J Sci Educ Technol (2015) 24:103–118
DOI 10.1007/s10956-014-9525-5
Constructing Media Artifacts in a Social Constructivist
Environment to Enhance Students’ Environmental Awareness
and Activism
Engin Karahan • Gillian Roehrig
Published online: 19 October 2014
Ó Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014
Abstract Current science education reforms and policy
documents highlight the importance of environmental
awareness and perceived need for activism. As ‘‘environ-
mental problems are socially constructed in terms of their
conceptualized effects on individuals, groups, other living
things and systems research based on constructivist princi-
ples provides not only a coherent framework in which to
theorize about learning, but also a context for understanding
socially constructed issues’’ (Palmer and Suggate in Res Pap
Educ 19(2), 2004, p. 208). This research study investigated
the impacts of the learning processes structured based on the
theories of constructionism and social constructivism on
students’ environmental awareness and perceived need for
activism. Students constructed multimedia artifacts
expressing their knowledge, attitudes, awareness, and
activism about environmental issues through a construc-
tionist design process. In addition, a social networking site
was designed and used to promote social interaction among
students. Twenty-two high school environmental science
students participated in this study. A convergent mixed
methods design was implemented to allow for the triangu-
lation of methods by directly comparing and contrasting
quantitative results with qualitative findings for corrobora-
tion and validation purposes. Using a mixed method
approach, quantitative findings are supported with qualita-
tive data (student video projects, writing prompts, blog
entries, video projects of the students, observational field
E. Karahan (&)
G. Roehrig
STEM Education Center, University of Minnesota, Learning and
Environmental Science 320, 1954 Buford Ave, St. Paul,
MN 55108, USA
e-mail: karahan@umn.edu
G. Roehrig
e-mail: roehr013@umn.edu
notes, and reflective journals) including spontaneous
responses in both synchronous and asynchronous conver-
sations on the social network to provide a better under-
standing of the change in students’ environmental awareness
and perceived need for activism. The findings of the study
indicated that students’ environmental awareness and per-
ceived need for activism were improved at different scales
(personal, community, global) throughout the construc-
tionist and social constructivist learning processes.
Keywords Constructionism
Social constructivism

