Developing youth toward pluralistic environmental citizenship: a Taiwanese place-based curriculum case study

Abstract

Environmental and sustainability education cannot disconnect itself from politics. In order to achieve sustainable societies, we need approaches that educate students capable of coping with the political complexities of environmental issues in a civic environmental context. This study proposes a pluralistic environmental citizenship approach based on the exploration of a 13-month long curriculum case study that engaged Taiwanese youth in deliberating over a highly controversial wetland policy related to their community. By tracing five focal students’ learning trajectories in depth, this study revealed that students conceptualize their roles toward a pluralistic environmental citizenship including four elements: conception of community, conception of environment, legal and institutional knowledge, and pluralistic values. This study showcases the potential power of integrating deliberative pedagogies in place-based education and how they can enrich environmental citizenship education.

Keywords:

• Pluralistic environmental citizenship
• deliberation
• environmental controversy
• place-based education

Acknowledgements

I thank every person I met in Dacheng: the students, teachers, staff, school principal, village leaders and residents. This study would not have been possible without their assistance and support. In particular, I want to thank all the stakeholders for their generosity and trust in sharing their opinions with me. I would also like to thank Dr. Tim A. Kinard and Dr. Rubén Garza for their constructive feedback and careful assistance during manuscript preparation.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Yun-Wen Chan

Dr. Chan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at Texas State University, USA. Her research focusses on teaching and learning about environmental citizenship. She has closely worked with scholars, teachers and students in the United States, Taiwan, and China about sustainability challenges and environmental controversy deliberations.