Welcome to Track 1 - Animated Learning - Santos
A transformative journey in Brazil
Danish student teachers travel to Santos, where they work together with Brazilian pupils, schoolteachers and film students with processes that involve research, discussion and reflection. The result is campaign-oriented communication products in the form of short animated films. Through the stay and the activities, the Danish participants have gained deep insight into the living conditions and everyday life of their Brazilian hosts. The work of communicating the SDGs will be reflected in the perspectives, attitudes, conditions and experiences that are playing out in the world’s fifth largest country, which is a current focal point in the global discussion on climate, biodiversity and sustainability.
As part of a new teaching course, Danish teacher students from Skive have collaborated with Brazilian teacher students to develop creative climate training.
South America is at the center of the world’s climate debate. With COP16 in Columbia this year and COP30 in Brazil in 2025, the continent is very much in focus when it comes to the world’s handling of the climate crisis. And here the young people play a big role.
Therefore, student teachers from Skive in Denmark and student teachers from Santos in Brazil have set out to investigate how creativity and animation can make Brazilian schoolchildren wiser about the climate.
This is done through the project Animated Learning, which is led by The Animation Workshop, VIA University College in collaboration with the teacher education in Skive and the Danish Cultural Institute in Brazil.
“It was an exciting experience both professionally and socially. Together with Brazilian teacher students, we worked on educating school children to be even wiser about climate change. And here animation is a super good tool. It’s a way for the students to put a picture on something that might otherwise be difficult to understand,” says Jonas Stensdal Klitte, who is a student teacher in Skive.
Interview
“It is important that we are presented with a different climate perspective than the European one about cardboard straws and farther on the litre.”
What does creative climate education look like through Danish and Brazilian eyes? And why is cross-globe collaboration important? Read the proposals from three Danish and three Brazilian student teachers below.
Alexander Scott-Fordsmand,
student teacher, Skive
Why is it important to work with climate change in schools?
“Not everyone knows what the climate crisis actually means for them as individuals. Hopefully, we can get more focus on this through education.”
How can the creative process lead to a deeper understanding and reflection?
“A creative process might help introduce an otherwise irrelevant topic into the students’ awareness, enabling them to recognize the issue in a different context.”
What have you gained from meeting the Danish/Brazilian students?
“I have been presented with a different climate perspective than the European one about cardboard straws and farther on the litre.”
Clara Alison Bang Dale,
student teacher, Skive
Why is it important to work with climate change in schools?
”It is important to work with climate change in schools because it is a global problem that will affect everyone, especially future generations. However, by learning about climate change and its causes, students can develop knowledge and skills to be informed and make informed decisions about their own lives and the future of the planet.”
How can the creative process lead to a deeper understanding and reflection?
”Creativity involves exploring new ideas and perspectives, which can help individuals expand their understanding of the world. It also often involves problem-solving and critical thinking, which can help people analyze information and form their own opinions.”
What have you gained from meeting the Danish/Brazilian students?
”I’ve learned that sometimes it’s okay to let go of the structure and just go with the flow. Sometimes it’s good to embrace spontaneity.”
Bianca de Oliveira Bertolucci,
student teacher, Santos
Why is it important to work with climate change in schools?
”Climate change is an important topic because it has an impact on the whole world. If we don’t start taking care of our nature now, we’re going to have big problems in the future, so we need to teach our children better ways to do it.”
How can the creative process lead to a deeper understanding and reflection?
”When we use our creativity to learn, we can find new ways that we would not otherwise be able to if we just passively is listening to the teacher. That way, it’s easier to understand various topics and work with solutions to different problems.”
What have you gained from meeting the Danish/Brazilian students?
”By working with the Danes, I was able to see how they teach and also what they do to take care of the planet, showing the school students different ways to do it. It was an amazing cultural experience where I learned a lot.”
Larissa Sales Silveira, student
teacher, Santos
Why is it important to work with climate change in schools?
“It’s important for us to make a new generation aware of the impacts that humans have on the environment and how we can minimize them.”
How can the creative process lead to a deeper understanding and reflection?
“By using creativity, we manage to capture the students’ attention, and by involving them in the creative process, they understand the topic being dealt with in practice.”
What have you gained from meeting the Danish/Brazilian students?
“In addition to getting to know a different culture, I also expanded my knowledge of how different parts of the world view climate change and which topics are most talked about. I learned that each part of the world has its own specific concerns about the environment. It was an enriching experience, both personally and professionally.”
Maria Clara Campell,
student teacher, Santos
Why is it important to work with climate change in schools?
”It is important because it is a matter that affects us all as a whole, and some places/people do not have this understanding, so schools are a good place to start this teaching.”
How can the creative process lead to a deeper understanding and reflection?
”In order for the kids to animate movies, they first need to think about what they are doing, and this process of brainstorming and storyboarding helps to get the knowledge to sink in, and while socializing their ideas and making the animation, they can reflect on the topics.”
What have you gained from meeting the Danish/Brazilian students?
”I gained a lot of knowledge, not only about Danish culture as a whole, but also about the school and education system in Denmark. I also had no prior knowledge of animation, so it was a whole new way of teaching that I learned, which I’m sure will be useful in my career as a teacher.”
Sutharsan Sureshkumar,
student teacher, Skive
Why is it important to work with climate change in schools?
”Because it is a current topic and a problem that is part of our everyday lives.”
How can the creative process lead to a deeper understanding and reflection?
”When we work creatively, we use our hands to work with a subject. We create something visual that will make it sink in better. By being physically present in the work process, as well as seeing it visually, the students can gain a better understanding.”
What have you gained from meeting the Danish/Brazilian students?
”It has been an eye-opener to meet such a hard-working people. They have great passions and gratitude – learnings that have left a big mark on me.”
12 animation films
These 12 animated films are the products of the Danish and Brazilian teacher students’ collaboration and work with children in Santos. The films are made in the animation technique ‘moving film’, where characters are cut out of cardboard, and they are subsequently moved a little at a time, frame by frame.