Social networks
Media design
Environmental awareness
and activism
Introduction
Science education reforms around the world promote stu-
dents’ understanding of science concepts and the develop-
ment of scientific literacy through the application of these
science concepts to solving real-world problems, including
aspects of social awareness and social activism (Lester et al.
2006). Social awareness and social activism are related
concepts; social awareness describes how people interact
with others socially to influence individual choices (Little-
dyke 2008), whereas social activism requires both taking
responsibility and action in solving societal problems and
influencing the decisions and actions of others (Bouillion
and Gomez 2001; Fusco 2001; Rahm 2002). It is argued that
the public needs to understand social and environmental
issues before they will take action (Hansen 2000) as research
shows strong interactions between the awareness and action
domains (Pata and Metsalu 2008).
The importance of science in both personal and social
contexts is highlighted in science education reform
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documents (e.g., American Association for the Advance-
ment of Science [AAAS] 1989; AAAS 1993; National
Research Council [NRC] 1996; NRC 2012; National Sci-
ence Teachers Association [NSTA] 1993; Organization for
Economic Cooperation and Development [OECD] 1998).
However, while social awareness and activism are impor-
tant components of scientific literacy, they are seldom
taught in schools as standards-based instruction and stan-
dardized assessments favor content-focused instruction.
Similarly, there is limited research on the role of social
activism in understanding environmental problems (Lester
et al. 2006).
Students’ perceptions toward global environmental
problems (e.g., climate change) are strongly influenced by
media coverage (Barraza and Walford 2002) because they
are exposed daily to both written and visual information
about these problems through the media (Barraza 2001).
Indeed, several researchers reported that students’ envi-
ronmental knowledge mainly derives from media (Barraza
and Walford 2002; Jinliang et al. 2004; Said et al. 2007).
More recently, the trend has shifted to digital media, such
as social networks (Pempek et al. 2009). A survey of US
youth indicated that 41 % of 12- to 13-year-olds and 61 %
of 14- to 17-year-olds use social networking sites (Lenhart
and Madden 2007), and 48 % of young Americans report
that they find out about news through social networks. It is
fair to assume that social media and networks affect stu-
dents’ awareness, attitudes, and understandings similar to
more traditional media explored in earlier studies (Barrazza
and Walford 2002; Jinliang et al. 2004). Thus, the urgency
is to integrate social networks into the learning process so
that students gain more meaningful knowledge and atti-
tudes in terms of environmental problems, attitudes, and
awareness.
This study provides an opportunity for researchers and
educators to explore the use of social networks for envi-
ronmental education purposes. This study uses environ-
mental problems as an important topic in environmental
science to explore the interactions between environmental
awareness and activism. The instruction centered around
environmental science in general and then focused on
particular environmental issues such as climate change and
global warming. The environmental problems such as cli-
mate change are particularly appropriate to examine stu-
dents’ social awareness and activism as they are
accelerated by human activities and thus can be mitigated
by individual and social human actions (Rosenthal 1990).
In addition, ‘‘environmental problems are socially con-
structed in terms of their conceptualized effects on indi-
viduals, groups, other living things and systems, [and
accordingly,] research based on constructivist principles
provides not only a coherent framework in which to the-
orize about learning, but also a context for understanding
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J Sci Educ Technol (2015) 24:103–118
socially constructed issues and knowledge’’ (Palmer and
Suggate 2004, p. 208). Thus, this study is grounded in two
constructivist theoretical frameworks, constructionism and
social constructivism, that can help both learners and
researchers to understand this particular environmental
issue more deeply. The study was guided by the following
research questions:
1. Do learning activities guided by the theories of
constructionism and social constructivism impact stu-
dents’ environmental awareness?
2. Do learning activities guided by the theories of
constructionism and social constructivism impact stu-
dents’ perceived need for environmental activism?
3. How do students express environmental awareness and
perceived need for environmental activism throughout
constructionist and social constructivist learning
processes?
Theoretical Framework
Constructionism
Constructionism is a philosophy and framework for
learning and an educative action developed by Seymour
Papert, Idit Harel and colleagues at the MIT Media Lab in
the 1970s and 1980s (Reynolds and Caperton 2009).
Constructionism is considered to be both a learning theory
and instructional strategy (Han and Bhattacharya 2001).
Papert considers education as having two different
dimensions, informational and constructional (Papert
1999); the informational view of learning is about passive
receipt of knowledge, whereas the constructional view
involves doing, making, and constructing things as an
active participant.
While the root of constructionism comes from con-
structivism, Harel (1991) described three important dis-
tinctions of Papert’s theory. First, Harel argued that
constructionism is more involved in cognitive development
through the process of learning. Second, constructionist
learning environments are technologically richer than
Piaget’s learning environments. And third, Papert’s theory
is more focused on individual differences. According to
Bruckman and Resnick (1995), the theory of construc-
tionism supports the idea that for learning to be effective,
people need to be engaged in constructing personally
meaningful artifacts or projects. They state that the term
constructionism involves two types of construction. First,
constructionism claims that learning is an active process, in
which people actively construct knowledge from their
experiences in the world, and second, that people construct
new knowledge more effectively if they are engaged in
J Sci Educ Technol (2015) 24:103–118
constructing meaningful products for themselves and
others.
One of the most important features of constructionism is
that learners design, or program, sharable artifacts.
According to Papert, if students are to gain a deeper
understanding of a concept, they have to create, construct,
or build it. As designers, learners are given the opportunity
to be creative and to become intellectual partners with
technology in the constructionist learning process (Salo-
mon et al. 1991). To make learning more effective and
motivational, the design needs to result from students
designing personally meaningful artifacts (Bruckman and
Resnick 1995). Newstetter (2000) added that design
experiences promote discovering new ideas and learning
content. Designing artifacts and sharing them with others
make learners’ ideas more concrete and allow learners to
establish a personal connection with new knowledge (Pa-
pert, as cited in Baytak and Land 2010).
Social Constructivism
Based on psychological and pedagogical assumptions
highlighting the effectiveness of social processes on
learning, different social learning theories have been
employed in education. One of the most well-known edu-
cational theories emphasizing the role of social interactions
in learning is social constructivism (Vygotsky 1978). In
social constructivism, language, mental, and social devel-
opment are supported and enhanced by others through
social interactions (Mathis 2011). Social constructivism is
grounded in the idea that learning occurs first socially and,
only after, internally. Kim (2001) described social con-
structivism as a social process where meaningful learning
occurs in case individuals are engaged in social activities.
He warned that these social activities do not require
external forces, but it necessitates two-way interactions
between learners and his/her social circle.
The three-step framework for this study was developed
using constructionism and constructivism through their
common constructivist grounding. Vygotsky (1978)
described social constructivism in two steps, social and
internal. First, learning awakens a variety of development
processes that are able to operate only when the child is
interacting with others in his environment and in collabo-
ration with his peers. Next, these processes are internalized
and become part of the child’s independent developmental
achievement (Vygotsky 1978). On the other hand, Papert
(1991) stated that constructionism involves two stages,
internal and external. The internal stage is an active process
where students construct their knowledge from their
experiences in the world, whereas the external stage is
based on the idea that student learning is most effective
when they design artifacts and share with others. The
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Fig. 1 Theoretical framework
internal stage is common in both theories and links them
within the three-step framework used for this study (see
Fig. 1).
Literature Review
In the field of environmental studies, it is widely recog-
nized that environmental education can help to create
positive attitudes and awareness about environmental
issues and the negative role of human actions on the
environment and that for some it can promote environ-
mentally responsible behaviors (Bradley et al. 1999;
Salequzzman and Stocker 2001). According to Roth
(1992), the development of environmentally aware and
responsible citizens should be the main goal of environ-
mental education. He distinguished four stages of envi-
ronmental literacy: awareness, concern, understanding, and
action. Similarly, Negev et al. (2008) described environ-
mental three literacy categories: knowledge (global studies,
national issues, general ecological principles), attitudes
(awareness, willingness to act, sensitivity to environmental
issues and affection for nature, sense of responsibilities),
and behavior (environmental activism, consumption pat-
terns, individual conservation, leisure involving nature).
Environmental awareness and activism have emerged as
two of the main components of environmental literacy and
the ultimate goal of environmental education.
Traditional teaching practices in the environmental sci-
ences have mainly focused on the memorization of the
theories and facts, but usually neglected practical experi-
ences (Barraza and Walford 2002). However, both science
and environmental education reforms and policy docu-
ments have highlighted the importance of environmental
awareness and activism since the Tbilisi Declaration
(United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural
Organization [UNESCO] 1977). Research in environmen-
tal education has included studies on environmental
knowledge (e.g., Bartkus et al. 1999; Morgil et al. 2004),
attitudes (e.g., Bradley et al. 1999; Franzen 2003; Hwang
et al. 2000), awareness (e.g., Jinliang et al. 2004; Pata and
Metsalu 2008; Rosenthal 1990; Sherburn and Devlin
2004), behavior (e.g., Negev et al. 2008; Said et al. 2007),
