Hackathons Promoting Environmental Citizenship: Attitudes of Fifth-Grade Students, Educators, Ornithologists, and High-Tech Workers

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 3:20 pm Four Seasons Ballroom 1
  In Roundtable Session: Division C - Section 1d: Science Roundtable Session (Table 12)

Abstract

This qualitative study examined the perceptions of 42 fifth-grade students (ages 11-12), along with 8 staff members, 9 ornithologists, and 10 high-tech experts who participated in a hackathon. The event was the culmination of a learning process aimed at finding environmental, technological, and humane solutions to the competition between the Lesser Kestrel (native species) and the Myna (invasive species). Using data from drawings, open questionnaires, and focus group interviews, the study explored the extent to which a hackathon can promote environmental citizenship principles among fifth graders, based on Berkowitz’s components of environmental citizenship. The findings showed that students expanded their ecological literacy, discussed civic literacy characteristics, adopted environmental values, and increased their self-efficacy in addressing the Lesser Kestrel-Myna interaction.

Authors

• Adiv Gal, Kibbutzim College

• Shai Frogel, Kibbutzim College