International student Carbon Footprint Challenge – Social media as a content and language integrated learning environment

• Population growth and social/technological developments have resulted in the build-up of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere to the extent that we now see changes in the earth's climate. This global environmental issue requires immediate reduced CO2 emissions that must be achieve locally and globally and thus need a common language (English) to allow international collaboration among citizens. Environmental education is now clearly specified in educational standards and at the same time the view of language learning is moving towards a content and languages integrated learning (CLIL) strategy, to make English lessons more relevant and attractive for students (Eurydice, 2011). In that respect environmental and English educations can be merged to benefit both purposes and to offer a learning experience that goes beyond the school walls. Einztein, the social learning network for the education community, collaborates with the environmental project Inquiry-to-Insight (http://i2i.stanford.edu/) inviting high school students around the world to participate in the International Student Carbon Footprint Challenge (ISCFC), challenging students to learn about the environmental impact of their lifestyle choices on their carbon footprints. In the ISCFC, students use an online carbon footprint calculator to measure the amount of CO2 released by their everyday choices (food, transportation etc). Teachers then share student data with other classrooms around the globe and use Einztein to engage students in several environmental discussions online using English as the lingua. Students use Einztein to reflect upon their own carbon footprint, envision global and local solutions and share knowledge about environmental issues. For this study we focused on a specific discussion and investigated the discourse structure of students from seven different countries (USA, Croatia, Switzerland, Iceland, Greece and Bulgaria) reflecting upon their very own CO2 emission. The analysis imply common structures in students’ discourse with six different phases: (i) Expectation: students talk about their expectation of their own emission compared to the national average, (ii) Results: students communicate where their emission is actually situated compared to the national average after calculation, (iii) Reflection: students make sense of their carbon footprint in the light of the knowledge acquired by the calculator, (iv) New resolution: students reflect upon the change they are willing/able to make to decrease their footprint, (v) Share knowledge: students share pieces of environmental information or advises with the ISCFC community and finally (vi) Global dimension: students step back and see the issue as global, involving all of us rather than just their personal behaviour. The order of occurrence of the different phases seems highly conserved leading to an increase in complexity from the less elaborate phase (explanation) to the phase bringing the environmental issue in a much higher level than the individual one (global dimension). Preliminary results indicate that the students presumptions about their own impact is crucial and whether they are English natives or is not as important when it comes to developing an understanding of their own responsibilities regarding carbon footprint. Thus, in relation to a motivating content the students’ English is productive and sufficient enough for communication and collaboration.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Utbildningsvetenskap -- Pedagogik (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Educational Sciences -- Pedagogy (hsv//eng)

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

kon (ämneskategori)