Sustainability Communication through Bio-Based Experiential Learning

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Dear authors,

The idea of the manuscript is up to date. It addresses the issue of raising children's environmental awareness through an educational program. Although the research was conducted on a small sample of participants, the results show that the project has contributed to raising children's environmental awareness and understanding of environmental threats.

The paper is well written and readable. However, it has some shortcomings that are worth improving.

• In the sentence on line 240, the dot in the middle of the sentence is incorrect.
• In line 245 the authors state: "The research was carried out in three stages: ....." The following text and Figure 1 show the 5 stages of the research.
• Figure 2 and Figure 3 do not contain references in the manuscript
• Line 360 the authors state: "In the explanation below, points 3 and 4 therefore (storytelling impacts) will be discussed in the same section." The storytelling impacts are points 4 and 5.
• It would be worth adding some limitations to the study.

 

I hope my comment will be useful for your future work. I will recommend publishing your manuscript after correcting these minor revisions. Good luck with your future research.

 

Author Response

MANUSCRIPT ID: Sustainability-1647303

 

PAPER TITLE: Sustainability Communication through Bio-based Experiential Learning

 

DETAILED RESPONSE TO REVIEWER 1

Thank you for your kind feedback, we appreciate it very much: You have helped to make this article much stronger and we recognize the time and care you have dedicated to your feedback. We have made changes to the text to address the Reviewers’ concerns as follows:

Reviewer 1

Dear authors,

The idea of the manuscript is up to date. It addresses the issue of raising children's environmental awareness through an educational program. Although the research was conducted on a small sample of participants, the results show that the project has contributed to raising children's environmental awareness and understanding of environmental threats.

The paper is well written and readable. However, it has some shortcomings that are worth improving.

• In the sentence on line 240, the dot in the middle of the sentence is incorrect.
• In line 245 the authors state: "The research was carried out in three stages: ....." The following text and Figure 1 show the 5 stages of the research.
• Figure 2 and Figure 3 do not contain references in the manuscript
• Line 360 the authors state: "In the explanation below, points 3 and 4 therefore (storytelling impacts) will be discussed in the same section." The storytelling impacts are points 4 and 5.
• It would be worth adding some limitations to the study.

I hope my comment will be useful for your future work. I will recommend publishing your manuscript after correcting these minor revisions. Good luck with your future research.

 

Author response to Reviewer 1 Comments

Thank you for your kind review,

We have revised and improved in almost all paragraph and refer to your suggestion (detail in track change doc)

We have adjust in line 245  and revised“ The research was carried out in four stages: (1) Participant selection for Story Telling Workshop: Bio-Based Experiential Learning; (2) Planting Challenge and Video Storytelling; (3) Final Workshop: Kid's Green Games; and (4) Qualitative and Quantitative Analyses (see Figure 1).

Figure 2 and figure 3 source: internal data of researcher (author)

We have revised

The quantitative results (Table 2) consist of five main parts: 1) Overall Parents' Perception, 2) Bio-based Learning Impact, 3) Students' Communication Impact, 4) Storytelling Impact (i.e., Perceptions about Students), and 5) Storytelling Impact (i.e., Perceptions about Program). In the explanation below, points 4 and 5 (i.e., storytelling impacts) will be discussed in the same section.

 

We have stated some limitation to the study

Several limitations of the study need to be addressed. First, the workshop’s setting was virtual, making the researchers have limits in capturing non-verbal communication. Nevertheless, face-to-face interactions were also conducted through the role of a facilitator, who has experiences in conducting storytelling with children. Second, the study subjects were gathered by having the teacher select one representative (or a maximum of two student representatives) from each class. That is, the selection process was not controlled by the researchers.

 

The authors would like to thank the reviewers for their careful reading of this article and the helpful suggestions they have made to improve it.

 

Thank you

 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Dear authors,
the article presented is really interesting and original. The contribution deals with an extremely interesting topic. The title of the article in my opinion should be shorter and I would recommend writing more about how research can fill the gap in literature. In the introduction, you could deepen the topic you are dealing with a little more generally, also with reference to previous studies. You might think about doing a chapter on the circular economy and the topic you are dealing with. I would develop the implications for theory, practice and policymakers in one chapter. The text is understandable and clear, but I would recommend revising the English language more. I recommend adding the sources to the figures in the text. Expand the discussion chapter and the results chapter and delve into a little more detail. Describe the limitations of research better. I appreciate the effort of the authors and hope they will find these comments helpful in improving their research article in the future.

