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Objectives
In order to address the inter-related issues of racial and climate justice, this study examines how participation in a climate justice action research (CJAR) program, consisting of a summer institute and inquiry cycle (school year), supported teachers in developing the knowledge, research practices, and critical pedagogies needed to design/implement CJAR units in their classrooms around local issues of extreme/urban heat. The CJAR approach supports youth in collecting science, mapping, and community experience data and creating arts-based science stories to generate awareness and advocate for change. Research questions include:
1. How did engaging in history, race, place, and climate justice shape teachers’ practice and agency as designers of CJAR units?
2. What challenges and opportunities do teachers experience when implementing their units and how did they adapt?
3. How did designing and implementing CJAR units in their classrooms shape teachers’ identities and goals as equity advocates and the possibilities they imagined moving forward?
Framework
The CJAR approach to science teaching and learning draws from community-based science (e.g., Birmingham et al., 2017; Bouillion & Gomez, 2001), place-based science (e.g., Bang et al., 2017), youth participatory action research (Cammarota & Fine), and arts-based activism to support teacher learning/development and learning/identity construction for youth of color in science (e.g., Calabrese Barton & Tan 2010; Rahm & Moore, 2016).
Methods
This study takes a critical, sociocultural approach to examine teacher learning/development. 10 teachers participated in the CJAR program from July through the school year. Participants were secondary science teachers in Central California schools.
Data Sources
This study utilized three data sources:
1. Surveys were distributed before and after the summer institute, comprised of Likert scale items and open-ended questions. Surveys were analyzed using descriptive statistics and coding for themes.
2. Interviews were semi-structured, conducted one-on-one with the lead author, and audio recorded. They took place after the summer institute and at the end of the school year. Interviews were coded inductively and categories were created through an iterative process (Miles & Huberman, 1994).
3. Artifacts were collected from teachers during the summer institute (e.g., reflections) and inquiry cycle (e.g., units).
Results
Findings show that engaging in history, race, place, and climate justice shaped teachers’ identities as equity advocates and change agents. Teachers developed confidence in implementing CJAR units with their students and supporting the creation of arts-based stories. Teachers encountered barriers during implementation including pushback from science leadership on engaging students in racial residential segregation and challenges such as students from divided socioeconomic backgrounds in their classrooms. However, teachers were adaptative and expressed pride, empowerment, and agency to engage students in race and history in science. Teachers found maps of temperature, income, and other evidence to be grounding artifacts that supported critical care and analysis.
Significance
In order to derive sustainable solutions to pressing climate justice issues, transdisciplinary engagement. This project addresses this by engaging teachers in the complex intersections of history, race, place, and climate justice and supporting them as designers of CJAR units.