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and willingness for pro-environmental actions (e.g., Am-
busaidi et al. 2012; Boyes and Stanisstreet 2012; Boyes
et al. 2009; Kilinç et al. 2011; Lester et al. 2006; Chhokar
et al. 2012). However, a key debate in the environmental
education literature revolves around the relationship
between knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs (Barraza and
Walford2002; Negev et al. 2008; Said et al. 2007).
Researchers investigating the relationship between these
three components have generated different conclusions.
For example, Posch (1993) pointed out that the assumption
that environmental knowledge and attitudes automatically
lead to environmental behaviors is not well founded,
whereas some study findings showed that environmental
knowledge and awareness had a significant effect on
behavior and activism (Lester et al. 2006; Negev et al.
2008). In their study about pro-environmental behavior
change, Boyes and Stanisstreet (2012)’s study indicated
that education about willingness for pro-environmental
actions may not be effective in terms of changing practice
due to more dominant factors such as social norms and
situational influences. In addition, they added that there
was a strong relationship between students’ willingness to
act and their belief about the effectiveness of the action
(Boyes et al. 2009). On the other hand, other researchers
have found a significant relationship between knowledge
and attitudes, but a weak relationship between knowledge
and behaviors (Bartkus et al. 1999; Bradley et al. 1999). In
terms of perceived need for action, recent research showed
that the degree to which students’ willingness to act for
some pro-environmental actions such as saving energy and
recycling was greater than the degree to which they
believed these actions to be useful, whereas it was opposite
for some other actions such as personal or public trans-
portation (Kilinç et al. 2011; Ambusaidi et al. 2012; Boyes
et al. 2009).
Methodology
This study employed a mixed methods convergent parallel
design (Creswell and Clark 2010) to investigate the
learning processes used by high school students to design
media projects showing the development of their environ-
mental awareness and activism within the context of a
environmental science unit. The convergent design of
mixed method was chosen to combine the power of qual-
itative and quantitative methods of inquiry and to com-
pensate for the weaknesses of these methods in isolation
(Patton 1990). As Creswell and Clark (2010) suggested,
convergent design was used to triangulate the methods by
directly comparing and contrasting quantitative statistical
results with qualitative findings for corroboration and val-
idation purposes.
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Participants
The research site was an alternative high school located in
an urban area in the Midwest in the USA. The free and
reduced lunch rate at the school was 100 %. Twenty-two
diverse 10th to 12th graders between the ages of 16 and 19
were recruited from their environmental science class to
participate in this study including four White, nine African-
American, five Asian, and four Hispanic students. The
class included eight English language learners (ELL) stu-
dents. In addition, there were one homeless, two special
education, three gifted and talented, and one home-bound
student in the class. The population of this school com-
posed of teen mothers or pregnant teenagers, different
students became home-bound at some points during the
academic quarter.
Project Implementation
Constructionist Design Process
The class physically met 1 h daily for 5 weeks. Throughout
the 5-week unit, students were asked to design video pro-
jects related to environmental problems (e.g., climate
change). In their video projects, students were expected to
inform their audience about the causes, effects, and/or
ways to prevent their chosen environmental problem.
Students worked in cooperative groups of approximately
four students.
Following a constructionist framework, four main
design phases were used during the video production
activity (Harel 1991; Kafai 2005): planning, designing,
testing, and sharing. The planning phase occurred during
the first week of the unit. In their project groups, students
researched and discussed the environmental topics they
selected for their project, available resources, and ways to
present the topic. Throughout the planning phase, student
groups took the initiative to conduct their own information-
seeking activities to gain knowledge about environmental
problems and enhanced anthropogenic effects. By the end
of the planning phase, each group had created a tentative
outline for their video product.
During the 2-week design phase, students created their
media projects using videos, photographs, and information
researched in week one. In addition, some students used
digital cameras to record videos and take pictures. After
collecting their digital materials, students started designing
their video projects by combining these digital materials
and narratives with a user-friendly video design software.
During the testing phase of the unit, students checked
that their media designs reflected their ideas from the
planning phase. If students felt that an idea was missed or
misrepresented, they had a chance to modify their videos
J Sci Educ Technol (2015) 24:103–118
by adding or reorganizing video elements. The final phase
of the constructionist process was sharing. During this
phase, students presented their projects in the classroom.
While presenting their videos, group members shared both
their research and design processes with their classmates.
Finally, they presented their projects for a larger audience
including the school community.
Online Learning Environment
In addition to the physical classroom environment, an online
learning environment was used to promote social interaction
among students. Students having absenteeism issues were
able to contribute the online discussions when they were not
physically in the classroom. The in-class time different
students missed during the academic quarter was varied from
a few hours to 2–3 weeks. However, these students were still
able to access the site in order to not fall behind in the class.
Additional social constructivist components of the learning
process were also generated through interactions in the
online learning environment. The online social community
was promoted using a Ning social network. Ning was
selected as it is a familiar interface for most young people
and the platform is appropriate for both educational and
social purposes. Ning allows for educational content such as
voting pools, discussion boards, blog posts, as well as social
networking tools including text, photograph, and video
sharing, status updates, and individual profile pages.
Students completed synchronous and asynchronous
online discussions throughout the 5-week design process. In
addition, the Web site provided the students the opportunity
for sharing photographs, videos, and information with others
to promote a sense of community among the students. Stu-
dents were not communicating with each other in the phys-
ical classroom environment due to the different reasons such
as diverse population in terms of language skills and cultural
differences, started conversations, exchanging ideas, and
working on tasks together more comfortably on the social
networking Web site. Through these interactions, they pro-
moted and broadened each other’s understanding about
particular topics. Also, interactions on the Ning site were
frequently used by the students during the in-class discus-
sions. Another advantage of using an online learning envi-
ronment was that it minimized the negative effects of
attendance problems, which was a common problem in the
school. Students were able to visit the Web site to understand
what happened in the classroom and to participate in dis-
cussions when they were absent.
Data Collection
Data collection occurred during the implementation of the
environmental science unit to provide an understanding of
107
changes in students’ environmental awareness and activ-
ism. Seven main types of data were collected: Six Amer-
icas attitude survey, writing prompts, video projects,
climate action plan template, group progress reports, stu-
dent blog posts, and observational field notes.
Quantitative Data Sources
Six Americas Attitude Survey The 15-item Six Americas
survey was administered as a pre- and posttest to measure
changes in students’ awareness and beliefs about environ-
mental problems. The Six Americas survey was designed
by Maibach et al. (2011) to identify audience segments for
global warming public engagement campaigns considering
respondents global warming beliefs, issue involvement,
policy preferences, and behaviors. The authors noted that
the 15-item instrument correctly classifies 84 % of the
sample, ranging by segment from 60 to 97 %. After con-
ducting a nationally representative survey of American
adults (n = 2,164), the researchers identified six distinct
segments: alarmed, concerned, cautious, disengaged,
doubtful, and dismissive. People categorized as Alarmed
and Concerned are convinced that global warming is
happening and humans are the main cause, but the former
are more worried about it. Those labeled Cautious and
Disengaged are not very sure that it is happening and have
not given much thought about it. However, the Cautious
can easily change their mind about global warming and are
somewhat worried about this issue, whereas the Disen-
gaged usually pay little attention to information regarding
it. Those who fall into the Doubtful group tend to view it as
a natural change and are not worried about it. The Dis-
missive believes that human-caused global warming is not
happening.
Qualitative Data Sources
Writing Prompts At the beginning and the end of the unit,
students were asked to provide a written response to the
reasons to care environment and the ways to protect it. The
driving questions were chosen to allow students to provide
more authentic statements about their awareness and per-
ceived need for activism about environmental problems. In
addition, driving questions were kept simple and short
based on the feedbacks provided by classroom teacher so
that ESL students were able to understand and answer the
questions. Students were asked to write their prompts
during the class time, but there was no time limit. At the
beginning of both pre- and post-writing prompt activities,
students were told that there was no right or wrong answer
for this particular writing activity.
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Student Video Design Projects Students’ video projects
were analyzed to see how students expressed environ-
mental awareness and perceived need for activism. Videos
were coded using the content derived from the visual ele-
ments and text in the videos. The visual elements in the
videos gave a unique opportunity to see students’ aware-
ness and perceived need for activism as many students
struggled to express themselves through written text.
Environmental Action Plan Template To explore students’
expressions of awareness and perceived need for activism
with regard to the environmental problems, the environmental
action plan template from the Will Steger Foundation was
employed. Through this template, students had the opportu-
nity to share the environmental issues they were most pas-
sionate about, how their school and community can mitigate
or adapt to the impacts of environmental issues, the connec-
tions between the passions of students and the actions of their