Best regards

Author Response

MANUSCRIPT ID: Sustainability-1647303

 

PAPER TITLE: Sustainability Communication through Bio-based Experiential Learning

 

DETAILED RESPONSE TO REVIEWER 2

Thank you for your kind feedback, we appreciate it very much: You have helped to make this article much stronger and we recognize the time and care you have dedicated to your feedback. We have made changes to the text to address the Reviewers’ concerns as follows:

 

Reviewer 2

Dear authors,

• The article presented is really interesting and original. The contribution deals with an extremely interesting topic.
• The title of the article in my opinion should be shorter and I would recommend writing more about how research can fill the gap in literature.
• In the introduction, you could deepen the topic you are dealing with a little more generally, also with reference to previous studies.
• You might think about doing a chapter on the circular economy and the topic you are dealing with.
• I would develop the implications for theory, practice and policymakers in one chapter.
• The text is understandable and clear, but I would recommend revising the English language more.
• I recommend adding the sources to the figures in the text.
• Expand the discussion chapter and the results chapter and delve into a little more detail.
• Describe the limitations of research better.
• I appreciate the effort of the authors and hope they will find these comments helpful in improving their research article in the future.

 

Author response to Reviewer 2 Comments

Thank you for your kind review,

We have revised of title into:

Sustainability Communication through Bio-based Experiential Learning

Introduction has already revised (refer to line 24-44).

We have added about circular economy (2.1, line 163)

2.1 Circular Economy Education

The phrase "circular economy" (CE) was coined a few years ago to describe a system that is built on people observing and learning from nature, also known as "biomimicry." Outside of scientific circles, the term was coined to characterize "nature-inspired innovation," which is described as "a method of the invention that seeks long-term solutions to human problems by replicating nature's time-tested patterns and techniques." [23]. The word is derived from the four stages of a typical product life cycle, starting from raw material extraction and processing to manufacture, consumption, and disposal [24].

It is critical to instill the importance of harmonizing our lives with the environment through sustainability education to comprehend these cycles. We recognize that children's comprehension must be taught and practiced early. As a result, we believe that adding Circular Economy ideas into primary school will help raise awareness about the necessity of engaging in sustainable activities from an early age. One of the prominent research projects mentioned the student/scientist partnership (SSP) paradigm [25], in which students are active participants in a scientific research collaboration combining students, teachers, and researchers, has been used in several studies to try to execute the sustainability education program. We do believe that this approach is also suitable to be adopted into our project and even for higher education projects [26].

The Circular Economy is an alternative consumption and production paradigm to the linear economy, which has dominated society for decades and is unsustainable. The ability to comprehend and apply the Circular Economy concepts must also be included in the curriculum to be ingrained in design practice [27]. Although not all students will embrace design for sustainable development, teaching them about the Circular Economy may indirectly enable them to deal with sustainability issues. Individuals who have a systemic vision, which may be implanted in them at an early age, have a real opportunity of making short-term gains by applying actual principles. As students build a conscious culture, it may result in substantial changes in schools and their surroundings in the medium and long term. It is critical to present real-world examples that may be used in school settings so that children can learn how they can contribute to sustainability from an early age. Therefore, the solutions must be within reach of immediate possibilities to promote change behaviors in the near future. It necessitates novel teaching techniques to prepare students for their future roles in their communities.

 

 

 

Literature review about circular economy already added.

Figure 2 and figure 3 source : internal data of researcher (author)

Revising English language:

We have proofread the manuscript, as attached statement from official proofreader

Discussion have already improved

Limitation : We have already added.

We have stated some limitation to the study

Several limitations of the study need to be addressed. First, the workshop’s setting was virtual, making the researchers have limits in capturing non-verbal communication. Nevertheless, face-to-face interactions were also conducted through the role of a facilitator, who has experiences in conducting storytelling with children. Second, the study subjects were gathered by having the teacher select one representative (or a maximum of two student representatives) from each class. That is, the selection process was not controlled by the researchers.

 

The authors would like to thank the reviewers for their careful reading of this article and the helpful suggestions they have made to improve it.

 

Thank you

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

In general, this is an interesting study where the authors explain how the education needs more empirical research to impact on youngers to be aware of sustainability.

The introduction describes the project but doesn´t explain the main objectives of this research. Rewrite considering the information in different sections, etc. The authors mention the circular economy, that should be included in the literature review.

This is a good job, however, the introduction should be clear enough including the objective of the paper and its contribution.

