PBSE Principles 7-10: Amplifying Youth Voice

Principle 7: Cultivate student voice and involve students in democratic practices throughout the course of a PBSE effort.

Principle 8: Use deliberate processes to identify and consider multiple perspectives regarding a stewardship issue or project.

Principle 9: Incorporate opportunities for students to develop and clarify their personal values related to nature and community, and to develop the social competencies essential to stewardship.

Principle 10: Support and enable the visible, meaningful participation of students in the community’s public discourse

Principles 7-10 focus on the strategies that help students develop as active participants in their communities. This set of principles emphasizes the value of student voice, modeling democratic practices, exploring varying perspectives, clarifying personal values and engaging in public discourse.

Students, curious enough to explore issues, raise questions and discover answers in and with their communities are vital as current and future leaders.

We are here to empower youth to change their world.

PBSE Case Study - Au Gres-Sims High School

<-- Check out Au Gres-Sims High School's Rain Garden student-generated Google Site.

Before creating this communication piece, students first:

  • Identified an issue in their community

  • Brainstormed solutions

  • Prioritized which information was meaningful and relevant to the problem

  • Created a realistic timeline to complete their project

  • Surveyed and chose 6 potential rain garden sites on campus, then debated which site was the most suitable

  • Chose which native plants should be a part of the garden

  • Created original designs for the layout of the garden and voted for the best

  • With community partner support, created interpretive signage

  • Communicated with donors by drafting a script and writing thank you letters

  • Developed a budget and kept track of expenditures

PBSE Case Study- Thunder Bay Junior High

Sixth graders explored and adopted --> their local beaches, investigated the shoreline for marine debris and invasive species.

<-- Students presented their findings at a City Council meeting to help educate and enact change.

Copy of Alpena_TBJH_Adopt_FS (2014).pdf

📚Supplemental Resources📚

As part of Thunder Bay International Film Festival, the NEMIGLSI network and partners host a Student Film Competition. Students (8-12 grade) are eligible to enter individually or as a team-- a great mechanism for outreach and voice.

Inspired by her microplastics research, high school student Emeline Hanna created an outreach film for the Thunder Bay International Film Festival Student Film Competition.

A plastics outreach video created by 5th graders.

A microplastics filtering tutorial video created by 5th graders.

PBE-EngagementFromTheStudentPerspective.pdf

Interviews with youth from several PBSE projects.

Rusty Crayfish Poster.pdf

Student-Generated Outreach Posters

These educational posters were created by students in partnership with Michigan Sea Grant.

Super Sturgeon Poster.pdf