school and community, and potential project ideas to imple-
ment these connections. The environmental action plan was
completed as an in-class activity to understand the progress of
students in terms of expressing social and environmental
awareness and perceived need for activism at the middle of the
learning process.
Student Blog Posts Students participated in online dis-
cussions and wrote blog posts regularly during the quarter.
Even though they were not required to enter blog posts, all
students entered blog posts when they were online both in
and outside of the classroom. Also, they were not provided
any format for blog posts in order to give them freedom to
post in the format they wanted. During the 6-week unit,
students posted 94 blog posts, 37 photographs, 19 videos,
and 2–3 comments per each of these posts on the average.
In addition, 14 discussion threats were initiated by the
students. These blog posts offered an opportunity to see the
progress of students’ expressions of awareness and activ-
ism with regard to environmental issues. Using an online
learning environment for blog posts offered three important
benefits. First, the researcher had a chance to see students’
posts and the responses in a very organized way including
time and date. Second, the students had a chance to think
deeply about the topic and to read others’ posts to improve
their statements. Lastly, the students who had attendance
problems were able to participate in the discussions and to
express their ideas. In addition to showing students’ envi-
ronmental awareness and perceived need for activism, the
blog posts also provided evidence for how they promoted
each other’s expressions, understandings, and attitudes
with regard to environmental problems.
Group Progress Reports During the media design pro-
cess, each design group was asked to write a group
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progress report at the end of the each week. Students first
discussed their progress in their design groups, and then,
one of the students recorded the discussions. Students were
advised to include their progress for the week and their
plans for the following week.
Observational Field Notes The first author’s role in the
class as both instructor and designer of the learning envi-
ronment gave a unique opportunity to observe the media
design process. Observational field notes were completed
throughout the design process focusing on the interactions
between instructor and students.
Data Analysis
Quantitative Data Analysis
According to Lowry (1998), when the data within two
correlated samples fail to meet one or another of the
assumptions of the t test, an appropriate nonparametric
alternative can often be found in the Wilcoxon signed-rank
test. Thus, the pre- and post-Six Americas surveys were
analyzed by applying the Wilcoxon signed-rank test func-
tion to compare the matched samples. Survey scores were
generated using Maibach et al. (2011)’s instructions for
coding and data treatment of Six America’s survey data.
Qualitative Data Analysis
All the qualitative data were uploaded into NVivo 9.0 and
subsequent qualitative data analyses followed the general
analytic framework of Miles and Huberman (1994). This
framework includes data reduction, data display, drawing
conclusions, and verification. By using this approach, rich
descriptions were elicited that captured the essence of the
phenomenon in question from substantial raw data sources.
Results
Pre-instructional Knowledge and Attitudes
Pretest results from the Six Americas survey showed that the
students fell into the following categories: two in Doubtful,
three in Disengaged, seven in Cautious, and five in Con-
cerned. Prewriting prompts showed that the students had
inadequate knowledge to show environmental awareness and
perceived need for activism before the instructional inter-
vention. They tended to use ambiguous statements without
any scientific support. Pollution was the main environmental
issue considered by the students (see quotes below). However,
they were not able to specify the type of pollution they were
J Sci Educ Technol (2015) 24:103–118
concerned about and mostly used the word dirty to describe
the results of environmental pollution.
If people were to throw trash everywhere in the park
and no one cleans up after it, the park will get so dirty
and stinky; then no one would want to go to that park
anymore. That is why we need to take care of what is
around us because if we don’t everything will turn
bad and when it turn bad we could loses many things.
#13 (Pre-writing Prompts)
If we don’t care about it the world would be a mess,
polluted and maybe we wont have any where else to
go #16 (Student Blog Posts)
When we throw waste/garbage and pollute the envi-
ronment then we have to all live in the polluted
environment #2 (Pre-writing Prompts)
When discussing the effects of environmental issues,
students mostly talked about effects on nature, particularly
on animals. Some of the students specifically used the term
habitat to state the site of impact of environmental prob-
lems (see quotes below). However, they did not extend
these statements to the effects of environmental issues on
humans or society.
The environment could also be polluted and animals
could die because of all dirty environment. #21 (Pre-
writing Prompts)
We need to care about the environment. We need to
because if we don’t it will begin to take a toll on the
world. The habitats will begin to change. The animals
and creatures will have to either move or adapt. #19
(Student Blog Posts)
We need to take care the environment because we
live in it and so do animals and plant and if we don’t
then the animals and plants will end up also paying
the price. #7 (Pre-writing Prompts)
In the prewriting prompts, only two students tentatively
expressed environmental activism; however, they used
ambiguous messages in these examples rather than con-
crete suggestions.
Just imagine your house being messy, you wouldn’t like
that. Let’s make a difference. #16 (Pre-writing Prompts)
We need to care for the environment for many dif-
ferent reason but most importantly because we live
here. It’s up to you to take care of the environment
we live in. #11 (Pre-writing Prompts)
Impacts on Students’ Environmental Awareness
and Perceived Need for Activism
Analysis of the students’ responses on the Six Americas
survey provided quantitative evidence for improvement in
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Fig. 2 Distribution of students in six segments
Table 1 Paired sample t test results
Mean (l) Standard p Value
deviation (SD)
Pretest 40.24 4.87 0.0004782
Posttest 49.88 4.73
students’ environmental awareness. Posttest results indi-
cated that the students were redistributed into the following
categories: two in Disengaged, two in Cautious, eleven in
Concerned, and two in Alarmed (see Fig. 2). The pretest
results indicated that the audience segments that represent a
spectrum of concern and action about global warming
ranged from Concerned (29.41 %), to Cautious (41.18 %),
Disengaged (17.65 %), and Doubtful (11.76 %). On the
other hand, the posttest results, which provided evidence
for a significant increase on students’ beliefs and attitudes
about environmental problems, showed that the segments
ranged from Alarmed (11.76 %) to Concerned (64.70 %),
Cautious (11.76 %), and Disengaged (11.76) (see Fig. 2).
The null hypothesis was that the pre- and posttest results
for the sample population are identical. To test the
hypothesis, we applied the Wilcoxon signed-rank test
function to compare the matched samples. As the p value
turns out to be 0.0004782 (see Table 1) and is less than the
0.05 significance level, we rejected the null hypothesis. The
descriptive statistics of students’ responses for each seg-
ment are presented in ‘‘Appendix’’.
Analysis of qualitative data sources revealed several
themes related to students’ environmental awareness and
student’s perceived need for activism (see Fig. 3). Under
the theme of environmental awareness, there were three
main sub-themes: causes of environmental issues, effects
of environmental issues, and ways to prevent environ-
mental issues. Students discussed each sub-theme at per-
sonal/individual, school and community, national, and
global levels. Detailed descriptions of each of the sub-
themes are provided in the next section.
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Fig. 3 Themes and codes
generated from qualitative
analysis
Environmental Awareness
Causes of Environmental Problems
When students mentioned the causes of environmental
problems, they mostly addressed the behaviors of individ-
uals (see the sample quotes below). These behaviors mostly
emerged from their own experiences at home or school.
Since they were able to see water and energy waste, car
use, and lack of recycling/reusing, they addressed these
points in both their statements and their video projects. On
the other hand, they rarely discussed anti-environmental
actions on larger scales, such as industrial pollution or
reduction of greenhouse gas emissions at the government
level.
About 95 % of water that enter our homes is going
down the drain. And, I use water a lot. Energy that
are used every day for nothing such as leaving the TV
on when no one is watching is wasting energy. #21
(Student Blog Posts)
In the area I live, the environment gets destroyed by the
people living there or by the businesses surrounding it.
For example, it can get destroyed by the people if the
people throw their trash on the ground, spit on the
ground, smoke toxic products outside, waste paper, etc.
Businesses destroys the environment by their pollution
of their machines and other chemicals they use and need
to do their business. #3 (Student Blog Posts)
Effects of Environmental Problems
In contrast, when students mentioned the effects of envi-
ronmental problems, they rarely addressed effects on
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J Sci Educ Technol (2015) 24:103–118
themselves, their community, or even their country (see the
sample quotes below). They mostly believed that natural
(non-human) life and less developed parts of the world
experienced and will experience the effects of environ-
mental issues. Therefore, in terms of the effects of envi-
ronmental problems, they usually expressed their
environmental awareness on the global level. Even though
they were aware of the fact that environmental problems
affected the habitats where they lived, they did not make
connections to how these habitat changes in habitat affect
them and their community directly or indirectly.
Global warming is nothing to mess with. Many
countries are already facing global warming. #12
(Student Blog Posts)
I think the US face even bigger problems than Africa
or Arctic in the future because all the CO2 we pro-
duce, all the water we waste. We cannot see any
effect yet, but when we will be able to see, it will be
too late. #17 (Post-writing Prompts)
Forests are being destroyed to make more and more
paper, when the paper we already have is not even
being used or can be reused. This is important
because our innocent animals depends on trees and
the green grass, and the forests to survive and feed
their families. #5 (Post-writing Prompts)
Prevention of Environmental Problems
Students’ environmental awareness with regard to the
actions that need to be taken to prevent environmental
problems also showed a significant increase throughout the
design process. The analysis of both quantitative and
qualitative data revealed that students became aware of the
J Sci Educ Technol (2015) 24:103–118 111