Literature Review

Because the paper is for the CFP Corporate Social Responsibility and Communication during COVID-19 Pandemic I suggest that the authors include literature review in this area (many papers have been written analyzing pros/cons about the communication on CSR linking this with communication and sustainability.

I suggest that the authors include at least a paragraph explaining the contribution of this paper from a sustainable perspective, i.e., the contribution on specific SDGs with this experience (SDG 4, etc.) when they mention the 17 SDGs.

Literature review, please explain if there are previous similar studies on Through bio-based learning storytelling.

Data

Descriptive statistics were performed to analyze the quantitative data, using Microsoft Excel and Google Analytics. I suggest the authors provide more information about the quantitative method.

The qualitative data were gathered based on the semi-structured interviews with parents (transcribed verbatim in Microsoft Word), evaluated, and grouped into several common themes.

I suggest the authors include the information in different Annexes (verbatims, etc.).

Discussion

 is the moment to take the literature with the main results to know the real contribution of this work. Please, add one paragraph explaining the contribution of this paper and implications for educators.

Children share videos and experiential learning activities with their peers and on social media. Some children are nano-influencers because they have a large number of followers. Nano-influencers have a social media following of 1,000 to 10,000 people [55].

It should be useful to provide information about the followers/likes of the shared videos explaining in which specific social media they shared them.

Conclusions

I suggest the authors add future research directions inviting other researchers to read they work and to continue with this line of work.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

MANUSCRIPT ID: Sustainability-1647303

 

PAPER TITLE: Sustainability Communication through Bio-based Experiential Learning

 

DETAILED RESPONSE TO REVIEWER 3

Thank you for your kind feedback, we appreciate it very much: You have helped to make this article much stronger and we recognize the time and care you have dedicated to your feedback. We have made changes to the text to address the Reviewers’ concerns as follows:

Reviewer3

In general, this is an interesting study where the authors explain how the education needs more empirical research to impact on youngers to be aware of sustainability.

The introduction describes the project but doesn´t explain the main objectives of this research. Rewrite considering the information in different sections, etc. The authors mention the circular economy, that should be included in the literature review.

This is a good job, however, the introduction should be clear enough including the objective of the paper and its contribution.

 

Author response:

We have added the objective of the research (line 149)

This paper focuses on one of the projects of THP (i.e., "Bio-based Experiential Learning" program), attempting to measure sustainability communication, targeted at elementary school children and their parents. The research undertaken used a storytelling approach, where researchers try to analyze and construct humans who do not experience life materially [12]. The audience becomes an active participant in storytelling by creating new meanings on top of the author's structure. Instead of receiving messages unilaterally, audiences should participate in messages through interactive storytelling when telling pro-environment stories. Environmental awareness is said to have the potential to be raised effectively through storytelling [22]. The storytelling approach embedded in the bio-based experiential learning program introduces the youth to the importance of urban' produce and agricultural products available in the city and close to where they live. This paper will use the terms “students” and “children” inter-changeably.

 

 

 

 

We have added about circular economy (2.1, line 163)

2.1 Circular Economy Education

The phrase "circular economy" (CE) was coined a few years ago to describe a system that is built on people observing and learning from nature, also known as "biomimicry." Outside of scientific circles, the term was coined to characterize "nature-inspired innovation," which is described as "a method of the invention that seeks long-term solutions to human problems by replicating nature's time-tested patterns and techniques." [23]. The word is derived from the four stages of a typical product life cycle, starting from raw material extraction and processing to manufacture, consumption, and disposal [24].

It is critical to instill the importance of harmonizing our lives with the environment through sustainability education to comprehend these cycles. We recognize that children's comprehension must be taught and practiced early. As a result, we believe that adding Circular Economy ideas into primary school will help raise awareness about the necessity of engaging in sustainable activities from an early age. One of the prominent research projects mentioned the student/scientist partnership (SSP) paradigm [25], in which students are active participants in a scientific research collaboration combining students, teachers, and researchers, has been used in several studies to try to execute the sustainability education program. We do believe that this approach is also suitable to be adopted into our project and even for higher education projects [26].

The Circular Economy is an alternative consumption and production paradigm to the linear economy, which has dominated society for decades and is unsustainable. The ability to comprehend and apply the Circular Economy concepts must also be included in the curriculum to be ingrained in design practice [27]. Although not all students will embrace design for sustainable development, teaching them about the Circular Economy may indirectly enable them to deal with sustainability issues. Individuals who have a systemic vision, which may be implanted in them at an early age, have a real opportunity of making short-term gains by applying actual principles. As students build a conscious culture, it may result in substantial changes in schools and their surroundings in the medium and long term. It is critical to present real-world examples that may be used in school settings so that children can learn how they can contribute to sustainability from an early age. Therefore, the solutions must be within reach of immediate possibilities to promote change behaviors in the near future. It necessitates novel teaching techniques to prepare students for their future roles in their communities.

