrepresented in science (52.7% girls; 43.6% youth of color; 61.8% low-income). Combined survey and focus group analyses showed that, after the program, science became more relevant to children’s lives, and their attitudes towards science (i.e., in school, careers, and in society) improved significantly. Children explained that understanding the scientific and social dimensions of climate change expanded their views of science: Who does it, how, and why—that it is more than scientists inside laboratories. Perhaps most notably, the urgency of climate change solutions made science more interesting and important to children, and many reported greater confidence, participation, and achievement in school science. The vast majority of the children (88.5%) reported that the program helped them to like science more, and following the program, more than half (52.7%) aspired to a STEM career. Lastly, more than a third (37%) reported improved grades in school science, which many attributed to their program participation. Towards strengthening children’s science engagement, the importance of climate change learning and action—particularly place-based, participatory, and action-focused pedagogies—are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Carlie D. Trott & Andrea E. Weinberg, 2020. "Science Education for Sustainability: Strengthening Children’s Science Engagement through Climate Change Learning and Action," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-24, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:16:p:6400-:d:396542
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/16/6400/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/16/6400/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Simon L. Lewis & Mark A. Maslin, 2015. "Defining the Anthropocene," Nature, Nature, vol. 519(7542), pages 171-180, March.
    2. Wang, C.C. & Morrel-Samuels, S. & Hutchison, P.M. & Bell, L. & Pestronk, R.M., 2004. "Flint photovoice: Community building among youths, adults, and policymakers," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 94(6), pages 911-913.
    3. Jens QVORTRUP, 2009. "Are Children Human Beings or Human Becomings? A Critical Assessment of Outcome Thinking," Rivista Internazionale di Scienze Sociali, Vita e Pensiero, Pubblicazioni dell'Universita' Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, vol. 117(3), pages 631-654.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Karel Nepraš & Tereza Strejčková & Roman Kroufek, 2022. "Climate Change Education in Primary and Lower Secondary Education: Systematic Review Results," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-20, November.
    2. Carlie D. Trott, 2021. "Youth-Led Climate Change Action: Multi-Level Effects on Children, Families, and Communities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-20, November.
    3. Ibrahim Arpaci & Abdullah Kaya & Mahadi Bahari, 2023. "Investigating the Influence of an Arduino-Based Educational Game on the Understanding of Genetics among Secondary School Students," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-11, April.
    4. Maxwell Peprah Opoku & Ahmed Bawa Kuyini & Ebenezer Mensah Gyimah & Aysha Alnuaimi & Lilian Frimpomaa & Ashraf Moustafa, 2025. "Extending Climate Change Action to Persons with Disabilities in the Middle East and North Africa: Exploring the Moderators of Attitudes and Climate Change Behaviour Awareness Among Persons with Sensory Disabilities," SAGE Open, , vol. 15(4), pages 21582440251, October.
    5. Maria Teresa Carone & Loredana Antronico & Roberto Coscarelli, 2025. "Learning platforms for climate change adaptation: the importance of effective communication," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(1), pages 1-10, December.
    6. Ana Pellín Carcelén & Nuria Cuevas Monzonís & Ana Rodríguez Martín & Vicente Gabarda Méndez, 2021. "Promotion of Environmental Education in the Spanish Compulsory Education Curriculum. A Normative Analysis and Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-14, February.
    7. Gkargkavouzi, Anastasia & Halkou, Panagiota & Halkos, George, 2025. "Advances in climate change education, challenges and policy insights," MPRA Paper 125314, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Miloslav Kolenatý & Roman Kroufek & Jan Činčera, 2022. "What Triggers Climate Action: The Impact of a Climate Change Education Program on Students’ Climate Literacy and Their Willingness to Act," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-20, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Tironi, Martín & Rivera Lisboa, Diego Ignacio, 2023. "Artificial intelligence in the new forms of environmental governance in the Chilean State: Towards an eco-algorithmic governance," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    2. Felipe Vásquez & Gibran Vita & Daniel B. Müller, 2018. "Food Security for an Aging and Heavier Population," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-19, October.
    3. Marco Filippo Torchio & Umberto Lucia & Giulia Grisolia, 2020. "Economic and Human Features for Energy and Environmental Indicators: A Tool to Assess Countries’ Progress towards Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(22), pages 1-19, November.
