165
2016; Kahn 2010) advocates a school curriculum linking the teaching and learning
of environmental concepts to citizenship education.
From a socioecological perspective, Regula Kyburz-Graber (2013) claims that
educational approaches intended at involving citizens in environmental issues
should be participatory (an emphasis on collaboration and engagement), constructive (making people participate in the construction of meaning and solutions), critical (questioning the way things are and the way things should be) and reflective
(thinking above causes and consequences and how to improve situations).
Along with the use of constructive, collaborative, critical and reflective activities
(Kyburz-Graber 2013), classical models for shaping environmental behaviour reveal
the importance of variables affecting the sense of ownership and empowerment
(Hungerford and Volk 1990) and suggest the need for them to be taken into account
when designing educational interventions to promote Environmental Citizenship.
Based on the key elements highlighted above, we can identify some pedagogical
approaches with a huge potential to engage pupils in constructive, collaborative,
critical and reflective activities while fostering students’ sense of ownership and
engagement in environmental issues. We cite some of them below:
Service learning is an educational approach that combines educational objectives
with community service in order to provide a pragmatic and progressive learning
experience while meeting societal needs (López-Azuaga and Suárez Riveiro 2018;
Murphy 2008; Wilczenski and Coomey 2007; Golombek 2006). This approach is
likely to develop a sense of ownership and empowerment in students, who can take
an active part in addressing environmental issues and improving their world around
them. Service learning connected to Environmental Citizenship may provide pupils
with opportunities to make relevant and authentic contributions to the improvement
of local environmental issues, and to act as responsible and responsive citizens.
Project-based learning (PBL) and inquiry-based learning (IBL) are both studentcentred pedagogies, which engage students in the development of a project (PBL)
or an inquiry (IBL) in order to address a particular problem, while developing
understanding of the issue being addressed and acquiring interesting competences
(Song 2018; Chu et al. 2016). Through this approach, students may develop environmental projects relating to pollution reduction, waste management, energy saving or sustainable transports and mobility, exercising as citizens, actively committed
to the improvement of their local community.
The use of socio-scientific issues or socially acute questions to address environmental problems (Karpudewan and Roth 2018; Morin et al. 2013; Simonneaux and
Simonneaux 2012) is another approach where students use reasoning to evaluate
different arguments and negotiate positions and solutions to particular problems. In
this respect, this pedagogy offers interesting opportunities to discuss different perspectives and conflicting interests and to strengthen students’ critical thinking and
sense of responsibility for a more sustainable world. The discussion of socioscientific issues thus provides powerful scenarios to balance benefits and risks,
duties and rights and to empower students in the search of fair solutions.
Currently, the discussion about which pedagogies better prepare students to face
societal and environmental problems pays considerable attention to transformative
11 Environmental Citizenship in Primary Formal Education
2016; Kahn 2010) advocates a school curriculum linking the teaching and learning
of environmental concepts to citizenship education.
From a socioecological perspective, Regula Kyburz-Graber (2013) claims that
educational approaches intended at involving citizens in environmental issues
should be participatory (an emphasis on collaboration and engagement), constructive (making people participate in the construction of meaning and solutions), critical (questioning the way things are and the way things should be) and reflective
(thinking above causes and consequences and how to improve situations).
Along with the use of constructive, collaborative, critical and reflective activities
(Kyburz-Graber 2013), classical models for shaping environmental behaviour reveal
the importance of variables affecting the sense of ownership and empowerment
(Hungerford and Volk 1990) and suggest the need for them to be taken into account
when designing educational interventions to promote Environmental Citizenship.
Based on the key elements highlighted above, we can identify some pedagogical
approaches with a huge potential to engage pupils in constructive, collaborative,
critical and reflective activities while fostering students’ sense of ownership and
engagement in environmental issues. We cite some of them below:
Service learning is an educational approach that combines educational objectives
with community service in order to provide a pragmatic and progressive learning
experience while meeting societal needs (López-Azuaga and Suárez Riveiro 2018;
Murphy 2008; Wilczenski and Coomey 2007; Golombek 2006). This approach is
likely to develop a sense of ownership and empowerment in students, who can take
an active part in addressing environmental issues and improving their world around
them. Service learning connected to Environmental Citizenship may provide pupils
with opportunities to make relevant and authentic contributions to the improvement
of local environmental issues, and to act as responsible and responsive citizens.
Project-based learning (PBL) and inquiry-based learning (IBL) are both studentcentred pedagogies, which engage students in the development of a project (PBL)
or an inquiry (IBL) in order to address a particular problem, while developing
understanding of the issue being addressed and acquiring interesting competences
(Song 2018; Chu et al. 2016). Through this approach, students may develop environmental projects relating to pollution reduction, waste management, energy saving or sustainable transports and mobility, exercising as citizens, actively committed
to the improvement of their local community.
The use of socio-scientific issues or socially acute questions to address environmental problems (Karpudewan and Roth 2018; Morin et al. 2013; Simonneaux and
Simonneaux 2012) is another approach where students use reasoning to evaluate
different arguments and negotiate positions and solutions to particular problems. In
this respect, this pedagogy offers interesting opportunities to discuss different perspectives and conflicting interests and to strengthen students’ critical thinking and
sense of responsibility for a more sustainable world. The discussion of socioscientific issues thus provides powerful scenarios to balance benefits and risks,
duties and rights and to empower students in the search of fair solutions.
Currently, the discussion about which pedagogies better prepare students to face
societal and environmental problems pays considerable attention to transformative
11 Environmental Citizenship in Primary Formal Education