Youth Citizens for Change: developing environmental activism in young people through creative digital citizen inquiry Context Many young people feel their generation is under pressure to solve environmental issues but do not believe they are well-enough prepared to make a difference (Young, 2019). Most educators also feel they lack the necessary understanding and skills to teach about environmental issues (UKSN/OXFAM, 2019). This project addresses both of these concerns using an innovative approach called Citizen Inquiry (CI). Ultimately, the project aims to establish a youth-led CI network which can mainstream the exemplary activities of this pilot project. Aims The project aims to develop the environmental agency of hard to reach young people through creative youth-led citizen inquiry activities that encourage dialogue at a local level but also help to influence policymakers more widely. Objectives 1. Inspire interest and enthusiasm of young people in environmental issues and concerns 2. Develop young people's practical skills and abilities to undertake a local environmental investigation using CI methodologies 3. Increase young peoples’ capacity to influence decision-makers about environmental issues through the use of creative/digital technologies 4. Establish a European wide citizen inquiry youth network led and maintained by young people 5. Equip teachers/ youth workers with the skills and knowledge to utilise citizen inquiry pedagogy effectively with hard to reach young people Participants The partners include schools in Norway, Germany and Spain, a youth organisation and a university in the UK. Participants will be 40 young people aged between 14-19. Additionally, a group of university interns, drawn from creative arts and media disciplines, will be recruited to support the young people. Each partner has identified five educators who will be involved in the project. Activities Young people will carry out a creative CI project which focuses on an area of environmental concern specific to their area. They will be encouraged to explore their local history, topography and demography through liaising with local creative and cultural organisations and devising creative digital responses (i.e. an app, games, eBooks etc) to publicise these concerns. The young people and their facilitators will also establish a European wide youth-led CI network. Methodology The project will focus on using participatory youth work methods to support young people to develop youth-led creative CI with a special focus on the use of digital and creative tools to enhance and develop their skills and employability. Results 1. Young people will have undertaken an individual CI project in their own locality to investigate an issue of environmental concerns to them (IO1). 2. Creation of digital artefacts that can be used as teaching resources and campaign tools in and beyond the project (IO2/IO5) 3. Creation of a European wide youth CI network (IO4), enabling young people to share/create resources and lobby decision-makers across Europe. 4. Online course for teachers and youth workers to help them understand and implement youth-led CI initiatives in their own contexts (IO3). 5. A number of different promotion campaigns to enable sustainability beyond the project (IO5) The processes and outcomes will be carefully evaluated and this plus other data will feed at least two research papers (part of IO5) plus conference presentations and poster sessions. Impact: 1. Development of new interdisciplinary youth-led CI methodologies 2. Development of the practical skills required for facilitating creative citizen inquiry 3. Development of ‘soft skills’ including communication and interpersonal skills 4. Deeper understanding of environmental issues. Potential long term benefits 1. International youth environmental network 2. Links for building further projects between schools and youth organisations 3. Bolstering of creative industries through upskilling future employees (via interns) References: Burden, K., Dean, C., James, F. & Wurzel, R. (2020) Engaging Young People in the Circular Plastics Economy using Citizen Inquiry Available at: https://www.ukcpn.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/PRIF-Conference-Brochure-Final-1.pdf Young, S. (2019) 80% of teens feel under pressure to save the planet but aren’t learning how. Accessed online on 02/10/20 at https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/teenagers-save-planet-world-environment-day-2019-climate-change-plastic-pollution-protest-a8945131.html UKSCN / Oxfam teachers survey (May 2019)
To engage young people in greater environmental activism, including: 1. Inspiring greater enthusiasm of young people in environmental issues and concerns 2. Developing young people's practical skills to undertake a local environmental investigation using Citizen Inquiry methodology 3. Increasing young peoples’ capacity to influence decision-makers about environmental issues 4. Establishing a European wide Citizen Inquiry youth network led and maintained by young people 5. Equipping teachers and youth workers with the skills to utilise citizen inquiry pedagogies effectively with young people Unfortunately our application was not fully funded and only two of the five original intellectual outputs received funding. We did not receive any funding to run a Citizen Inquiry project (Originally IO1); to create a European wide CI youth network (originally IO4) or to write academic papers (original IO5) as part of the dissemination process. Therefore it has been impossible to achieve all of the objectives in full and objective 4 (see above) at all . Despite the lack of funding provided we elected to run Citizen Inquiry project (IO1) without any funding and therefore all of the other project objectives have been achieved.
We applied for this project to develop the skills, knowledge and understanding of issues affecting the environment for young. Previous projects and research undertake by the University of Hull has highlighted the difficulties associated with engaging young people in environmental activism and this project set out to address this issue. Many young people feel their generation is under pressure to solve environmental issues but do not believe they are well-enough prepared to make a difference (Young, 2019). Most educators also feel they lack the necessary understanding and skills to teach about environmental issues (UKSN/OXFAM, 2019). Our project was intended to address both of these concerns using an innovative approach called Citizen Inquiry (CI). This is a combination of traditional Citizen Science and Inquiry baked learning that seeks to engage young people by enabling them to have greater agency and control over an issue of interest to them: in this case an environmental issue in their immediate vicinity. Originally the project aimed to establish a youth-led CI network but funding for this aspect of the project was not provided and therefore this objective was not feasible.