Intercultural Environmental and Sustainable Development Education (EIEDD)

Intercultural Education for the Environment and Sustainable Development (EIEDD) – Reports on scientific knowledge and territories and eco-citizen engagement among high school seniors in France and Quebec (2017-2020)

Numerous studies in science, environmental, and sustainable development education have identified a form of fatalism and disengagement among young people in the face of the environmental crisis. However, we know that in order to mobilize young people at school and as citizens, we must take into account their identity and their plans for the future, and connect education more closely to the places where they live.

With a view to sustainable development (SD) of territories and to take into account the concerns of young citizens of different cultures living there, this research in intercultural education in science, the environment, and sustainable development (EIEDD) proposes to develop an innovative Franco-Quebecois theoretical framework and test it in order to document how 16-year-olds view the SD issues of a river they live near. To this end, four case studies will be conducted in parallel in very different cultural and environmental contexts. Data will be collected through questionnaires (N=300) and individual interviews (N=100) to develop "typical profiles" of young people in terms of their relationship to scientific knowledge and territories, and their attitudes and practices of eco-citizen engagement with regard to the social, political, economic, ethical, or ecological issues they associate with the SD of the river in question.

Two case studies will be conducted in Quebec and two in France. In each of these contexts, the first will involve young people from a sensitive multicultural neighborhood, while the second will focus on young people from a rural area whose governance is guided by SD principles, in order to identify common or contrasting cultural elements, both local and global, in France and Quebec. In France, the territories will be adjacent to the Seine, and in Quebec, to the St. Lawrence River, continuing the research of Jean-Marc Lange and Barbara Bader's teams. In a second phase, the young people interviewed will develop an interdisciplinary representation of the priority issues they associate with the SD of the river and will propose citizen actions with the support of science and history-geography teachers, local stakeholders, and members of the research team. These interdisciplinary representations and eco-citizen actions will be co-developed and disseminated virtually across the four cultural contexts concerned.

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Develop an original conceptual and analytical framework combining the concepts of "relationship to scientific knowledge," "relationship to territories," and "eco-citizen engagement" among young people in late secondary school.

Identify "typical profiles" of 16-year-old Quebecers and French youth with regard to sustainable development of the St. Lawrence River in Quebec and the Seine River in France, based on four case studies.

In each region, in France and Quebec, with the young people interviewed and two teachers per school, support the collaborative design of interdisciplinary representations of a sustainable development issue and define the terms of young people's eco-citizen engagement according to their relationship with scientific knowledge and the regional, identity, and cultural dimensions identified.

Research funded by the National Research Agency (ANR) and the Quebec Research Fund – Society and Culture (FRQSC)

Presentation of EIEDD research