fact that actions needed to be taken by themselves, their Displaying posters, recruiting members to help
school, and their community. When students stated ways to recycle paper, glass, and plastic. Have a presentation/
prevent environmental issues, they usually suggested the slideshow about people experience with pollution and
actions that could be taken at the personal, school, and how it is affecting their life. I also want the com-
community levels; they rarely touched upon the actions munity to be aware of the global warming. I would
that could be taken by governments and national/interna- like to see fundraisers or just free fairs to talk more
tional organizations (see the sample quotes below). about global warming. We could do a project on what
population and other things are doing to our world
One way that I can care for the environment and need
and what we’re doing to cause it, and what we need
to work on is saving electricity, things that I can do is
to do to prevent it. #7 (Environmental Action Plan
turning off the light when I leave the room, turning
Template)
the light off when I’m not using a room, also at night
Doing projects to promote ‘‘going green’’ as a class or
when I’m done watching T.V make sure I turn it off
school. Growing trees, and building solar panel in
before I go to bed. #7 (Post-writing Prompts)
school garden. We can start a group that goes around
What I want to happen at my school is using and
picking up garbage. Pick one day a month when we
printing less paper. I think that there are many high
can clean the classes. Recycle all old work, unused
schools which use too much paper each day. Stop
things in the school. One day where we pick up the
printing paper we do not use. My passion is not to
trash in the community. #4 (Environmental Action
waste paper, my school does too. #20 (Environmental
Plan Template)
Action Plan Template)
These statements of students’ environmental activism were
Even though they sometimes referenced statewide, nation-
usually related to the topic of their video projects. The
wide, or international environmental organizations in their
information and messages in their video projects were also
blog posts, they were not fully able to connect them with
reflected in their other course writings. Student video
the context of their writing and projects. If students were
projects are described in the following section.
doubtful about their capability or get involved, they
preferred not to address these actions.
Student Media Artifacts
Perceived need for Environmental Activism
Students’ multimedia artifacts are presented via screen
captures and transcripts. Four video projects, each of which
Students usually expressed the need for environmental
was designed by a group of four students, were analyzed.
activism at the school/community level. Even though they
The primary topics of these video projects were different
made some statements which indicated activism at the
perspectives about global warming, reducing car use, sav-
personal level, they primarily suggested taking these
ing water and energy, and encouraging for reusing/
actions within the school or sometimes in their community
recycling.
(see the sample quotes below). They specifically mentioned
The first video project focused on showing their teach-
problems they observed in their school and tried to create
ers’ perspectives of global warming. The students inter-
solutions for these problems. Additionally, students mostly
viewed five different teachers, not only in science, but also
expressed environmental activism in terms of transmitting
in other areas such as social studies, English, and art. The
their environmental knowledge to others and motivating
interview questions asked teachers to discuss how global
people to take actions in favor of mitigating environmental
warming affects you personally, how can you help to stop
issues. Students expressed that they wanted to change the
global warming, and do you think that you are contributing
behaviors of people around them whose actions were
to global warming? During the testing phase of the con-
causing environmental problems. In conclusion, environ-
structionist design process, students in this group realized
mental activism in students’ statements was mostly on
that their teachers had three different perspectives. The first
smaller scales, personal, school, and community levels.
believed that global warming was happening, whereas the
One way that the community can care for the envi- second was not really convinced about global warming.
ronment for example at school we can create an after The third believed that regardless of global warming
school activity for picking trash up around the individuals need to take actions in favor of protecting
neighborhood or even enforce recycling more around environment.
the school. Displaying posters, recruiting members to In the first part of their video, students shared the per-
help recycle paper, glass, and plastic. #13 (Student spective of teachers who believed global warming is hap-
Blog Posts) pening. Students asked teachers to identify one way that

