Teaching Greta Thunberg's Message: Toward a Sustainable and Equitable Future

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session 3
  In Roundtable Session: Sociopolitical Lens to Climate Change Education and Implications for Action

Abstract

Greta Thunberg’s speeches to various gatherings—the United Nations Conference on Climate Change, the British Parliament, the World Economic Forum in Davos, to name a few—are ideal for raising the issues of pursuing sustainable practices and socially just solutions in addressing the climate crisis in our classrooms. At the same time, the key arguments made in her speeches can be difficult to break down. In this paper, the results of a critical discourse analysis of all of Thunberg’s speeches up to October, 2020, are presented. Key themes are examined as a means of teaching Thunberg’s message. The purpose is to construct an understanding of Thunberg’s message to convey a sense of hope and possibility for young learners.

Author

• Geraldine R. McNenny, Chapman University