Rethinking about climate education by showing film!

Youth becomes increasingly involved in environmentally-related activities and collective actions as a part of their self-image and civic engagement. This is the multimedia age and youths are well versed in the use of digital films. Youth climate justice activism research also demonstrates the potential of participatory research and learning techniques to give a voice to youth and their participation in environmental issues. Climate change is a global issue and usually associated with statistics and projections such as global warming, change in precipitation patterns and extreme weather conditions. However, children residing in climate sensitive areas have a higher probability of experiencing the consequences of climate change and seeing it as a serious threat. These possibilities can inspire and empower them to act upon information regarding climate change issues.

Recent research conducted by Kharwar et al., (2019), which was published in the Australian Journal of Environmental Education provides an important empirical insight into the question of – Can climate communication be made more effective when scientific knowledge is linked to the experience of the environment? The research, which was conducted on 135 middle school students in Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh aimed to establish whether a film-based education program could improve the awareness of the children about climate change and whether the prior experience of vulnerability to climate changes could affect their learning. The children were divided into high and low exposure groups based on their experience with climate and environmental vulnerabilities such as – forest fire smoke, fluctuating water availability, landslides, altered snowfall patterns and environmental migration. The study on the notion of film-based pedagogy involving the systematic use of educational films in classroom through guided reflection and discussion.

Source: Kharwar et al. (2026), Australian Journal of Environmental Education. Reproduced with permission / under the applicable licence.

The study areas possess varied topography from low-lying valleys to high Dhauladhar mountain range and subject to floods, rainfall, and landslides during monsoon season. The other threats faced by these areas are forest fires and earthquakes. The target audiences were chosen from these kinds of areas. In general, school is a very important place for teaching climate change topics and connecting scientific information with environmental realities. Model-predicted probabilities of right answers for students in the low-exposure group have been raised from 38.1% to 52.5%, while for the students in the high-exposure group from 33.1% to 69.3%. This difference is equal to 21.8 percentage points. The study proves that film-based pedagogy can play an important role in climate education of middle school students. The quality of interventions for the school children has increased the current knowledge of students in all spheres through better understanding not only of books but also of films. With the help of classroom discussion and reflection, film-based learning allows students to comprehend the mitigation and adaptation strategies which can be useful for the community.

However, there were a number of limitations that should be considered in this research. Such as the research revealed only short-term effects; the post-test survey was conducted two days after viewing the film. It is important to state that results were promising in the short term, yet, in order to establish long-term retention of the knowledge and the transformation of the knowledge into behavioural changes, longitudinal studies are needed. Further research will continue the design in three directions: (i) durability of the learning outcomes: whether it will endure over the months or even academic term; (ii) film interventions: how it is possible to involve the interventions into participatory learning activity in the classroom to make the film more influential for the adolescent audience; (iii) media: whether any characteristics of the media would have the biggest effect on the adolescent viewers testing effect, sensitisation effect to the questionnaire items or maturation effect. Thus, one should be cautious while making causal assumptions regarding the effectiveness of the film-based intervention.

As far as I am concerned, this kind of research is of great importance not only for education about the climate but also brings a new method of learning into children education. The research explores the teaching opportunities of film-based climate education and shows how the experience of environmental threats may enhance the absorption of the new science knowledge. However, it opens a new way of learning for children as they get the opportunity to learn and analyze the climate issue deeply and become thinkers about nature, climate leaders, or just curious individuals. Perhaps, being victims of such catastrophes or just hearing from their ancestors stories about the mobilization caused by floods or the impact of climate changes on their house, money, and life. This kind of research makes children curious because every year there are floods and they wonder what is their contribution as an individual to their family or community. Youth is the next generation and this kind of research gives them hope.

Read the complete articel : https://www.researchgate.net/publication/407078536_Films_as_a_Tool_for_Climate_Education_A_Quasi-Experimental_Intervention_amongst_Middle_School_Children_from_the_Indian_Himalayan_Region