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112 J Sci Educ Technol (2015) 24:103–118

Fig. 4 Screen used to introduce

the counter perspective

global warming affected them personally, for example, one
teacher talked about how changing climate and extreme
weather events had affected his outdoor activities.
Student: What is one way that global warming has
affected you personally?
Interviewee 1: Personally?
Student: Yeah, personally of course.
Interviewee 1: It seems to me weather seems a lot
more crazy. Not necessarily warmer but it feels like
we have snow storms a lot bigger. Windstorms are a
lot bigger. Everything feels bigger. It has affected our
camping stuff like this with my kids. The outdoor
activities. Really crazy spring of course.
Next, students shared teachers’ answer for ways to prevent
environmental issues. For example, one teacher gave
specific actions he had taken to stop global warming such
as reducing car use and plastic bag use.
Student: What is one way you can help stop global
warming?
Interviewee 1: When it gets warmer, I often generally
ride my bike to work. My wife rides her bike every day.
So, we are trying drive less. We are generally trying to
not to take a lot of packaging. We really do. So, we are
not using a lot of oil and plastic. That kind of thing.
In the second part of the video, students shared the per-
spective of a teacher who was not convinced that global
warming is really occurring. When asked how global warm-
ing personally impacted them, the teacher responded ‘‘I am
not entirely convinced that global warming has been proved.’’
Students introduced the opposing argument with the images
below to set up a visual contrast of the issues (see Fig. 4).
The third part of the video shared the perspective of a
teacher who takes actions in favor of environment
regardless of global warming. When the students asked
about the effects of global warming on individuals, the
teacher stated that although there were some recent clues,
she was still unsure whether global warming exists.
Student: What is one way that global warming has
affected you personally?
Interviewee 3: I am still kind of unsure if global
warming exists or not. I heard a lot of different views on
it. And, I think I am still gathering information about it.
I am not really sure if I believe that it exists. Do I like
this winter? I think so. It is definitely warmer. Yeah.
Student: Ok. I think we are done. We should not even
ask the rest of the questions.
Interviewee 3: Oh. Keep going.
The students asked the teacher’s opinion about ways to prevent
environmental impacts, and the teachers shared that everyone
has responsibility to care for the environment. She mentioned
her carbon footprint, recycling, and reusing materials in her
response as a way to help mitigate global warming.
Student: Ok, well. What is one way you can help stop
global warming?
Interviewee 3: I think it is all of our responsibility to be
caring about the environment. To do part of that, I try
not to put too big our footprint. Not leave too much
behind. So, regardless of if I believe whether global
warming exists or not, it is real or not, I do feel like
recycling is easy thing to do. I try not to waste paper at
school as much as I can. If I accidently print something
wrong, I try to use the back side. I give scratch paper to
the students. Whatever little things, I can just do. Make
sure that I am not leaving a huge footprint.
Students concluded their video by sharing their opinions
with their audience (see Fig. 7). Their message was do
something to save your planet, our planet. In this video, stu-
dents expressed environmental awareness and their perceived
need for activism by showing different perspectives about
global warming. Their interview questions addressed the
causes and effects of global warming and ways for individuals
and schools to prevent global warming.
The focus of the second video project was car use and its
negative effects on the environment, specifically global
warming. Students used written information, pictures, and
videos that they found on the web. They first focused on the
USA and then provided general information about the
effects of car use at the national level. They also suggested
two specific individual actions to prevent this problem.

