What do young people really know about climate change?



For several months, VivaSciences and the Biodyne research axe have been informing young people about the physical causes of global warming and its multiple consequences. In collaboration with the University of Antwerp, on behalf of WWF and with the financial support of the FPS Environment, "climate workshops" are being organised for primary and secondary schools all over Belgium.

Inform, introduce the scientific approach, develop critical thinking skills... These are the objectives of the partners in this project of climate workshops given in schools by Lionel Muytjens, in charge of the VivaSciences unit (Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech's project to promote the use of science and technology). Before these workshops, there is a desire on the part of the Federal Public Service for Public Health, Food Chain Safety and the Environment to raise awareness of the challenges of global warming among future generations by training teachers and students in this topic. As coordinator of this mission, WWF called on Prof. Bernard Heinesch to develop and present activities adapted to a school audience, with the support of VivaSciences.

But how can we reach young people, bring with a clear voice reliable scientific evidence among the uproar of whistleblowers, protesters, political speeches... and sometimes real fakes news ? By taking a step back from the socio-political issues related to global warming, widely discussed in the press and in society, the idea is to return to the very understanding of the physical basis of climate phenomena and their repercussions on the planet. The challenge was therefore to find a playful way to address these issues, while remaining relevant and precise on the content.

Through collective discussions, giant diagrams, human graphics, illustrations and video clips, students were able to understand the importance of the presence of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere, but also the danger of increasing anthropogenic emissions of these same gases. And these are often the first elements of surprise: life on earth would not be possible without these gases and there are natural greenhouse gas emissions. Another important moment is the discovery of the 1979 video with Haroun Tazieff and Commander Cousteau, which ends with the presenter's words: "You are freaking out the people there! "... Which does not fail to make young people react (young people whose parents were born at the time of this interview).

See the video

In the second part of the workshop, the students transform themselves into true laboratory technicians and thus learn about the scientific process. Divided into several groups, they are responsible for studying the consequences of global warming in different regions of the world: melting ice caps, changing albedo, water expansion, ocean acidification, etc. In the form of fun experiments, but with real laboratory equipment, complex concepts such as positive feedback are studied, understood and explained to the rest of the class during a reporting phase. 

While these workshops may create some vocations, they first and foremost allow as many people as possible to better understand the scientific world and to develop a critical mind in the face of the flow of available information. What could be more pleasant for a speaker than to hear "I finally understood why I have always been told to do this" or "in fact, you always have to be careful how the numbers are given, people always choose to present the ones that make them look better". 

Who says young people can't think anymore? At least not us! And this is certainly not the case for those we have met and those we will meet again over the next two years of this education project. 

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