Background
Italy is considered a hotspot for climate change in Europe and is affected by numerous extreme weather events and severe and frequent heat waves, registering an excess mortality of 18,000 deaths in 2022 due to high temperatures (Italian Ministry of Environment and Energy Security, 2023). Italian young people are experiencing a rapidly changing world, with natural, political, and economic instability (Ballester et al, 2023).
The aim of the PERSIST project is to pilot and measure the impact of a school educational intervention on youth climate-related emotions and to assess its efficacy in strengthening literacy on the climate crisis, applying pro-environmental behaviours, and promoting systems thinking in high school students in Italy. The project involved 273 students in ten different classes attending between grades 1 and 4 and aged between 13 and 18 at a scientific high school in Rome, Italy. These students engaged in three, two-hour sessions, with seasoned researchers, delving into an interactive educational model to enhance their understanding of the climate crisis. The sessions covered the causes and impacts of the crisis on human health, incorporating interactive elements such as brainstorming, games inspired by complex systems, and debates.
Description of intervention
PERSIST Program in Rome, Italy, of a game that used complex systems for elementary and middle school students (Photo courtesy of PERSIST team)
The intervention comprised three 120-minute sessions facilitated by public health residents, who had received prior training for this specific type of intervention. These sessions were conducted in ten high school classes, aiming to impart knowledge to students regarding the causes of the climate crisis, the human role in it, and its impacts on health. The teacher-centric approach was minimised, with a preference for group work, active discussions, complex systems-based games, and a question-oriented methodology. Through guided discussions, students could deduce answers, utilising complex systems models, brainstorming, and group activities.
To evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention, a questionnaire was deployed to gauge climate crisis literacy, climate-related emotions, and pro-environmental behaviours, while also gathering feedback on the overall appreciation of the program. The assessment of climate crisis literacy included questions about climate-related emotions (worry, fear, outrage, hope, and guilt) and pro-environmental behaviours, drawing from surveys conducted by Rooney-Varga et al. (2018) and Hickman et al. (2021). Additionally, a set of specifically crafted and validated questions was used to explore knowledge about the correlation between the climate crisis and human health, most of which required Likert scale responses, while others necessitated yes/no/do not know responses.