Civic Engagement about Climate Change: A Case Study of Three Educators and Their Practice

Abstract

This collective case study examined how three educators (a high school social studies teacher, a university social studies teacher educator, and minister teaching an adult population) used a multimedia based curriculum guide, “Teaching the Levees”, to teach about climate change to examine public priorities in relation to the environment. Specifically, we examined the three educators’ pedagogy using an ecojustice theoretical framework, which focuses on the Earth in relation to extreme weather events associated with climate change, fossil fuel dependency, human illness and death linked to changing global temperatures, and the loss of tens of thousands of species. During their instruction, the educators focused on aspects of civic engagement, in an effort to critically examine climate change problems, as well as to conceive of possible solutions.

Upon using the “Teaching “The Levees” curriculum guide, the three educators also came to believe that climate change was one of, if not the most important public policy issue of the 21st century. As such, they often encouraged learners to consider being part of an emerging social movement which addressed contemporary climate change oriented problems and solutions.