Buds of collectivity: student collaborative and system-oriented action towards greater socioenvironmental sustainability

Abstract

This qualitative study explores how middle school students in the Western United States participated in a curricular unit that focused on action for socioenvironmental sustainability. Using inductive coding and building on prior research, I examined actions that students took during this sustainability unit and how students talked about action after the unit concluded. I developed a visual tool for analyzing action in terms of scale: the action scale framework. I used this tool to examine students’ enactment of action and ideas about action on a continuum from individual to collaborative changemaking and the intended outcome of action as directed at behavior transformation or system transformation. Action across scale is necessary for addressing socioenvironmental challenges more justly. These findings suggest possibilities and challenges for designing action-oriented learning environments that support heterogeneous outcomes and more collective action.