“Carbon literacy practices”: textual footprints between school and home in children’s construction of knowledge about climate change

This paper examines the notion of “carbon literacy practices” through reporting on a small research project aimed at understanding how children make sense of climate change, and their subsequent related practices at school, at home, and in the community. Drawing on a background in New Literacy Studies (e.g. Barton et al 2000; Satchwell & Ivanic 2009 and 2010), the paper explores the relationships among children’s understanding of climate change, their literacy practices in relation to climate change, and their environmental social practices. Data is included from a project involving children and their families from three primary schools – with and without “eco-school” status, which asked: What and how do children learn about climate change at school? What and how do they learn at home and outside of school? How do these kinds of learning relate to each other, and how is what they learn put into practice? Put simply, how might children become “carbon literate” citizens? This article will report on the methodological challenges of the project and the use of some innovative methods to address these using mobile technologies. In addition, the paper interrogates the notion of children as agents of change. The concept of children influencing the behaviour of others sounds convincing, but is based on a straightforward model, described by Shove (2010) as the ABC model – which is considered an effective strategy in health care (stopping parents smoking) and in marketing (persuading parents to buy certain products), but is not necessarily transferable to other contexts. Further, it is clear from work in literacy studies and education (Ivanic et al 2009; Gee 2003; Reinking et al 1998; Tuomi-Grohn and Engestrom 2003) that the transfer of linguistic and semiotic signs is by no means equivalent to the transfer of knowledge, values or functions. In other words, a school lesson or a computer game about climate change and its effects does not automatically mean that a child will turn the lights off at home. The paper considers these issues with reference to qualitative data collected from observations, conversations on “Twitter”, focus groups, and individual interviews

The textuality of learning contexts

A significant aspect of learning contexts is the way in which semiotic artefacts mediate learning within them. The Literacies for Learning in Further Education (LfLFE) project is researching the role of texts and associated communicative practices in constructing and mediating teaching and learning, in shaping communities, in constructing and sustaining relationships, and in helping students to achieve their goals. A particular aim of the project is to identify ways in which people can bring literacy practices from one context into another to act as resources for learning in the new context. In this paper we explain what we mean by ‘literacy practices’, demonstrate the textuality of learning contexts through examples from contrasting curriculum areas, and show how learning can be enhanced by mobilising literacy practices from one context to another

Creating Meaningful Opportunities for Children to Engage with Climate Change Education

The core assumption of this book is the interconnectedness of humans and nature, and that the future of the planet depends on humans’ recognition and care for this interconnectedness. This comprehensive resource supports the work of pre-service and practicing elementary teachers as they teach their students to be part of the world as engaged citizens, advocates for social and ecological justice. Challenging readers to more explicitly address current environmental issues with students in their classrooms, the book presents a diverse set of topics from a variety of perspectives. Its broad social/cultural perspective emphasizes that social and ecological justice are interrelated. Coverage includes descriptions of environmental education pedagogies such as nature-based experiences and place-based studies; peace-education practices; children doing environmental activism; and teachers supporting children emotionally in times of climate disruption and tumult. The pedagogies described invite student engagement and action in the public sphere. Children are represented as ‘agents of change’ engaged in social and environmental issues and problems through their actions both local and global

LITERACY FOR LEARNING IN FURTHER EDUCATION IN THE UK: A SYMPOSIUM

The Literacies for Learning in Further Education (LfLFE) project, a collaboration between two universities – Stirling and Lancaster – and four further education colleges – Anniesland, Perth, Lancaster and Morecambe, and Preston, funded for three years from January 2004 as part of Phase 3 of the TLRP. The project draws on work already done on literacy practices engaged in by people in schools, higher education and the community and seeks to extend the insights gained from these studies into further education. It aims to explore the literacy practices of students and those practices developed in different parts of the curriculum and develop pedagogic interventions to support students’ learning more effectively. This project involves examining literacy across the many domains of people’s experiences, the ways in which these practices are mobilised and realised within different domains and their capacity to be mobilised and recontextualised elsewhere to support learning. A project such as this raises many theoretical, methodological and practical challenges, not least in ensuring validity across four curriculum areas in four sites drawing upon the collaboration of sixteen practitioner researchers. This symposium of four papers examines some of the challenges and findings from the first eighteen months of the project. The first paper explores some of the findings regarding students’ literacy practices in their everyday lives and those required of them in their college studies. The second focuses on one approach adopted by the project as a method through which to elicit student literacy practices. The other two papers focus on different aspects of partnership within the project, in particular the attempts to enable students and lecturers to be active researchers rather than simply respondent

