Enhancing Educational and Environmental Awareness Outcomes Through Photovoice

Abstract

In the United States, there are substantial barriers to youth nature access and environmental education (EE). These barriers may lead to racial, geographic, and socioeconomic disparities in both nature contact and environmental awareness. This study investigated the impacts of a Photovoice EE intervention on the environmental perceptions, STEM-capacity, and environmental awareness of 335 low-income, urban youth (ages 9–15). Youth were assigned to one of two intervention groups, a Photovoice EE intervention group or an EE intervention group without a Photovoice activity, or a control group. The Photovoice activity revealed that participants perceived the environment in three major subthemes: social, natural, and built. Photovoice participants expressed both positive and negative sentiments toward their environment. After the EE intervention, Photovoice participants experienced greater improvements in STEM-capacity scores than those who participated in the EE intervention without the Photovoice activity ( p = .04). Further, EE participants experienced improved STEM-capacity and environmental awareness scores ( p < .001), while a control group of youth who did not participate in the EE intervention did not experience any significant improvements in STEM-capacity or environmental awareness. Study results suggest that the Photovoice activities may be associated with improved learning outcomes. Larger intervention studies are necessary to confirm the benefits of Photovoice in Environmental Education.

Effect of Climate Change Photovoice Program on Knowledge, Attitude and Daily Life Practices among School-Age Children

“…This results supported by the result of the Trott (2019) study, who concluded that participants reported increased engagement in personal pro-environmental behaviors in climate change after implementation of SCA program. Also, the current study was in line with the study of Sprague et al (2021) who observed that students associated the environment with social interactions as well as outdoor experiences with peers and family members and the photovoice intervention improved youths' social and familial functioning. Improvement in knowledge, attitude and daily life practices of school age children after the implementation of climate change photovoice program in the present study can be justified as the program was built on their interest and enjoyment regarding CC, which help them in modifying their behaviors towards environmental activities and enhancing their cooperation and teamwork.…”

Imagine isto

“…Photovoice has been used to engage youth in a range of environmental and conservation efforts (Bulla & Steelman, 2016;Derr & Simmons, 2020;Trott, 2019) and has been shown to improve both learning outcomes and sense of agency in environmental education (Sprague et al, 2021). Cook (2014), for instance, found that the use of photovoice improved undergraduate students' learning of scientific concepts and increased interest in local environmental issues.…”

Shared Purpose: Leveraging a Community-Academic Partnership to Increase Local Environmental Health Awareness via Community Science

“…One of our key takeaways was the importance of educating community partners. Community science has been recognized as a powerful tool to educate and inform the non-scientific community (de Sherbinin et al, 2021;Herodotou, 2018;Sprague et al, 2021). The challenge is finding the right approach.…”