Students take to the screen!

On Saturday, October 30th three Communitopia students along with Executive Director Katie Modic and the graphic design team from Shift Collaborative met at StudioMe in East Liberty to shoot three videos that will accompany Communitopia’s Climate Solution Kits on their website! The kits, which are funded by a Pittsburgh Foundation Giving Circle Grant, will circulate into the hands of 400+ area youth this November and December with the hopes that they act as catalysts for students to engage in climate action.

Saturday was the first time any students interacted with the final product and the students’ reactions were overwhelmingly positive. Rebecca Carter, pictured above, hopes teachers around the region use the kits as a resource in their classrooms. “I think these kits are really cool, really fun! I can definitly see doing this as a classroom activity!” Rebecca was tasked with building the Green Infrastructure kit on camera. This required her to turn her box into a mini green roof and plant and water local grass seed.

The idea for the Kits stemmed from a year of virtual schooling and Communitopia staff seeing evidence of decreased student engagement. “We knew virtual learning without hands-on engagement was less effective. We saw that in our numbers. Students’ scientific literacy and motivation to take action went down during the pandemic. We wanted to create a product that could be used by students in the classroom OR in their homes with the same outcome, students taking action on climate change.” says Ms. Modic. Of course, the added benefit of students engaging in action at home is that their adults may be triggered to act as well! Currently, many well-meaning adults aren’t engaged in taking action to slow climate change. Social scientists have been studying this phenomenon for years. Stanford Social Innovation Review recently published work by social scientist George Marshall who states that “scientific data, although undoubtedly vital for altering our rational brain to the existence of a threat, does not galvanize our emotional brain into action.” For that, he reports, you need to appeal to people on a personal and emotional level. There is nothing more personal and emotional to most adults than their own children.

If you’re curious to engage with a Climate Solution Kit, they are currently being circulated in classrooms throughout Allegheny County for free. Please complete this survey to reserve a classroom set!