Project summary
Wild Citizens! project aimed to enable primary school children – as future stewards of the planet - to become active ‘environmental citizens’, and to start learning how to engage with environmental protection. Collaborating with Kanes Hill Primary School in co-designing and co-delivering an outdoor ‘Wild Science Lab’ in the format of an afterschool club, the children were encouraged to consider how to attract, protect and record wildlife. As part of the Wild Science Lab children explored their school grounds, discussed, decided and implemented interventions to enhance its biodiversity, and communicated to various audiences the outcomes of their work and activities.
Project lead
Dr Andri Christodoulou - School of Education
Purpose
To inspire and equip primary-aged children at partner schools to become active environmental citizens, building their understanding of climate change and sustainable development, and helping them to engage in activities which help protect the environment. Thereby helping them to develop their confidence and belief that they can make a difference within their social settings.
Audience/participants
Working with Year 3 and 4 primary school children (7-9 years old) and their teachers.
Background and motivation for the project
With urgent calls to tackle climate change and live more sustainably the purpose of the project was to enable primary-aged children to become active ‘environmental citizens’, and to start learning how to engage with environmental protection as early as possible. Environmental Citizenship was used as the main theoretical framework guiding the project. Environmental citizenship is defined as citizens’ responsible pro-environmental behaviour, who act and participate in society as agents of change (ENEC, 2018; Ariza et al., 2021). Education for environmental citizenship can support children’s meaningful and responsible engagement with environmental issues, as a means of addressing the current socio-environmental challenges that dominate the public domain. Importantly, young children are, and should be seen as, ‘active citizens’ and not as future citizens (Jans, 2004).
Wild Citizens builds on and translates the team’s extensive research and teaching experience in nature literacy, citizen science, and socio-scientific inquiry-based learning to support pupils in becoming environmental citizens.
Partnerships
Wild Citizens was developed and implemented as a collaborative project with activities co-designed by all partners (including the pupils), to draw on everyone’s knowledge, interests, experiences and ideas. Key partners were Kanes Hill Primary: Steve James and Ellie Ball (Yr 3 teachers) and the 40 children who took part in the afterschool Wild Science Lab. Other staff from the school, alongside Ian Bailey (Engagement Officer) and Samantha Munslow (Ecologist) both from Southampton City Council, and Duncan House (from Southampton Vineyard Church), joined UoS staff to form the project Steering Group. An initiative led by Ian Bailey in collaboration with Southampton Football Club enabled 450 trees (donated by the Club) to be planted by Wild Citizens during the after-school club.
Approach taken
Team meetings with the lead teachers were held at the school to discuss the activities and decide which children would be participating in the afterschool club. Invitations went out to all Yr 3 and Yr 4 parents, with 64 responses coming back very quickly; a short-list of 40 prioritising those entitled to free school meals/pupil premium children – consisting with UoS WP agenda – was compiled, with a reserve list to maximise opportunity.
As part of the Wild Science Lab, children explored their school grounds, discussed, decided, and implemented interventions to enhance the biodiversity of their school’s grounds, and took part in activities where they were able to communicate their findings within their local community. The activities designed modelled the process followed to develop and implement a biodiversity action plan for the school grounds, based on advice and guidance provided by the Southampton City Council officers.
Step 1: what’s there – observing and noting existing wildlife in the school grounds (eg collecting leaves, listening to sounds)
Step 2: What did we find out? What wildlife do we want to enhance and how? Discussions amongst the children.
Step 3: implementing: working in four thematic groups (Plants, Birds, Animals, Bugs) the children took responsibility for that theme each week during their activities.
Step 4: communicating actions at afterschool club, Science & Engineering Day and at school celebration event, and University celebration event.
Evaluation/findings
Reflective monitoring through activities – children observed and discussed how to further improve the interventions.
Collection of qualitative data from the children – group interviews of a representative sample of participating children, in two phases: once initial interventions had been implemented and later nearer to completion following monitoring and enhancement.
Collection of qualitative data from teacher group – views and perspectives on educational approach, and how it influenced the children.
Findings: children recognising the importance of helping/supporting wildlife as part of wider environmental awareness.
Increased familiarity and confidence in being in nature/outdoors.
Increased awareness of knowledge and understanding about nature/environment ‘I felt like at the start, I didn't really know much about nature and understand how to treat them, but now I'm in ‘Wild Lab’ and I've learnt more about nature and how to keep care of it’
Awareness of being agents of change within their school community, demonstrating environmental citizenship attributes, and transferable beyond school to their homes/gardens/outdoor spaces.
Teachers reported three key areas of influence:
· children putting ideas into action, sharing their work, speaking positively about it.
· Increased environmental awareness/action
· Positive impact on perception of University as an opportunity for themselves, even at such a young age: ‘those that came to the Science and Engineering Day, certainly those that came on Monday [Celebration Event], part of that now is they want to go to university’.
Achievements/outcomes
The project has enabled the team to develop an approach to supporting children’s engagement with nature and enabling them to become environmental citizens.
Outputs – resources (equipment, teaching materials, connections established between the school and researchers, SCC and their community) – will all support the school to move forward and more widely for other schools to participate in a similar way.
Challenges and Lessons Learned
Starting delays due to covid resurgence, staff illness, bad weather, materials/equipment sourcing – adapted activities to mitigate.
Popularity/high interest meant a larger group – double the size of a usual afterschool club. Needed more time as a delivery team to be present at school and supporting teachers and children with activities.
Legacy
Sustainable structures:
Training student interns to work with primary age children in wildlife/biodiversity
Teacher Professional Development materials/programme
Establishing an Environmental Education Network – led by Prof Marcus Grace, (4 meetings at time of project report)
Resuable equipment and resources for the school to continue to use.
Additional funding to expand the approach to six other WP target schools in Southampton – reaching more than 150 primary children.
Now partnering with colleagues from Biological Sciences to use the same approach to engage children in growing food plants in their school grounds and explore nutritional and environmental impact of plant-based food.
'It makes me excited and happy that we can make our school look better and help wildlife'