The mismeasure of a young man: an alternative reading of autism through a co-constructed fictional story

The combination of academic article and the fictional story it contains represents an attempt to convey our combination of qualitative participatory research and collaborative creative writing, as used in a project with a group of young people with disabilities. Through our story involving the fictional character Jasper, we have tried to distil some of the essence of his real-life inspiration, Peter, a young man with autism. At the same time, we recognise the impossibility of ‘pinning down’ any character as a representation of any psychological condition. By questioning the boundaries between science and art, and by considering alternative ways of creating ‘research reports’, we present the story as an alternative reading of autism. We suggest that the value of fiction in this context is that it allows a reframing of ‘problems’ while presenting readers with an accessible means of connecting with others across disciplinary, methodological and social divides

Perspectives on student engagement in a collaborative community-based story-telling project

The core of this case study is from the perspective of an undergraduate student who became involved in a story-telling research project. Along with many other students, her skills and expertise became critical to the completion and success of the research project. The outcomes for the student are explored in this personal account of her learning, celebrating the value of engagement in a collaborative research project with disadvantaged young people in the community

‘My two words? “Creative Energy”.’ Engaging students in a participatory story-making research project with disadvantaged young people

A UK Research Council-funded research project involving story-making by, with and for disadvantaged young people in the community became an opportunity to engage students. At each stage of the project, from getting to know the young people through to turning their stories into fictionalised animations and narrated videos, students participated, adding their own individual interests, passions and expertise. In the process, the project touched on a range of initiatives and values espoused by the wider university. Reflections from students, tutors and the community members with whom they worked, present an evaluation of the experience from their perspectives. The article provides testament from those directly involved to examine in detail the value of the process and the product of their engagement, thereby shedding light on its purpose. From there I will suggest how such work can be moved forward in ways that are meaningful for the participants themselves, while also fulfilling some of the requirements of universities today

Stories as findings in collaborative research: making meaning through fictional writing with disadvantaged young people

Working in a participatory research project with young people who are disabled, care-experienced or otherwise disadvantaged, collaborative fiction writing was a core method of hearing and amplifying their voices. We discuss how meanings were made in this iterative process of capturing resonances in the different stages of the research, resulting in the creation of stories filtered through many different participants. Through individual and joint reflections on the complex processes of constructing the 48 short stories, we demonstrate how collective storytelling can address criticisms of fictional research outputs as (in)valid social science, and argue instead that the resulting stories can be considered rigorous and faithful research findings. We suggest that these research outputs preserve and proliferate the meanings of marginalised young people, and challenge the absence or distortion of existing narratives about their lives as experienced by themselves

Perspectives of marginalised groups on HE and progression in education, including social and cultural contexts

Rewriting the Future has been undertaken in three phases from 2018 to the end of 2021. This report details the work carried out in 2020-2021, which has built upon the research conducted previously. The key aim of the earlier research was to enable young people to imagine alternative futures and thereby identify specific barriers and enablers for continued educational engagement. This led to a set of findings which in turn led to the development of interactive resources to explore educational experiences and future aspirations with further groups of marginalised young people. Data collection in all stages of Rewriting the Future has been a co-created process of working with young people to establish questions relevant to them in exploring educational aspirations, engagement and progression. This involves utilising participatory methods that enable young people to express their perspectives and ideas in ways which encourage identification of the issues, reflection and potential solutions. Participatory group activities allow the researchers to research ‘with’ rather than ‘on’ young people, and responses are recorded in different ways to produce rich data, allowing for the exploration of themes through different lenses. Analysis of data collected in Phase 3 led to the following themes: Perceptions of young people (by self and others); Relationships with others; Influential sources; Structural/contextual issues; and Knowledge and understanding. Significantly it is the nature and quality of children’s experiences of these factors which can affect whether they are barriers or enablers. Although our findings have been broadly categorised under a series of headings, a substantial finding is how interconnected the various themes are, and how a holistic approach is required when working with children and young people to discuss their futures. Whereas school students we worked with often thought first of qualifications and grades when considering university, our methods began from the starting point of imagining futures for themselves and exploring the range of routes available to them. Through considering the routes we were also able to identify potential challenges along the way, as well as enablers. Challenges and enablers took a range of forms, but one of the most significant observations was how the discussion itself enabled worries, assumptions, concerns and beliefs to come out into the open and to give access to alternative points of view