Engagement in a dialogic activity after watching a video on climate change has an effect on students’ mitigation action beliefs

Abstract

Videos can be a valuable resource for learning about climate change and stimulating deliberative discussion on the actions to mitigate it. This quasi-experimental study aimed to investigate the effects of combining video watching with a dialogic activity, and the specific contributions of these two activities, on students’ knowledge, beliefs about mitigation actions, and self-reported pro-environmental behaviour. The dialogic activity involved students creating a fictional dialogue about mitigation actions among different stakeholders, and it was conducted either collectively or individually. 75 undergraduate students participated in three conditions: (a) watching a video only or combined with a dialogic activity, either (b) collectively in small groups or (c) individually. Results showed gains in students’ knowledge on climate change, for all conditions. Watching a video combined with a dialogic activity was found to have a significantly more positive effect on students’ climate change mitigation action beliefs, than watching a video alone. These findings highlight the value of watching a video on climate change for students’ knowledge acquisition on the subject, but also the value of engaging in a dialogic activity to promote more comprehensive beliefs about the actions that need to be taken to mitigate climate change.