 

Literature Review

Because the paper is for the CFP Corporate Social Responsibility and Communication during COVID-19 Pandemic I suggest that the authors include literature review in this area (many papers have been written analyzing pros/cons about the communication on CSR linking this with communication and sustainability.

I suggest that the authors include at least a paragraph explaining the contribution of this paper from a sustainable perspective, i.e., the contribution on specific SDGs with this experience (SDG 4, etc.) when they mention the 17 SDGs.

Literature review, please explain if there are previous similar studies on Through bio-based learning storytelling.

Author response:

CSR and Covid have added (line 54):

The pandemic of Covid-19 poses significant difficulties to the world and society. Numerous businesses have aided communities and local governments in handling the pandemic. Communication enables stakeholders to comprehend CSR objectives and fosters trust among the company's core constituents (Alizadeh, 2022; Colleoni et al., 2022). Communicating CSR programs is not just about the output of an activity; it is also about being involved with the "Active Participatory Concept," which actively participating in the pre- and post-program planning stages.

 

SDGs Author response: already added (line 69)

 

This study contributed to the achievement of multiple Sustainable Development Goals, including SDG2 (zero hunger), SDG4 (quality education), and SDG11 (sustainable cities and communities). Indeed, while existing planning instruments have the ability to speed SDG implementation, it remains unclear how historical experiences may be effectively integrated into and strengthened a sustainable local agenda for SDG implementation. This research enables community participation, which is becoming increasingly critical for development and is one of the most critical communication goals [11].

 

bio-based learning storytelling already added (line 250)

 

According to previous research, one might describe transformative learning as the process by which we shift the accepted frame of reference and develop beliefs that will lead to more right or motivated action [43, 44]. The establishment of a common understanding of the need to combine education for sustainability, traditional knowledge, and trans-formative learning can be conveyed in the form of storytelling learning. Previous literature emphasized that storytelling was employed by indigenous peoples to change traditional knowledge and as a meaning-making activity [45, 46]. The use of short stories can be told to youngsters to establish an initial awareness of measurement systems and is a means to make information clear and easily accessible. Science facts are made easier to recall by getting individuals to listen to and remember them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Data

Descriptive statistics were performed to analyze the quantitative data, using Microsoft Excel and Google Analytics. I suggest the authors provide more information about the quantitative method.

The qualitative data were gathered based on the semi-structured interviews with parents (transcribed verbatim in Microsoft Word), evaluated, and grouped into several common themes.

I suggest the authors include the information in different Annexes (verbatims, etc.).

Author response:

Already added:

 

Descriptive statistics: including maximum, minimum, and mean values, show how the overall parents’ perceptions about the Bio-Based Learning Impact, Storytelling Impact, and Communication Impact. Impact value is obtained by averaging the results of the questionnaire and transformed into a scale of 0 to 1.

Additional data (table) as attached

 

Discussion

 is the moment to take the literature with the main results to know the real contribution of this work. Please, add one paragraph explaining the contribution of this paper and implications for educators.

Children share videos and experiential learning activities with their peers and on social media. Some children are nano-influencers because they have a large number of followers. Nano-influencers have a social media following of 1,000 to 10,000 people [55].

It should be useful to provide information about the followers/likes of the shared videos explaining in which specific social media they shared them.

 

Author response:

The implications for theory, practice and policymakers already adjust

The research contributes to the development of sustainability education for children and supports the school program of bio-based learning with a new approach. The result also serves to remind governments or policymakers of the role of children in sustainability action by the campaign of urban farming. It has an implication in the long term that can help the community to be more independent in food security and other sustainability initiatives.

 

We have added social media of Instagram & YouTube, however this research did not evaluate about the followers/likes of the shared videos, it is suggested for future research.

 

Conclusions

I suggest the authors add future research directions inviting other researchers to read they work and to continue with this line of work.

Author response:

We have added in conclusion (line 610):

The author invite other researchers for future research directions to evaluate and measure the impact of student campaigns by social media content analysis and focus on  the followers / subscribers likes the shared videos of children's posts.

The authors would like to thank the reviewers for their careful reading of this article and the helpful suggestions they have made to improve it.

 

Thank you

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

Dear authors,

Additions have been made to the requests.

Yours sincerely