Challenging Environmental Clichés in the University Classroom: A Pilot Study Using Documentaries as Educational Tools

Abstract

Environmental sciences is a scientific discipline with many stereotypes. One of the challenges for teachers is to help students develop critical thinking skills to tackle deeply ingrained clichés. This competence is essential for their future professional development. This paper presents an educational experience developed with sophomore students of the Environmental Sciences Degree at the University of Zaragoza, jointly conducted between two subjects (Soil Degradation and Pollution and Atmospheric Pollution). The objective of this activity was to promote students' reflection and critical thinking using audiovisual material and argumentation on climate change and the role of anthropogenic CO2 in global warming. To this end, two documentaries with opposing messages were screened ("An Inconvenient Truth" and "The Great Global Warming Swindle"), followed by a debate among the students on the theses and positions presented in both, and finally the writing of an individual critical essay. Overall, both teachers and students positively evaluated this teaching proposal.