In this blog, delivery project officer, Nikita Asnani, shares her thoughts on the 'Creating Changemakers' pilot workshops with the children at Gosford Park Primary, and John Shelton Primary Schools in Coventry.

Project Overview

The project aimed to improve younger students’ awareness of key environmental issues, in particular relating to food, and inspire them to have the knowledge and confidence to make changes in their own lives, schools, and local communities.

Students and recent graduates from the University of Warwick were tasked with creating a lesson plan and presentation, designing resources for interactive activities to reinforce learning, and delivering the resulting hour-long session to pupils in Year 5 and 6 at schools local to the University.

Objectives and Process

As a secondary objective, it was also hoped that the project would contribute to widening participation in Higher Education, introducing the concept of university and enabling contact with current student role models.

The session engaged with general concepts relating to sustainability, introducing central ideas like climate change, global warming, pollution and deforestation in a fun and interactive way, before focussing in specifically on food sustainability and, in particular, food miles. Examples were given of sustainability initiatives implemented by their peers at other schools, as well as by students at Warwick, and students were encouraged to design a poster advertising their own sustainability project to be entered into a competition.

Overall, the project impacted three classes of children across two schools (despite some Covid-related challenges) and received excellent feedback from students and teachers alike.

Blog

Sustainability is a Snakes and Ladders game where we all have different constraints and motivations to become more sustainable. Everyone reaches their ‘100’ -their goal- at their own pace, in their own unique fashion, and that’s okay.

It was an exhilarating experience to visit these schools and at once be engulfed in all the energy and passion of these vibrant young people. Here are some of my key takeaways from delivering the ‘Creative Changemakers’ workshop in June at the Gosford Park and the John Shelton Primary Schools:  

1. Gamifying Sustainability has potential in changing behaviours 

Top Trumps was the unequivocal favourite part of the day of them. It was so interesting to see students come up with their own versions of the game. There were instances where Top Trumps was being played like Uno, with each player being strategic about the card they chose to beat their opponent; and others where the cards on Lamb and Can of Tuna were ‘banned’ for the unfair advantage their whopping food miles gave to a player who held that card.  

 2. Sustainability is about co-creation.  

As a facilitator, I personally enjoyed the most when I let these students steer the conversation and take a backseat, only to control the direction as and when needed. I was stunned when some of these year 5 and 6 students said they had come across the term ‘doughnut economy’ at their age! When we talked about food, several themes, narratives, and stories came up, tying in elements of family culture, personal preference, and health.   

 There were times when students debated the usefulness of a foil blanket for the homeless, the need for houses made of wood by cutting down trees. And while these may seem trivial and perhaps even comic to an adult, they serve as potent reminders of the importance of (brutally) honest and fresh eyes when evaluating the effectiveness and practicality of our curriculum and the way we design it. Most of all, it is an example of young people’s natural ability to reflect critically as they evaluate one option against the other.  

 What I learnt from this experience is that young people are almost naturally change-agents, gifted with design thinking skills to navigate complexity. I was amazed at their lightning speed of observation when a young girl pointed out that OLIO is not just an app for sharing food but also other (non-food) household items.  

 They have a very high creative confidence quotient. Oh, the places we’d go if creative confidence instead of the traditional IQ was a sought-after quotient.  

3. It is important to nurture this creative confidence instead of stifling it 

 It is pivotal to appreciate the way young peoples’ minds work by using positive, affirmative language always and praising them for the angle they look at a challenge with a connection they make with something a friend, neighbour or family member did, instead of offering them a readymade solution on a silver spoon.  

 Today, there is so much research to prove that recycling is not as effective as made to be, and renewable energy systems are not as green as they are made to be, since the energy used to produce them come primarily from fossil fuel energy sources. Teaching young people about the importance of asking better, deeper, and more systemic questions, alongside active listening, is what is needed to co-create solutions for a new economic model promising a happier, more just, and inclusive future. Understanding how placing these diverse interactions in a whole system with a purpose helps fill little gaps, that might go unnoticed, giving rise to wicked problems that would surface later. 

4. You don’t have to know all the answers to the questions students pose

 There will be times when you will be caught off guard. And that is when you must remind yourself that it is absolutely okay to admit when you don’t know something- sustainability is not about being perfect or knowing all answers-it is about asking the right questions (and lots of them!). In fact, not knowing all the answers helped shed light on my blind sports, giving me a more nuanced understanding of whole systems and their complexity.   

5. Learn to relinquish control

 Don’t be obsessed with correcting young people, allow them to express their true opinions, let their peers bounce of those ideas and see where that leads you! Only step in when you need to. All they need to see is inspiration in practice, and they will take the reins!  

Future Plans

Due to the success of the project, we are very pleased to have been granted additional funding by the Food GRP to continue the project this Autumn. We are looking to reach out to a larger number of schools in the local area, including those that showed interest in the first phase but were unable to participation due to the coronavirus pandemic. We will also be looking to change the structure of the sessions, offering a series of two or even three workshops. This will allow the workshop delivery team more time to go into depth on core issues, and increase the amount of interactive activities that can be used in-session, rather than just given to be taken home.