Children’s climate change meaning-making through photovoice Empowering children to learn, care, and act through participatory process
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
Most studies of children and climate change focus on instilling literacy (a ‘top-down’ process), positioning children as passive recipients of climate change knowledge rather than active agents in shaping their lived realities. Photovoice, a form of participatory action research, can help explore how children make sense of climate change, while inviting their critical reflection, arts-based expression, and action (a ‘bottom-up’ process). By qualitatively examining children’s photovoice discussions from a fifteen-week after-school program, the present study explores how children made connections between their own lives and climate change through photovoice. Participants were 55 children (ages 10 to 12) who participated in Science, Camera, Action!, a program consisting of hands-on educational activities, photovoice process, and youth-led action across three neighboring cities in the U.S. Data consisted of nine audio-recorded photovoice discussions analyzed using thematic analysis. Findings suggest that photovoice helped children to learn about, care about, and take action on climate change. Moreover, these processes were interdependent and fueled by children’s enjoyment of the program and children’s engagement in collective meaning-making during group-based photovoice discussions. As climate change intensifies, photovoice can be an important pedagogical approach and enjoyable experience for children that simultaneously facilitates their learning, affective engagement, and agentic action.
Downloads
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Authors retain copyright, without restrictions, in their articles and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike Licence 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA). Readers are free to copy, display, distribute, and adapt an article, as long as the work is attributed to the author(s) and ESC, the changes are identified, and the same license applies to the derivative work. Only non-commercial uses of the work are permitted.
How to Cite
References
Barrett, Aileen, Kajamaa, Anu, & Johnston, Jenny (2020). How to … be reflexive when conducting qualitative research. The Clinical Teacher, 17(1), 9-12. https://doi.org/10.1111/tct.13133
Beh, Adam, Bruyere, Brett, & Lolosoli, Sam (2013). Legitimizing local perspectives in conservation through community-based research: A photovoice study in Samburu, Kenya. Society and Natural Resources, 26(12), 1390-1406. https://doi.org/10.1080/08941920.2013.805858
Bentz, Julia (2020). Learning about climate change in, with and through art. Climatic Change, 162, 1595-1612. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-020-02804-4
Boys and Girls Clubs of America. (2021). At a glance fact sheet 2020. Boys and Girls Clubs of America. https://www.bgca.org/about-us/club-impact
Biswas, Tanu, & Mattheis, Nikolas (2022). Strikingly educational: A childist perspective on children’s civil disobedience for climate justice. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 54(2), 145-157. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131857.2021.1880390
Braun, Virginia, & Clarke, Victoria (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3, 77-101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa
Cocco-Klein, Samantha, & Mauger, Beatrice (2018). Children’s leadership on climate change: What can we learn from child-led initiatives in the U.S. and the Pacific Islands? Youth and Environments, 28(1), 90-103. https://doi.org/10.7721/chilyoutenvi.28.1.0090
Collins, Patricia (2000). Black feminist thought: Knowledge, consciousness, and the politics of empowerment. Routledge.
Costa, Arthur, & Kallick, Bena (1993). Through the lens of a critical friend. Educational Leadership, 51(2), 49-51.
