TakingITGlobal

3. 3 Replica ting Pr ojec t Bene f i t s ? Ca vea t s and Possibili ties This project underscored the powerful role of education in how youth understand and respond to climate change, particularly the effectiveness of tangible and experiential learning within a group context. While we acknowledge the specificity of this particular project and that the experience of these students is not universally replicable, we anticipate that educators might extend learning from this project through locally- informed and contextual educational change. There are lessons from this global IPCC education project that could greatly benefit schools, teachers, students, and communities. The sense of global connection derived from meeting people from all over the planet provided these youth the opportunity to render the abstractions of climate change knowledge real through active social learning. Inter-school collaboration allowed for meaningful global/ international connections. Further, this project is also unique because it was not a 'mock' process; these youth were provided an opportunity to participate in a meeting of the most influential scientific body on climate change in the world, the IPCC. This was real experiential learning for team members, and they knew it. Though their contexts may be different, educators may similarly engage students in group-based political actions at the level of local governments and school boards, beyond 'role- playing' engagement, beyond individualized, consumer-based solutions and in engaging alternative ways to traditional education models. The lessons on experiential learning and global connection from this project do have real challenges in their replication, both of access and appropriateness. While team members represented multiple genders and ethnic backgrounds, and represented both privileged and marginalized nations, the fact remains that all of these youth came from relatively privileged classes in their home communities. Thus, the global aspect of the project may be particularly difficult to reproduce in a way that is financially viable, considering the extensive technical resources and costs of travel to Edmonton. This is compounded, of course, by the environmental impacts of digital infrastructures and international flights, which themselves contribute to the very climate issues students are learning to address. If only the online component of the project were to be replicated, team members have pointed out how online relationships are not the same as in-person relationships, so the project may not have as significant an impact. Finally, efforts to replicate this project may also be constrained by a lack of concerned and engaged students. We wonder how opportunities might exist for those youth who do not have access to online mentoring, academic conferences, or international travel? We are also cautious to recommend educational practices borrowed from other contexts or instituted in a top-down manner. Instead, we imagine that educators and policy makers may draw on findings from this report to inform their work, developing locally-grounded climate education that connects students to their local contexts and communities while responding to global crises. 70 | D I S C U S S I O N

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