CONNECTING CLIMATE CHANGE TO COMMUNITY: SCIENTIFIC STORYTELLING WITH THE GREEN NINJA

Climate change affects everyone and its attendant environmental, social, and economic dilemmas offer a timely and relevant context for helping students connect scientific investigation with the well-being of their families and community. The Green Ninja Film Academy at San Jose State University (SJSU) uses digital storytelling to provide students with engaging, standards-aligned learning experiences that build on the Green Ninja Project (http://greenninja.org/), an educational initiative designed to inspire interest in climate science and solutions through the video adventures of the Green Ninja – a climate action superhero. Student development of films about climate change requires understanding of the relevant science content, fosters creativity and critical thinking, and develops communication skills such as analysis of informational text, writing and speaking, thus supplying a strong link to Common Core English Language Standards, as well as to the Next Generation Science Standards, which focus on climate change and it impacts on natural and human systems. For many students, developing a film in which they become the heroes of their own climate science-based stories may represent the first time they have identified with a scientist or engineer.

In summer 2013, with funding from Chevron, a three-day teacher professional workshop supplied twenty-five teachers with instruction in climate science and the use of film and the Green Ninja storyline to produce an engaging student science experience. Teacher teams created their own short films using iPads which may be borrowed from SJSU’s Science Education Resource Center. More than 70 films created by middle and high school students were submitted to the first Green Ninja Film Festival, held in December 2103. Ten of the films of were selected for screening and on the evening of the Festival, about 80 students, parents and teachers came to SJSU for the screening and award ceremony (for a summary including the films and photos of the evening, visit: http://greenninja.org/videos/film-festival/).