Poster #60 - Fostering Environmental Activism Through Community-Based Research Investigations

• In Event: 21.063 - MTCC Poster Session Three
  In Poster Session: 21.063-5 - Interdisciplinary Environmental Thought in Action: Schooling and Education

Abstract

The proposed paper describes how a university-based outreach program fosters a sense of environmental activism for high school youth. Through guided
community-based research investigations, youth generate information useful in calling attention to and/or increasing awareness of key environmental health issues that impact their own lives as well as those also residing in their communities. While we found no difference in the mean scores on the activism scales between pre and post administrations across all program participants, study findings suggest that students who had stronger science career affinities or strong associations with being a “science person” showed stronger increases in activism over the course of program participation. This paper further examines what programmatic elements can contribute to shifts in activism.

Authors

• Valeria Romero, University of California - Berkeley

• Kevin Cuff, Lawrence Hall of Science, University of California - Berkeley

• Matthew A. Cannady, University of California - Berkeley

• Rosalinda Nava, University of California - Berkeley

• Rena Dorph, University of California - Berkeley