Increasing the Accessibility of Information on Climate Change for Practical Educated Youth

The aim of this Participatory and Action Research was to answer the research question: “How could we increase the accessibility of information on the climate change topic for practical educated youth from 14 to 18 years old (in the Netherlands)?”. Practical education is best to describe as a middle school, or high school, for children with theoretical learning difficulties and are more talented in learning in a practical way and working with their hands.

One of the most mentioned conditions for the target group to be interested in social issues is that they recognize the social issue in their own life. It is important to build a connection with the students, show personality and genuine interest towards them. The accessibility of climate related information could be increased by finding connections of climate change related themes and to what concerns the aimed target group. One method to find out the interfaces is holding a focus group discussion where needs, concerns, perceptions, thoughts and worries will come forward. Climate change is a very broad, technical and vague social issue for this target group. Therefore, it needs to be narrowed down in smaller themes, and connect those themes to their own perception