My Place in Puget Sound: Leveraging Ethnographic Methods in the Design of a Culturally Relevant, Place-Based Ocean Sciences Curriculum

• In Event: Spatial and Geographic Analysis in Environmental Education Research

Abstract

Objectives

It is well-documented that underprivileged youth of color are most affected by environmental health issues (MacLaren & Houston, 2004), making the need for environmental justice education especially pressing. In this project, we take a social justice perspective in leveraging ethnographic findings from a study of environmental justice education into the design of a high school curriculum called My Place in Puget Sound (Authors, 2009) to support identity-building in youth as people who can use scientific evidence to enact personally consequential, local environmental change. We report on high-level findings from the ethnography, the design of the curriculum, and preliminary attitude-change data from the curriculum.

Theoretical Framework(s)

We take the perspective that place is a complex interplay of physical and cultural factors that are perceived by us based on our experiences and identities (Lim & Barton, 2006; Casey, 1996; Rodman, 1992). We take identities to be dynamic constructions, “constantly made and remade through activity and relationships within any given context” (Calabrese Barton, 2003, p.41) and influenced by cultural backgrounds and lived experiences (Holland, et al, 1998). We look at how youth are positioned and position themselves as either disenfranchised and separated from environmental activity or connected and empowered to action.

Modes of Inquiry

The ethnography took place in an afterschool environmental justice education program at a community center and hand-written field notes were used as the main data source for analysis. The curriculum has been enacted over two years by four teachers in a large urban school district and has reached approximately 500 students, over 50% of whom are historically underrepresented. Field notes were collected every day of enactment in each classroom and attitudinal/content-based surveys were given to all consented students pre/post.

Results

In our ethnographic study, we found that youths’ sense of place can be in tension with activities and cultural narratives surrounding traditional environmental education. We translated findings into 5 design principles for the curriculum, including: (1) Eliciting and connecting to students’ sense of place, and (2) Critically analyze science and environmental messages to make complex, informed choices. Analyses from pre/post surveys indicate that students gained a better understanding of the connection between their actions and environmental health and they strongly demonstrated a sense of connection between the curriculum to practices in their lives. There was also a significant increase in students’ sense of responsibility to work for the health of the oceans and coastal areas.

Significance

Environmental education traditionally prescribes actions that students should take to improve the environment. However, little attention is paid to how these prescribed actions come from positions of privilege (Authors, 2010) or how, by describing how polluted environments are, we inadvertently disrespect the places with which youth have deep connections (O’Neill, et al, 2010). This work deeply situates environmental science learning in the places in which youth live, work, and play. In so doing, we contribute to understanding how to strongly leverage scientific learning and youths’ place-based practices in the interpretation of environmental messages.

Authors

• Carrie T. Tzou, University of Washington - Bothell

• Blakely K. Tsurusaki, University of Washington