Methodology

The project employs a participatory action research methodology, situated within a broader framework of participatory curriculum development, which serves as the umbrella for the process (Eilks & Feierabend, 2013). This overarching approach is augmented by an interdisciplinary data collection strategy.

This strategy includes ethnographic and indigenous methodologies (Ashencaen Crabtree et al., 2022), entailing site visits, observations, and interviews, as well as creative and art-based methodologies, for documenting children’s drawings and narratives (Harvey et al., 2021). The planned multimodal data collection methods aim to meld research in the humanities and the social sciences, notably in the fields of education, environmental science, sociology, anthropology, cultural studies, the environmental humanities, and visual arts.

The participatory curriculum development framework seeks to engage a diverse range of stakeholders, including children, parents, teachers, researchers, and curriculum designers, fostering a collaborative environment. The methodology employed in this project aims to be holistic, democratic, and empowering, seeking to address climate change issues in a collaborative, reflective, and socially responsible manner.

This is particularly crucial in Malaysia, a country characterised by its multicultural, multi-ethnic, and multi-religious society, where intricate hierarchical structures often result in the voices of indigenous communities not being heard