Student Artists as Informal Educators About Climate Change

• In Event: 61.012 - Climate Change Teaching and Learning in the Post-Truth Era: Making Valid Inferences From Scientific Evidence

Abstract

This multiyear study examined the effectiveness of promoting intergenerational learning by placing K-12 students’ artwork about climate change in advertising spaces on buses. The informal education and intergenerational learning literature, including perspectives on children as non-threatening educators provided a theoretical framework. The attitudes and beliefs of 2749 Northeastern bus riders prior to and following the installations of the student artwork are compared. The findings indicate that students’ artwork was an effective educational tool. Knowledge of climate change was significantly associated with learning from the posters, frequency of riding the bus, and year of implementation. Educational projects which lead to bidirectional intergenerational learning, such that adults may also learn from children, are important for educators interested in informal learning to consider.

Authors

• Jill Hendrickson Lohmeier, University of Massachusetts - Lowell

• Shanna Rose Thompson, University of Massachusetts - Lowell

• Robert Chen, University of Massachusetts - Boston

• Stephen Mishol