Imagining a More Just Future: Conceptions of environmental justice and imagining a more just future

• In Event: Education for Societal and Holistic Transformation: Alternatives for a Just Future

Abstract

There is an increasing interest in understanding how social justice-oriented curriculum can motivate students to examine and act on environmental issues in their communities. Research by Bradford et al. (2023) found that student motivation improved during a chemistry unit when it was framed within the context of local environmental issues. Similarly, Morales-Doyle (2017) studied the impact of a justice-centered chemistry class, showing significant academic gains along with evidence that students developed a “critical consciousness” that they then were able to apply to local environmental issues. The presentation builds on these earlier works by seeking to understand how learning resources can support students in critically investigating local environmental issues through the lens of social justice.
Education to transform individuals and societies (Freire, 1970), has been a goal for many. Critical transdisciplinary approaches include education based on community-focused research, such as participatory action research (Ozer, 2017); asset-based education, such culturally responsive pedagogy (Gay, 2013); critical place-based education (Gruenewald, 2003); and pluralistic approaches to critical global citizenship education (Andreotti, 2014).
This paper discusses a mixed-methods case study that took place in two science classrooms in the United States exploring environmental justice issues through an asset-based transdisciplinary education model. We examine student perspectives as they explore complex environmentally grounded topics critical to their futures (Gibson, 2021). And sought to understand how participation impacted students' optimism for making changes needed to establish a more sustainable and just future.
Research participants were Mid-Atlantic urban middle school students. Collected student work and pre/post survey results were analyzed to explore ideas about students’ knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors. Participants created multiple student work products including the justice concept maps and environmental justice definitions, advocacy posters, and justice poems, which examined and discussed within this presentation. In addition, student survey results from the Environmental Cognitive Alternatives Scale (Wright, 2020) were analyzed.
Qualitative findings suggest that middle school students are more than capable of thoughtful engagement with environmental justice issues and imagining an alternative future. Student artifacts illustrate how students’ conceptualizations of environmental justice balance hope for a respectful, fair, and peaceful future for their community, while recognizing the current challenges in achieving that future because of existing injustices.
Pre- and post-test survey results indicate that after being given the opportunity to explore and investigate environmental issues and potential solutions, there were statistically significant shifts in students' ability to imagine the changes needed to create a sustainable future and an increase in students' general optimism towards humanity's ability to make the changes needed for a sustainable future.
This research has several implications. It outlines an instructional approach that has been shown through quantitative findings to support adolescent students in developing a conceptualization of self that includes taking action to establish a more sustainable and environmentally just future. Additionally, qualitative analysis of student artifacts sheds important light on how students are thinking about local environmental justice issues and their global implications, offering us a deeper understanding of the types of thinking underpinning survey findings.

Author

• Mary E. Short, Smithsonian Institution