Understanding teenagers' personal contexts to design technology that supports learning about energy consumption

© 2013 Taylor & Francis. Energy sustainability is prevalent in political and popular rhetoric and yet energy consumption is rising. Teenagers are an important category of future energy consumers, but little is known of their conceptions about energy and energy saving. We report on empirical research with two groups of teenagers. This is part of ongoing work to design learning technologies that support teenagers learn about personal energy consumption. In this paper we describe our analysis and methodology, which are shaped by the Ecology of Resources (EoR) design framework [Luckin, R. (2010). Re-designing learning contexts: Technology-rich, learner-centred ecologies. London and New York, NY: Routledge]. Our findings informed the development of an EoR model of the participants' personal context, which includes their world resources (people, tools, knowledge, skills, and environment) and their personal resources (conceptions, motivations and concerns around energy consumption). We discuss the range of methods we employed to understand learners' personal contexts. These findings contribute to our understanding of how to explore teenagers' personal contexts and have implications for the design of technology to support learning about personal energy consumption

Power Explorer – a casual game style for encouraging long term behavior change among teenagers

When it comes to motivating teenagers towards energy awareness, new approaches need to be considered. One such is the use of pervasive games connected to the players own energy consumption. Earlier work has confirmed this to be a highly effective approach. The question however remains if post game effects on behavior can be achieved. In this paper we try to answer this by trying out a slightly different design compared to previous work. The hypothesis is that a more casual game play and a richer learning interaction enabled by building the game on a real time sensor system could stimulate more lasting effects. Electric consumption data after the 7 days evaluation on a test group of 15 players shows tentative indications for a persistent post game effect compared to the control group of 20 households. Findings also show a statistically significant positive change in the players’ attitude towards saving energy compared to the same group. Findings, at the same time, also indicate a negative effect on the player’s attitude toward environmental questions in general

Stewards of the earth? : a study of teenagers' pro-environmental attitudes and lifestyles in Devon, UK and Malaga, Spain

Individual responses to sustainability are recognised as fundamental to progressing the sustainable development agenda. In order to raise awareness and support for sustainability, concerted programmes of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) have been promoted and ESD is now a core element of educational curricula in many countries, particularly in the developed world. One group of particular interest to educators and policy makers is teenagers. Their engagement with sustainability issues, both in rhetorical and participatory terms, is considered essential to both the short and long term infusion of sustainability into public consciousness. However, despite continuing endeavours to involve teenagers in the sustainability agenda, many remain apathetic despite increases in environmental awareness and literacy throughout society. This suggests there is considerable scope for more extensive analysis of the environmental attitudes and behaviour of teenagers beyond pedagogic influences. In light of this, the overall aim of the study is to explore the ways in which ESD interacts with other social influences such as families, peer groups and media, in forming young people's environmental awareness and participation in proenvironmentalb ehaviour.T eenagersw ho participatedi n the study were secondary and Further Education (FE) students from two European Union (EU) locations, Devon in the United Kingdom (UK) and Malaga in Andalusia, Spain. A cross-national approach was chosen in order to reveal salient factors influencing teenagers' relationship with sustainability in different social contexts. A range of research methods were employed including questionnaire surveys, interviews and focus groups. The findings indicate that, despite the existence of similar ESD policy commitments and conceptualu nderstandingso f sustainabilityi n the two cases tudies,s ubtle differencesi n local social processesh ad significant impactso n teenagers' participation in pro-environmental behaviours. However, common to both locations there was a need for ESD to be infused as part of a whole schools ethos and for other social contexts, particularly families, to be recognised more fully as influences on teenagers' environmental development. Furthermore, participation in proenvironmental behaviour was strongly influenced by socio-spatial location and teenagers' experienced difficulties transferring learned skills between school, home and peer sites. In many cases this lack of integration resulted in confused understandingsa nd inconsistentlyh eld values for behaviouri n different settings. From these conclusions, some practical options for greater co-ordination of sustainability strategies within schools and between schools and other social settings are suggested

Living and Learning With New Media: Summary of Findings From the Digital Youth Project

Summarizes findings from a three-year study of how new media have been integrated into youth behaviors and have changed the dynamics of media literacy, learning, and authoritative knowledge. Outlines implications for educators, parents, and policy makers

The orchestra of ideas: Using music to enhance the ‘fuzzy front end’ phase of product innovation

By introducing music composition theory, we offer a new perspective from which to understand the ‘fuzzy front end’ (FFE) phase of product innovation with regard to both value outcomes and the innovation process. Focusing on ideas co-created by consumers, we draw on an ethnographic study to examine how young consumers tackled a real-life challenge to produce a digital product that would engage audiences in classical music. Working with two organizations, one a city symphony orchestra, the other a global technology corporation, this work bridges innovation and aesthetics and challenges the established mind-set of the science-art schism in business management. The findings contribute to innovation theory by introducing a hybrid model that structures FFE activities based around the composing process. We also illuminate how music can facilitate and ensure greater value for consumers as ‘the composers of ideas’. Managerial implications are suggested

Sustainable clothing: challenges, barriers and interventions for encouraging more sustainable consumer behaviour

Research with consumers has revealed limited awareness of the sustainability impact of clothing (Goworek et al., 2012). Semi-structured interviews conducted with a range of experts in sustainable clothing to increase understanding of the challenges for sustainable clothing revealed that a focus on sustainability alone will not drive the necessary changes in consumers’ clothing purchase, care and disposal behaviour for three reasons: (i) clothing sustainability is too complex; (ii) consumers are too diverse in their ethical concerns; and (iii) clothing is not an altruistic purchase. The findings identify the challenges that need to be addressed and the associated barriers for sustainable clothing. Interventions targeting consumers, suppliers, buyers and retailers are proposed that encourage more sustainable clothing production, purchase, care and disposal behaviour. These interventions range from normalising the design of sustainable clothing and increasing the ease of purchase, to shifting clothes washing norms and increasing upcycling, recycling and repair