    4. Rachel Mazac & Hanna L. Tuomisto, 2020. "The Post-Anthropocene Diet: Navigating Future Diets for Sustainable Food Systems," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-15, March.
    5. Li, Xiaoliang & Wu, Kening & Yang, Qijun & Hao, Shiheng & Feng, Zhe & Ma, Jinliang, 2023. "Quantitative assessment of cultivated land use intensity in Heilongjiang Province, China, 2001–2015," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    6. Eva Michaeli & Vladimír Solár & Matúš Maxin & Jozef Vilček & Martin Boltižiar, 2021. "The Nature of the Technosols on the Waste from Nickel Production," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-14, January.
    7. Kaisa Vehmas & Nancy Bocken & Hannamaija Tuovila, 2024. "Understanding Consumer Attitudes Towards Sustainable Business Models—A Qualitative Study with Finnish Consumers," Circular Economy and Sustainability, Springer, vol. 4(2), pages 1487-1512, June.
    8. Seray Ergene & Subhabrata Bobby Banerjee & Erim Ergene, 2024. "Environmental Racism and Climate (In)Justice in the Anthropocene: Addressing the Silences and Erasures in Management and Organization Studies," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 193(4), pages 785-800, September.
    9. Zhiting Chen & Qing Ren & Tian Zhang & Zhewen Kang & Xiaoyan Huang & Peng Li & Xiaohu Dang & Xiaoshu Cao & Mingjiang Deng, 2022. "Spatiotemporal Dynamics of the Human Critical Area (HCA) in the “Three Water Lines” Region of Northwest China and the Impact of Socioeconomic Factors between 2000 and 2020," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-20, May.
    10. Alfred Maroyi, 2026. "Exploring the benefits of invasive alien plant species as food sources: Mapping their socio-ecological impacts in Zimbabwe," International Journal of Research in Business and Social Science (2147-4478), Center for the Strategic Studies in Business and Finance, vol. 15(1), pages 357-364, January.
    11. Garrath T. Wilson & Tracy Bhamra, 2020. "Design for Sustainability: The Need for a New Agenda," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-8, April.
    12. Paula Botella & Salvador Baena-Morales & Olalla García-Taibo & Alberto Ferriz-Valero, 2022. "Effects of Self-Construction of Materials on the Ecological Awareness of Physical Education Primary School Students," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-13, October.
    13. Ying Pan & Ke Shi & Zhongxu Zhao & Yao Li & Junxi Wu, 2024. "The effects of China’s poverty eradication program on sustainability and inequality," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-15, December.
    14. Alessandro Cariello & Rossella Ferorelli & Francesco Rotondo, 2021. "Tactical Urbanism in Italy: From Grassroots to Institutional Tool—Assessing Value of Public Space Experiments," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-15, October.
    15. Andrew Spring & Erin Nelson & Irena Knezevic & Patricia Ballamingie & Alison Blay-Palmer, 2021. "Special Issue “Levering Sustainable Food Systems to Address Climate Change (Pandemics and Other Shocks and Hazards): Possible Transformations”," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-6, July.
    16. Jonathon J Valente & Lindsay J Adrean & S Kim Nelson & Matthew G Betts & Daniel D Roby & James W Rivers, 2024. "Presence-absence surveys yield spatially imprecise information about nesting sites of an endangered, forest-nesting seabird," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 19(12), pages 1-13, December.
    17. Cannuscio, Carolyn C. & Weiss, Eve E. & Fruchtman, Hannah & Schroeder, Jeannette & Weiner, Janet & Asch, David A., 2009. "Visual epidemiology: Photographs as tools for probing street-level etiologies," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(4), pages 553-564, August.
    18. Switzer, S. & Guta, A. & de Prinse, K. & Chan Carusone, S. & Strike, C., 2015. "Visualizing harm reduction: Methodological and ethical considerations," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 77-84.
    19. Minh Ngo & Michael Brklacich, 2014. "New farmers’ efforts to create a sense of place in rural communities: insights from southern Ontario, Canada," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 31(1), pages 53-67, March.
    20. Ionuț-Alexandru Spânu & Alexandru Ozunu & Dacinia Crina Petrescu & Ruxandra Malina Petrescu-Mag, 2022. "A Comparative View of Agri-Environmental Indicators and Stakeholders’ Assessment of Their Quality," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-23, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:16:p:6400-:d:396542. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.