Climate change is a challenge for Europe which reaches beyond national borders. Young people across Europe are taking action themselves, not satisfied to leave it to others; there is a clear demand for new stories, new hope and new agency to address climate change (FridaysForFuture). The latest IPCC climate change report (2018) gives us 12 years to act, requiring rapid and far-reaching changes to avoid irreversible damage. Finding solutions which enable communities to transition to a low carbon future is a key issue facing all countries in Europe. This clearly links with European and global priorities laid out in EU2020 and 2013 Energy & Climate Framework. Young people are increasingly rejecting climate politics and demanding new stories; we intend to provide them with the tools and opportunity. Stories are an effective way to understand and make sense of the world around us; they are the primary way people makes sense of their lives. “We are storytelling creatures, and as children we acquire language to tell those stories that we have inside us.” (Bruner). Compelling stories which challenge climate myths and fake news are urgently needed; stories which reframe addressing climate change as an opportunity for Europe to grow and come together. The overall objective of Change the Story is ‘to empower young people to develop compelling stories addressing climate change, using digital technologies to communicate their results and inspire others to take action’. These stories will be sourced from local people about how the community has changed in ways that can be attributed to or which contribute to climate change; stories of local projects which help mitigate or adapt to climate change; and critically new stories that are created by young people to explore possible desired futures and take action. This will be reached through 5 inter-linked objectives: 1.Increase the motivation of pupils and provide meaningful opportunities to take collective positive action for the benefit of their community and the wider European community. 2.Improve digital competences and communication skills of pupils. 3.Increase the use of digital tools in learning and teaching through innovative digital pedagogies. 4.Enhance the competence of teachers to creatively use digital technology in the classroom and community. 5.Develop formative assessment tools that assess pupils digital and civic competences. Change the Story targets pupils aged 9-14 years in primary and middle schools from five countries. We will work with 3 pilot schools in each country and approximately 500 pupils. Through our dissemination activities we expect to reach a minimum of a further 250 teachers, 150 schools and 3750 pupils. The project has been developed in collaboration with and based on the needs of our pilot schools. Key to delivering Change the Story will be the use of digital storytelling as a pedagogy. Digital storytelling has emerged as a powerful tool that engages teachers and pupils. We will create a pedagogical framework integrating the core aspects of digital technology, citizenship competences and climate change. Using this framework, we will develop a suite of activities adapted for the curriculum of each partner country. Alongside this, we will develop a digital playroom where schools can privately learn and use digital tools to create compelling stories about climate change which encourage people to action. A celebration website will share these stories. Competence assessment tools will ensure learning can be monitored and evaluated, and training resources created so teachers can ‘self-train’ to implement the project post-funding. As a result of Change the Story, we expect to have created a long-term toolkit comprising digital tools and curriculum linked learning resources. These will leave a lasting legacy resulting in: •Young people with enhanced understanding of how climate change affects their community and how they can actively influence it. •Young people becoming engaged citizens with an understanding of their roles and responsibilities, and empowered to act. •Young people able to understand and present complex narratives in succinct and accessible ways. •Young people with an enhanced sense of being a part of Europe and improved inter-cultural skills. •Schools with a better understanding of the potential of digital storytelling to address subject content and competences. •Improved digital competences of both teachers and pupils. •A resource base for teachers to continue developing new stories. •Training resources guiding teachers to teach storytelling and use digital technology. Over the long-term, we plan that Change the Story will contribute to climate change learning which rather than turning pupils away from action with messages of doom and gloom, actively engages pupils with positive messages and actions that are meaningful, shared with their community and influence real change
In CtS (Change the Story), we wanted to empower pupils to share their thoughts about the climate crisis through digital storytelling. By providing resources, training and examples we wanted to support teachers so they could provide opportunities for pupils to become engaged in real world issues and, through the use of digital storytelling, transcend classroom walls. We sought pedagogy that allows pupils and teachers acquire the skills they need to be creative problem solvers and powerful advocates for a sustainable future. Key to achieve this ambition was to develop, test and implement tools and resources with and for teachers and share them across Europe. CtS represented an opportunity to identify pedagogical approaches that support the work of teachers; identifying, testing and evaluating activities for their effectiveness to develop skills and knowledge for the future of a sustainable planet. CtS represents a valuable resource for teachers and schools, not only in terms of climate and digital education, but also as an inspiring learner centred approach to foster pupils’ agency on societal challenges. It attempted to bridge the gap between climate science and what it might mean to envision and create a low carbon future.
We applied for this project to research approaches for climate crisis education. We clearly need better approaches and to change how we teach for successfully tackling global environmental and societal challenges. The roadmap is tough, we need partnerships from different backgrounds and expertise to effectively and in a short time work on this educational challenge. This was our over-arching motivation, and we continue to work for this purpose. CtS (Change the Story) also sits within a broader policy context, one where the slowness of governments to react to the climate crisis has seen many young people to take action for themselves. If we think at the European level, the difficulties we are facing to shape more sustainable and low carbon societies also mirrors a difficulty at the educational level to link disciplines and standard approaches to complex real-world problems and phenomena. We need new approaches, a new kind of education in formal settings, new ways to bring the curriculum to life. This is the context where CtS at the national and European level has developed its strategies of implementation and this is still the context where CtS, as developed project, has some answers, approaches and strategies to share.