Poster #100 - Civic Environmental Science: Black and Latinx students study and mitigate environmental harms in their communities

• In Event: Poster Session 08

Abstract

We summarize middle-school (Latinx and African-American) students’ reflections on what they learned from participating in civic environmental science projects with a local eco-justice community-based organization (CBO). Four classes in two schools serving students from low-income backgrounds partnered in weekly meetings with two African-American women from Green Future (GF). Together they identified an environmental issue impacting their community, collected data, took actions to mitigate the problem, and communicated their findings and actions to others (other classes, community groups, a regional forum of schools engaging in environmental projects). Classes worked either on: a. air quality (measuring particulate matter (PM) from a local incinerator; studying connection of PM to human health; and warning residents of bad air quality days) or b. water quality (flooding, water pollution, and the city’s combined sewer overflow system; history of pollution of local river; designed a rain garden to mitigate flooding on their school campus). After completing projects, students wrote reflections with half responding to the prompt: “What are some things you learned from doing this project?” and half: “Discuss three ways that you have used science or math in your project”. Coding of students’ reflections was an iterative process: 1. identifying emergent themes; 2. Developing codebook refined through discussion of inter-coder disagreements; 3. Achieving a Cohen’s kappa of .87 in final coding.
Results: Regardless of prompt, students’ responses typically included references to their application of science or math in projects (collecting data; measuring particulate matter in air; collecting bug species as bioindicators of water quality). In addition to using scientific terms, many explained the scientific basis for why their actions to mitigate environmental problems would work (Rain gardens help prevent flooding, water has somewhere to go instead of just staying on impervious surfaces and causing the risks of street flooding. Rain gardens require plants with long roots. They help reduce wastage of water cause instead of the water not going anywhere it can go in the rain garden for the plants).
Regardless of prompt, students added other things they learned: Increased awareness of pollution and its impact on the community’s health was common. While some held people in general accountable, others had a more political analysis, referencing major corporate polluters (incinerator, local oil refinery). A wide range of strategies were invoked as ways to remedy environmental problems from communicating the health hazards of pollution to vulnerable people to reaching out to local policy makers with a few adding that people shouldn’t be scared to contact people that have power. A few discussed how working with Black women from a CBO had changed either their concepts of “scientists” or their understanding of the strategies CBOs can use to mobilize and achieve change. Finally, some discussed what they learned about themselves in projects - through claiming their voice, using data to support their opinions, and assuming leadership. Discussion will draw from representative responses and point to the importance of place-based civic science to prepare younger generations for 21st century environmental challenges.

Authors

• Erin Gallay, University of Michigan
  Presenting Author

• Constance A Flanagan, University of Wisconsin-Madison