Climate Literacy in Education

Cultivating Critique, Hope & Action:

The Cordel as a Multimodal Invitation to Environmental Education Topics

Lauren Fletcher

Fletcher

Erica Holyoke

Keywords: Environmental education, multimodality, community reflection, critical literacy, environmental action

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Abstract

The cordel is a multimodal, interactive instructional strategy that invites students to engage with environmental education topics by exploring a variety of curated artifacts displayed along a string. Rooted in a traditional Brazilian practice, the cordel has been adapted for use in classrooms to activate students' background knowledge and foster critical thinking. It offers multiple entry points to ecological justice and collectively builds background knowledge. The cordel invites a critical and intersectional view of environmentalism and justice, fostering stances of reciprocity, shared knowledge building, and action.