Using The Visual And Performing Arts To Encourage Pro Environmental Behaviour PDF Download

This research investigated education for sustainability, focusing specifically on the impact of human intervention on the migration journey of diadromous fish, in particular whitebait. The topic was motivated by my role as an artist, researcher, art teacher and environmental educator. In those roles I had become aware that the plethora of sophisticated scientific data on environmental issues needed to be presented in differing ways in order to be understood by the wider community. Scientists in New Zealand acknowledge that their data on water issues and the subsequent environmental effects on native freshwater fish are not sufficiently 'visible' to others outside the scientific, academic community. My aim was to show how scientific data could be critically examined, reconceptualised, and represented through innovative research practices using dance, narrative, and the visual arts as a means of presenting a 'visual/performative voice' on environmental issues to the community. The participants were tertiary fine arts students at the University of Aucklands National Institute of Creative Arts and Industries (NICAI), dance professionals and dancers from the community, and myself as a participant artist/researcher/teacher. The challenge was to find ways to inform the community of these issues through arts-based forms that complement and extend text-based data and academic discourse. At the culmination of the research, the participants and I collaborated to give three presentations in the community which included art works, narration, and dance performance. These were digitally recorded and form part of the research findings. Our aim was to apply the findings from environmental literature and scientific data in order to facilitate critical debate, enhance professional practice in the field of education for sustainability, and inform communities about environmental issues and sustainable futures. Other than the warm responses and startled reactions from our audiences at each presentation, there is no concrete evidence of the extent to which our intentions impacted on their knowledge and attitudes towards sustainability, in particular the plight of the diadromous fish. At the end of this research journey, I was not able to draw quantitative or scientific conclusions that are usually presented in more traditional forms of research. I cannot prove that our public presentations will have any long-term effect on those present, or on readers of this thesis. I can only hope.