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J Sci Educ Technol (2015) 24:103–118
Fig. 5 Two ways to reduce car
use suggested in the video
project
The video project started with information about car use in
the USA and its effect on the CO2 level in the atmosphere, using
images to call their audience’s attention to the topic. Next, they
connected the amount of CO2 in the air and the average amount
of gasoline used in cars. In this way, they switched their
argument from the national to the individual level. They used
pictures in addition to the written information to enhance their
argument. They first started with the CO2 emission caused by
individual actions and then extended this to a national scale.
Students used the authoritative voice of a scientist to explain the
causes and effects of CO2 emissions and the possible scenarios
next generations may face. This particular video was chosen
based on the appropriateness of its academic level and that the
scientist used animations that made it easier to understand.
Following the video of the scientist, students presented
ways to reduce car use via texts and pictures (see Fig. 5).
They focused on two solutions that were using public
transportation and carpooling.
Students ended their video with a short message. They
strengthened their messages with the posters designed by
international environmental organizations providing sci-
entific information and sharing national statistics related to
gasoline use and its effects on the CO2 level in the atmo-
sphere. The final message given in this video was stop
global warming before it stops you.
The video project designed by the third group combined
two different topics—water and energy use. As the back-
ground music, the students in this group used a rap song
written to encourage others to save energy. They primarily
used sequences of images to promote their arguments,
although they sometimes integrated text to make their project
more informative. They also used a water-saving video that
was titled ‘‘how to save water in six easy ways.’’ Although
students provided some information about the causes and
effects of wasting energy and water, the main focus of the
video was ways for individuals to conserve water and energy.
In the first part of the video, students showed the results of
energy waste and the ways to save energy based on the
argument that 65 % of global warming is related to energy
production. They used graphs and charts from different
sources to inform their audience. Next, they addressed ways to
prevent energy waste at the school level, for example, using a
chart that showed tips for saving energy in school such as the
113
importance of turning off lights in their classroom when not in
use. They also touched on individual actions for energy saving
such as using energy-efficient light bulbs and efficient energy
transmission and distribution (see Fig. 6).
The second part of this video project focused on water
conservation. In addition to images and text, students used an
informative video that showed different ways to save water.
They cued up this video by sharing information about water
problems on a global scale and making a connection between
global problems and how to solve these problems with indi-
vidual water-saving actions.
The goal of this video project was to inform people
about water and energy waste, its global effects, and the
ways to save water and energy. The students in this group
presented their argument with many images, as well as
statistical information about the global dimensions of the
issue. They ended their video with the catastrophic effects
of water and energy waste on the world.
The last video project was about wasting paper, plastic,
metals, and the importance of recycling. Rather than showing
ways to recycle, students in this group chose to emphasize the
importance of recycling for the environment. They first shared
statistics about the amount of paper and plastic bottle waste at
the national level. In addition to recycling, students described
the materials that could be reused, such as plastic bags,
clothes, bottles, and furniture. Although the video project of
this group focused on recycling, there were also some addi-
tional suggestions about saving water and energy. At the end
of the video, students encouraged individuals to recycle via
images and slogans (see Fig. 7) and making their audience
aware of the importance and ease of recycling and reusing
materials. They addressed their message via images and
videos and mostly focused on ways to mitigate environmental
problems at a personal level.
Students’ Reasoning About Their Focus on Their Media
Artifacts
During the 5-week constructionist design process, students
wrote group progress reports to reflect what they had done and
what they were planning to do in their next steps. This data
provided rich descriptions about students’ reasoning for why
they focused on particular issues in their media design project.
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114 J Sci Educ Technol (2015) 24:103–118

Fig. 6 Using energy-efficient

light bulbs

Fig. 7 Recycling messages in

the video

Through these written explanations, students expressed their can be proud of us. Then they can learn saving water
awareness and perceived need for activism about the partic- and energy. They could find this information on
ular environmental issues, as shown in the quotes below. internet, but if they see our video, they can watch
more seriously and carefully. # Group 1
We definitely want to show wasting water and energy,
Maybe, we can help our school to recycle. We can
because all our families and us waste too much water and
show it in our video, and we can put recycling paper
energy in our home. Now we can see how much we waste
boxes all around our school. # Group 3
water and energy and how we can stop wasting. # Group 1
Our group will interview teachers. They must know
global warming more than us. We will ask them ques-
Discussion
tions. Like one way global warming effects them, one
way they can stop global warming, if they contribute
This study explored how students expressed environmental
global warming. We believed they will give good
awareness and activism throughout a climate change unit
information to us and other students. # Group 2
designed using constructionist and social constructivist theo-
Our school waste too much paper. we always print
ries. Both quantitative and qualitative data revealed that stu-
something we do not use. So, we want to talk about
dents’ environmental awareness and perceived need for
recycling in our video. 3R-Recycle, Reuse, Rethink.
activism increased significantly throughout the instructional
Not all classes have recycling boxes. # Group 3
intervention. While their environmental awareness and per-
In these group progress reports, students also expressed ceived need for activism were very limited at the beginning,
perceived need for environmental activism. They mostly they became able to reflect their awareness and perceived need
stated that they wanted to share their video projects with for activism about environmental issues strongly in a variety of
others in their school and their community. As they designed different data sources during the intervention. Moreover, the
their videos, they kept thinking about their audience and how qualitative data showed that students were able to express their
they could address their interests as shown in the quotes below environmental awareness and perceived need for activism at
four different levels: personal/individual, school and commu-
I want use my brother in this video. I’m not sure he
nity, national, and global. They were able to express environ-
accept but if he do not accept, I want to show it to
mental awareness at all these levels, whereas they mostly
him. He can learn to save energy and water. I think all
expressed the need for environmental activism at personal and
of us should show our videos to our families. They
school/community levels.

