Program Design Principles to Support Teen-Adult Community Conservation Efforts

Abstract

Researchers and practitioners have identified numerous outcomes of place-based environmental action (PBEA) programs at both individual and community levels (e.g., promoting positive youth development, fostering science identity, building social capital, and contributing to environmental quality improvement). In many cases, the primary audience of PBEA programs are youth, with less attention given to lifelong learners or intergenerational (e.g., youth and adult) partnerships. However, there is a need for PBEA programs for lifelong learners as local conservation decisions in the United States are often carried out by volunteer boards and commissions, which often have little formal conservation training. Intergenerational PBEA programs can provide an opportunity to bring together, in the case of this study, the unique skills and knowledge of teens (e.g., tech-savvy) and adults (e.g., knowledgeable of local community issues) that can lead to innovative ways of addressing real world endeavors that are relevant to participants and their communities.This study describes a program model that offers structured learning opportunities that support intergenerational partnerships (teens and adults) as they contribute to community conservation efforts. We used a design-based research approach to develop and refine program design principles and communication pillars for the purpose of supporting successful teen-adult conservation projects, positive participant experiences, and science identity authoring. The principles and pillars drew on identity, cultural learning pathways, and community conservation research literature as well as previously collected participant interview data from our intergenerational PBEA program. We outline four design principles and four communication pillars that are critical to facilitate collaborative teen-adult environmental action efforts and serve dual functions of providing program guidance and participant support. The aim of these principles and pillars are to establish collaborative team partnership norms that resist traditional hierarchical teen-adult relationships. Further, the principles and pillars consider how partners can draw on their interests, experiences, and knowledge of community, and utilize these assets along with conservation science disciplinary practices to accomplish meaningful science pursuits; thus facilitating how they identify themselves as contributing to science endeavors. Exemplar data and literature that support each principle and pillar are provided, and future extensions of these principles are discussed.

E-Corps’ Implementation of Environmental Sustainability-Focused Service-Learning: Conditions Supporting the Establishment of an Epistemic Community

“…Smaller universities with fewer faculty and funding may struggle in committing two instructors to classes. This could be addressed through adjustments in class sizes, engagements with fewer communities, or through condensing activities to a shorter duration than a semester, such as done through something like a two-day conservation workshop described in Cisneros et al (2021) and Chadwick et al (2018). Also, colleges with fewer numbers of experienced STEM faculty could benefit by bridging more diverse fields.…”

Eco-digital storytelling: Engaging historically excluded populations in environmental action through mentoring, geospatial technology, and digital media storytelling

“…This participatory and action-oriented approach enables learners to reflect upon and address social aspects of environmental problems that are relevant and meaningful to them (Schusler and Krasny, 2010). Examples of environmental action include developing urban gardens in vacant lots to provide fresh produce to the community, controlling erosion along stream banks in response to high sedimentation levels, and monitoring black bear activity patterns in public areas to educate the community about wildlifehuman interactions (Cisneros et al, 2021).…”

“…A primary focus is on inclusivity, identity authoring, and career interest through expansive forms of participation by those historically excluded in E-STEAM. Building on the success of our previous related work, we draw on strategies for connecting projects to the interests and identities of teens and community partners (Cisneros et al, 2021). The focus on geospatial technology gives participants access to local spatial and temporal data that support place-based community exploration, environmental action work, and community decision-making.…”

“…The EDS approach begins as school pods attend two immersive workshop field trips in late fall at the University of Connecticut's main campus where they (1) discover how geospatial technology can be used to investigate local environmental issues (Chadwick et al, 2018), and (2) explore and engage in digital storytelling. Considerable time during the workshops is also dedicated to guiding school pods through brainstorming and designing local environmental action projects tailored to their interests and their community's needs using project support resources (e.g., project planning templates, communication best-practices, references to past student projects; Cisneros et al, 2021).…”

Civic science: Addressing racial inequalities in environmental and science, technology, engineering, and math education

“…Typically, adults who volunteer with such projects are committed to nurturing environmental awareness, and they resist age‐related hierarchies by working alongside youth as fellow community scientists (Schusler et al, 2017). Such intergenerational conservation partnerships are more likely to succeed if they respond to real‐world challenges, use open communication, proactively seek youth's input, respond to both adults' and youth's interests, and share their work with the public (Cisneros et al, 2021).…”