Sin Fronteras: Urban High School Neplanteros Making Sense of Ecological Borderlands

• In Event: AERA Research in Progress Roundtable Session Two
  In Invited Roundtable: Research-in-Progress RT039 (Thursday)

Abstract

This study explores how storytelling can serve as a decolonial tool for science learning among urban youth. Drawing on frameworks of epistemic heterogeneity, sensemaking, and borderland ecocultural identities, the research examines how students use narrative to connect lived experiences with scientific phenomena. Using qualitative and design-based methods within a six-week college-access program, data include student-created artifacts such as autobiographical poems and comics. Preliminary findings reveal that students reimagine ecological concepts through urban and marginalized perspectives while viewing non-urban ecosystems as distant and idealized. This work highlights the importance of embracing multiple ways of knowing in science education and decentering Western Modern Science to foster inclusive and culturally grounded learning.

Author

• Victor Baldemar Leos, University of Colorado - Boulder