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J Sci Educ Technol (2015) 24:103–118
The constructionist design process supported by a social
constructivist learning environment resulted students with
focusing on a particular issue in-depth. Since they gained
knowledge about a particular focus after the constructionist
design phases, they were able to express their perceived need
for activism on this particular issue more comfortably. The
information and examples provided by students in different
data sources were consistent with their particular focus on
their constructionist design products. Considering the argu-
ments of Tuohino (2003) and Barraza and Walford (2002) that
although people are knowledgeable and aware of environ-
mental issues, they are not usually ready to transfer their
knowledge and awareness into action, it can be concluded that
designing video projects supported with synchronous and
asynchronous online discussions on the social network to
reflect their perceived need for activism in a concrete form
helped students to obtain necessary skills to transfer their
knowledge into an activism form.
Several researchers (e.g., Hines et al. 1987; Hungerford
and Volk 1998; Pata and Zimdin 2008) have argued that
surveys have limited utility in assessing attitude and behavior
changes because they narrowly focus on environmental
knowledge or specific dimensions of environmental affect
(Negev et al. 2008). Gutierrez De White and Jacobson (1994)
stated that subtleties of attitude change are often difficult to
recognize in survey tests. In this study, students’ awareness
and perceived need for activism were measured thorough a
variety of different sources including blog posts, online con-
versations, and video projects in addition to the Six Americas
survey. Blog posts and online discussions on the social net-
work indicated students’ ability to express their awareness and
perceived need for activism in a simultaneous two-way
interaction, whereas the media artifacts designed by the stu-
dents in purpose of sharing with public reflected their
awareness and perceived need for activism in a more concrete
form. Thus, this study provides more reliable findings in terms
of student awareness and perceived need for activism than
studies that limit their data to surveys.
Technology Affordances
‘‘Technology tools have technical and social affordances—
they make some actions easy and obvious, and others hard or
impossible. It’s not just a matter of presence or absence of
support for certain actions, but strength of support’’ (O’Day
et al. 1996, p. 165). In this section, technical and social af-
fordances of the constructionist design process and social
constructivist learning environments are described.
Bull and Bell (2008) stated that a technological tool needs
to be undergirded by sound pedagogy and not implemented as
technology for technology’s sake. In this study, the design
tools that students used were chosen because of their
115
appropriateness for constructionist learning processes, both
the Ning social networking Web site and multimedia design
processes promoted interactions among students. Thus, the
technical and social affordances of these technology tools
were maximized through integrating them into the instruction
with strong pedagogical approaches.
Social Affordances
Social affordance is the relationship between the properties of
an object and the social characteristics of a given group that
enable particular kinds of interaction among members of that
group (Bradner et al. 1999). The class where the study was
conducted involved students from different cultures. Since
most of them did not know each other before the study, the
interaction among students from different cultures and/or
nationalities was very low at the beginning of the quarter.
When students organized their profiles on the social net-
working Web site, they uploaded photographs, videos, and
information about themselves. While spending time on the
social network, students first noticed and learned about each
other on the social network. These experiences indicated that
social networking technologies were a strong icebreaker for
students in school environment. Additionally, the interaction
among students was significantly increased throughout con-
structionist design processes. Students worked cooperatively
and communicated with each other both face-to-face and
online in order to achieve an established common goal.
Technical Affordances
Kirschner et al. (2004) described technical affordances as
technology that ‘‘mediates the social and educational contexts
such that their properties induce and invite specific learning
behaviors’’ (p. 50). One of the biggest challenges for teachers
in alternative learning settings is related to the problem of
student absenteeism which was minimized via technical af-
fordances of the technology tools used in this study. Using a
social networking Web site helped students to keep up with
instruction while they were not physically in the classroom
and students were also able to complete their assignments
online when they were absent. In addition, the instructor was
able to maintain instructional pacing because students missing
class did not get too far behind. This study also showed that
when students experienced engaging activities, classroom
management became easier. While working on the social
network site and video project, students interacted with each
other well and did not exhibit disruptive behaviors.
Appendix
See Table 2.
123
 116

123
Table 2 Descriptive statistics of students’ responses for each segment
Survey questions Audience segment Scale
Alarmed Concerned Cautious Disengaged Doubtful Dismissive General
Pre Post Pre Post Pre Post Pre Post Pre Post Pre Post Pre Post
n=0 n=2 n=5 n = 11 n=7 n=2 n=3 n=2 n=2 n=0 n=0 n=0 n = 17 n = 17

1. and 1a. Certainty global warming is occurringa N/A 8.50 8.20 8.27 6.14 8.00 7.66 8.50 7.50 N/A N/A N/A 7.17 8.30 9.00
2. Human causation (% agree)a N/A 100 100 100 14.28 0 0 100 0 N/A N/A N/A 35.29 88.23 –
3. Worry about global warmingb N/A 3.00 3.2 3.18 2.28 3.00 2.66 3.00 2.5 N/A N/A N/A 2.64 3.12 4.00
4. Personal riska N/A 4.00 1.80 2.82 1.43 1.50 1.00 1.50 2.00 N/A N/A N/A 1.53 2.65 4.00
5. Timing of harm to Americansa N/A 6.00 4.80 5.36 5.00 5.00 2.66 6.00 4.00 N/A N/A N/A 4.41 5.47 6.00
6. Risk to future generationsa N/A 4.00 4.00 3.73 3.28 3.00 0.00 0.00 1.5 N/A N/A N/A 2.70 3.24 4.00
b
7. Thought given to global warming N/A 2.50 2.40 2.82 2.00 2.50 1.66 2.5 1.5 N/A N/A N/A 2.00 2.70 4.00
8. Personal importance of issueb N/A 4.00 3.00 3.45 2.71 3.00 1.66 3.00 2.00 N/A N/A N/A 2.53 3.41 4.00
9. Unwilling to change opinionb N/A 4.00 2.60 2.91 2.28 2.00 2.33 2.00 2.50 N/A N/A N/A 2.41 2.82 5.00
10. Friends share views on global warmingb N/A 2.50 1.60 2.18 1.43 2.50 1.66 2.50 3.00 N/A N/A N/A 1.70 2.30 5.00
11. Ability of humans to successfully mitigate global N/A 3.50 3.20 3.18 3.14 2.5 3.66 3.5 2.00 N/A N/A N/A 3.12 3.18 5.00
warminga
12. Citizens should do more/less to reduce warmingd N/A 5.00 4.60 4.45 3.57 3.50 3.66 4.00 3.00 N/A N/A N/A 3.82 4.35 5.00
13. Punished companies that are not reducing emissionsc N/A 0.50 0.60 1.36 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 0.50 N/A N/A N/A 0.82 1.18 5.00
14. Priority of global warming for president and congressd N/A 4.00 2.40 3.36 2.57 3.00 2.66 2.5 1.00 N/A N/A N/A 2.35 3.30 4.00
15. Contingent int’l conditions for US mitigation action N/A 100 0.00 54.55 0.00 0.00 0.00 50.0 0.00 N/A N/A N/A 0.00 52.94 –
(% regardless of actions of other countries)d
a
Belief items
b
Issues involvement items
c
Behavior items
d
Preferred societal response items
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J Sci Educ Technol (2015) 24:103–118
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