Children’s constructive climate change engagement: Empowering awareness, agency, and action

Abstract

This mixed-methods study examined how ten- to twelve-year-old children experienced and made sense of their growing climate change awareness through an after-school program that used participatory methods to facilitate children’s informed climate change action. The fifteen-week program combined hands-on educational activities with digital photography and culminated in youth-led action projects focused on individual (i.e. daily habits) and collaborative change (i.e. community projects). After the program, children knew significantly more about the scientific and social dimensions of climate change than before, and more than the average U.S. teen or adult. Survey and focus group analyses showed that, in addition to learning, children were inspired and motivated by their growing climate change awareness. Children felt empowered by their knowledge and eager to learn more and take action to minimize harms. Towards theorizing children’s constructive climate change engagement, the importance of informal learning environments for children’s intergenerational and political influence is discussed.

Keywords:

• Agency
• awareness
• children
• climate change education
• hope
• participatory action research
• sustainability
• youth

Acknowledgment

The author would like to thank the Boys and Girls Clubs where this research took place, Dr. Laura Sample McMeeking at the Colorado State University (CSU) STEM Center, and the CSU research assistants who made this programming and research possible: Anna Hoover, Christine Zirbel, Jade Croghan, Jimmy McCulloch, and Pauline Freud.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 Socio-scientific issues are conceptualized as ‘factually and ethically complex and controversial issues of modern science … [with potential solutions that] typically involve diverse social, political, economic as well as value considerations’ (Sakschewski et al. 2014, 2293). Socio-scientific issues share a similar meaning with science, technology, and society issues (Bencze, Sperling, and Carter 2012).

2 The BGC is among the largest community-based youth development organizations in the U.S., serving over four million youth annually – the majority low-income (BGC 2018).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; Society for Community Research and Action; Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues

Notes on contributors

Carlie D. Trott

Carlie D. Trott is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Cincinnati. She earned a Master of Science and PhD in Applied Social Psychology from Colorado State University. Her research employs community-based, participatory, and action research methodologies to promote agency and collaborative action around local environmental problems while strengthening civic and science engagement by marginalized groups. Dr. Trott’s research emphasizes interdisciplinary collaboration and integrated, arts-based, and action-oriented engagement methods towards addressing sustainability challenges. Dr. Trott teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in social and community psychology at the University of Cincinnati where she also advises students in the Community and Organizational Research for Action (CORA) doctoral program.