Creswell, John, & Poth, Cheryl (2018). Qualitative inquiry & research design: Choosing among five approaches (4th ed.). SAGE. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107415324.004
Cutter-Mackenzie, Amy, & Rousell, David (2019). Education for what? Shaping the field of climate change education with children and young people as co-researchers. Children’s Geographies, 17(1), 90-104. https://doi.org/10.1080/14733285.2018.1467556
Derr, Victoria, & Simons, Jordin (2020). A review of photovoice applications in environment, sustainability, and conservation contexts: Is the method maintaining its emancipatory intents? Environmental Education Research, 26(3), 359-380. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2019.1693511
Dutta, Urmitapa (2016). Prioritizing the local in an era of globalization: A proposal for decentering community psychology. American Journal of Community Psychology, 58(3-4), 329-338. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajcp.12047
Faulkner, Dorothy (2016). Young children as storytellers: Collective meaning making and sociocultural transmission. In T. Cremin, R. Flewitt, B. Mardell, & J. Swann (Eds.), Storytelling in early childhood: Enriching language, literacy and classroom culture (pp. 85-100). Routledge. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315679426
Fisher, Scott (2016). Life trajectories of youth committing to climate activism. Environmental Education Research, 22(2), 229-247. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2015.1007337
Guba, Egon (1982). ERIC / ECTJ annual review paper criteria for assessing the trustworthiness of naturalistic inquiries. Educational Communication and Technology, 29(4), 75-91. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.146.3642.347
Harris, John (2018). Vulnerable youth’s perspectives and priorities for informal settlements: Photovoice evidence from Lusaka, Zambia. Journal of Planning Education and Research, 38(4), 398-412. https://doi.org/10.1177/0739456X17709914
Heras, Maria, Tabara, J. David, & Meza, Amayrani (2016). Performing biospheric futures with younger generations: A case in the MAB Reserve of La Sepultura, Mexico. Ecology and Society, 21(2), 14. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-08317-210214
Herrick, Imogen, Lawson, Michael, & Matewos, Ananya (2022). Through the eyes of a child: Exploring and engaging elementary students’ climate conceptions through photovoice. Educational and Developmental Psychologist, 39(1), 100-115. https://doi.org/10.1080/20590776.2021.2004862
Hickman, Caroline (2019). Children and climate change: Exploring children’s feelings about climate change using free association narrative interview methodology. In P. Hoggett (Ed.), Climate psychology: On indifference to disaster (pp. 41–59). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11741-2_3
Hickman, Caroline, Marks, Elizabeth, Pihkala, Panu, Clayton, Susan, Lewandowski, Eric, Mayall, Elouise, Wray, Britt, Mellor, Catriona, & van Susteren, Lise (2021). Climate anxiety in children and young people and their beliefs about government responses to climate change: A global survey. Lancet Planet Health, 5(12), E863-E873. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(21)00278-3
Jensen, Bjarne, & Schnack, Karsten (2006). The action competence approach in environmental education. Environmental Education Research, 12(3-4), 471-486. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504620600943053
Jones, Charlotte, & Davison, Aidan (2020). Disempowering emotions: The role of educational experiences in social responses to climate change. Geoforum, 118, 190-200. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2020.11.006
Kukkonen, Tiina, & Chang-Kredl, Sandra (2018). Drawing as social play: Shared meaning-making in young children’s collective drawing activities. International Journal of Art and Design Education, 37(1), 74-87. https://doi.org/10.1111/JADE.12116
Lawson, Danielle, Stevenson, Kathryn, Peterson, Nils, Carrier, Sarah, Strnad, Renee, & Seekamp, Erin (2019). Children can foster climate change concern among their parents. Nature Climate Change, 9(6), 458-462. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-019-0463-3
Lopez, Flor, Wickson, Fern, & Hausner, Vera (2018). Finding creative voice: Applying arts-based research in the context of biodiversity conservation. Sustainability, 10(6), 1778. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10061778
McBride, Sarah, Hammond, Matthew, Sibley, Chris, & Milfont, Taciano (2021). Longitudinal relations between climate change concern and psychological wellbeing. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 78, 272-4944. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2021.101713
Monroe, Martha, Plate, Richard, Oxarart, Annie, Bowers, Alison, & Chaves, Willandia (2019). Identifying effective climate change education strategies: A systematic review of the research. Environmental Education Research, 25(6), 791-812. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2017.1360842
