Engaging learners around climate change impacts in their communities - Strategies learned from in-class, after-school and informal learning education programs in rural communities of the Southwestern US. Journal Article uri icon

Overview

abstract

  • Communities across the Southwestern US are increasingly experiencing; major disruptions from a changing climate and natural hazards, such as; fire, flood, and drought. With this rise in hazardous events, there is a; pressing need to support local education and community resilience; efforts around climate change impacts. Teaching climate change can be; challenging for educators, given the scientific complexity and the need; to disentangle political dimensions surrounding the topic. Climate; change and environmental hazards are tangible when their impacts are; observed close to home. Grounding science learning in personal; experiences provides an entry point for learners to the topic and makes; learning relevant. In our experience, place-based learning has proven to; be a powerful and transformative experience that unites learners through; a shared place. Here we present results from three place-based; educational programs that serve rural and tribal communities in the; Southwestern US and highlight the common findings across these programs; around changes in student beliefs and levels of transformation: 1) an; after-school program in which students develop a short film about ways; in which climate change impacts their community. The storytelling; component of film making allows for culturally-sensitive engagement; 2); an in-class instructional unit focused on increasing community; resilience in which students learn about local natural hazards through; engaging with authentic data, scenario-based role play games and the; development of their own community resilience strategy that students; present to local community leaders; and 3) a library-based informal; science learning program in the southwestern US where communities engage; around water as a scarce and valuable resource and share their common; stories around the relevance of water. All three programs share a deep; grounding in shared place and culture and offer examples of effective; engagement with rural communities.

publication date

  • January 20, 2021

has restriction

  • hybrid

Date in CU Experts

  • June 15, 2021 5:14 AM

Full Author List

  • Gold A; Leckey E; Schloesser K; Littrell M; Okochi C; Boyd K; Montano P

author count

  • 7

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