The PhotoVoice method in Science, Social, and Environmental Education

Abstract

PhotoVoice, which enables students to take an active role, has started to be used in schools by environmental, social, and science educators. In this context, this study was conducted to analyze the use of the PhotoVoice method in science, social, and environmental education studies. To collect data, Web of Science (WoS) was selected as the source. As a database, it is one of the most used resources by all researchers, including many disciplines. It was tried to reach all the resources related to PhotoVoice. Only “#PhotoVoice” was used as a keyword. But English was selected as the language. As a result, 2690 documents were reached. All data was then downloaded as Tab Delimited File and saved in a format of .txt file. Secondly, the process of selecting documents related to education was followed. For this, the txt files are transferred into an Excel file and saved. Afterward, documents related to education (science, social science and environmental) were selected (N=88). Research finding showed that although PhotoVoice is widely used in the fields of environmental education (f=38, 43.2%) and social sciences (f=39, 44.3%), it has been used at a very low rate in science (f=11, 12.5%). However, the majority of the documents were published as articles (f=81, 92%). Review studies (f=7, 8%) were published in the fields of environmental education and social sciences. As of 2008, studies in the field of education have started to be published. Between 2008 and 2010, PhotoVoice studies in environmental education were published. The number of publications has increased in recent years, especially after 2017. The highest number of publications was reached in 2020 (f=23, 26.14%) and 2021 (f=19, 21.59), whereas the decrease was determined in 2022 (f=11, 12.5%). The distribution of publications by years and fields tends to increase towards environmental education and social sciences. Furthermore, PhotoVoice studies widely used in environmental education are in sustainability (28.21%), climate change (15.38%), environmental education (10.26%), and ecosystem services (7.69%), respectively.