Noonan, Robert, Boddy, Lynne, Fairclough, Stuart, & Knowles, Zoe (2016). Write, draw, show, and tell: A child-centred dual methodology to explore perceptions of out-of-school physical activity. BMC Public Health, 16, 326. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-016-3005-1
O’Brien, Karen, Selboe, Elin, & Hayward, Bronwyn (2018). Exploring youth activism on climate change: Dutiful, disruptive, and dangerous dissent. Ecology and Society, 23(3), 42. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-10287-230342
Ojala, Maria (2020). To trust or not to trust? Young people’s trust in climate change science and implications for climate change engagement. Children’s Geographies, 19(3), 284-290. https://doi.org/10.1080/14733285.2020.1822516
Papenfuss, Jason, Merritt, Eileen, Manuel-Navarrete, David, Cloutier, Scott, & Eckard, Bonnie (2019). Interacting pedagogies: A review and framework for sustainability education. Journal of Sustainability Education, 20. http://susted.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Papenfuss-JSE-April-2019-General-Issue-PDF.pdf
Percy-Smith, Barry, & Burns, Danny (2013). Exploring the role of children and young people as agents of change in sustainable community development. Local Environment, 18(3), 323-339. https://doi.org/10.1080/13549839.2012.729565
Rooney-Varga, Juliette, Brisk, Angelica, Adams, Elizabeth, Shuldman, Mitchell, & Rath, Kenneth (2014). Student media production to meet challenges in climate change science education. Journal of Geoscience Education, 62(4), 598-608. https://doi.org/10.5408/13-050.1
Sipos, Yona, Battisti, Bryce, & Grimm, Kurt (2008). Achieving transformative sustainability learning: Engaging head, hands and heart. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 9(1), 68-86. https://doi.org/10.1108/14676370810842193
Sonn, Christopher (2016). Swampscott in international context: Expanding our ecology of knowledge. American Journal of Community Psychology, 58(3-4), 309-313. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajcp.12038
Stapleton, Sarah (2019). A case for climate justice education: American youth connecting to intragenerational climate injustice in Bangladesh. Environmental Education Research, 25(5), 732-750. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2018.1472220
Sunrise Movement. (2020). Our plan for the Future: What is the green new deal? How you can help. Sunrise Movement. https://www.sunrisemovement.org/green-new-deal/
Sutton-Brown, Camille (2014). Photovoice: A methodological guide. Photography and Culture, 7(2), 169-185. https://doi.org/10.2752/175145214X13999922103165
Theobald, Maryanne, Danby, Susan, Einarsdóttir, Jóhanna, Bourne, Jane, Jones, Desley, Ross, Sharon, Knaggs, Helen, & Carter-Jones, Claire (2015). Children’s perspectives of play and learning for educational practice. Education Sciences, 5, 345-362. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci5040345
Trott, Carlie (2019). Reshaping our world: Collaborating with children for community-based climate change action. Action Research, 17(1), 42-62. https://doi.org/10.1177/1476750319829209
Trott, Carlie (2020). Children’s constructive climate change engagement: Empowering awareness, agency, and action. Environmental Education Research, 26(4), 532-554. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2019.1675594
Trott, Carlie (2021). Youth-led climate change action: Multi-level effects on children, families, and communities. Sustainability, 13(22), 12355. https://doi.org/10.3390/su132212355
Trott, Carlie, Even, Trevor, & Frame, Susan (2020). Merging the arts and sciences for collaborative sustainability action: A methodological framework. Sustainability Science, 15(4), 1067-1085. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-020-00798-7
Trott, Carlie, Rockett, Maria, Gray, Emmanuel-Sathya, Lam, Stephanie, Even, Trevor, & Frame, Susan (2020). “Another Haiti starting from the youth”: Integrating the arts and sciences for empowering youth climate action in Jacmel, Haiti. Community Psychology in Global Perspective, 6(2/2), 48-70. http://siba-ese.unisalento.it/index.php/cpgp/article/view/21951
Trott, Carlie, & Weinberg, Andrea (2020). Science education for sustainability: Strengthening children’s science engagement through climate change learning and action. Sustainability, 12(16), 6400. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.3390/su12166400
UNICEF. (2021). The climate crisis is a child rights crisis. UNICEF. https://www.unicef.org/reports/climate-crisis-child-rights-crisis?s=03
Vásquez, Olga (2006). A pedagogy of the future. Pedagogies: An International Journal, 1(1), 43-48. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15544818ped0101_7
Wang, Caroline, & Burris, Mary (1997). Photovoice: Concept, methodology, and use for participatory needs assessment. Health Education and Behavior, 24(3), 369-387. https://doi.org/10.1177/109019819702400309