Community Collaboration as a Culturally-Relevant Approach to Climate Change Programming and Mitigation

气候变化影响风险最高的社区可能也最不能应对和适应气候变化，这突出了包容性科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)战略的具体需要。这一试点和可行性项目建立在美国合作推广服务项目的成功基础上，该项目使志愿者能够在自己的社区开展外联活动。它的重点是气候变化，并寻求与STEM中经常代表性不足的群体的社区成员合作，共同设计一门非正式的STEM气候科学课程，称为气候管家，其中包括土著和拉丁裔社区以及农村妇女。该项目旨在加强社区意识，并在气候变化对话中优先考虑社区声音。气候管家及其社区获得的知识和技能将使他们能够更多地参与社区内外与气候适应和缓解有关的决策。在建立了概念验证之后，该项目寻求将这项工作扩展到更多的农村和城市社区、其他有色人种社区以及更多的社会经济弱势社区。基于将创新扩散作为志愿者向社会系统成员交流信息的一种手段的理论，该项目寻求利用包容性和适应性战略共同创建重新调整的气候管家课程。通过新的和现有的伙伴关系、焦点小组和会议进行的社区协作和参与将确定每个社区的需求。在项目设计阶段，社区成员可以分享他们对气候变化的担忧，以及应该解决的独特特征和文化视角。推广和教育之间的合作利用资源，这些资源对于制定强有力的执行和评价进程非常重要。该项目预计将对地方和国家方案产生重大影响，这些方案正寻求将气候变化主题纳入其规划和/或扩大其对代表性不足社区的影响。本项目检验的假设描述了基于包容的方法可能如何影响STEM主题的能力及其对社区的影响，特别是采取行动的意愿。假设1：通过互动和同行学习方法，提高气候问题的干能力。假设2：社区参与共同创造关于气候变化的知识，通过将他们的价值观和目标整合到气候变化教育计划中，增加人们参与气候变化适应和缓解战略的动机。这一试点和可行性项目由推进非正式STEM学习(AISL)计划资助，旨在：(A)促进对非正式环境中STEM学习的设计和开发的新方法和基于证据的理解；(B)为扩大获得和参与STEM学习经验提供多种途径；(C)促进对非正式环境中STEM学习的创新研究和评估；以及(D)让所有年龄段的公众在非正式环境中学习STEM。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Communities with the highest risk of climate change impacts may also be least able to respond and adapt to climate change, which highlights a specific need for inclusive Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) strategies. This Pilot and Feasibility project builds on the success of US Cooperative Extension Service programs that empower volunteers to conduct outreach in their own communities. It focuses on climate change, and seeks to co-design an informal STEM climate science curriculum, called Climate Stewards, in collaboration with community members from groups often underrepresented in STEM, including indigenous and Latinx communities, as well as rural women. The project is designed to strengthen community awareness as well as prioritize community voices in climate change conversations. The knowledge and skills obtained by Climate Stewards and their communities will allow for more involvement in decisions related to climate adaptation and mitigation in their communities and beyond. After establishing a proof of concept, the project seeks to expand this work to more rural and urban communities, other communities of color, and additional socioeconomically disadvantaged communities. Grounded in the theory of diffusion of innovation as a means for volunteers to communicate information to members of a social system, this project seeks co-create a retooled Climate Stewards curriculum using inclusive and adaptive strategies. Community collaboration and involvement through new and existing partnerships, focus groups, and meetings will determine what each community needs. During the program design phase, community members can share their concerns regarding climate change as well as the unique characteristics and cultural perspectives that should be addressed. The collaboration between extension and education leverage resources that are important for developing a robust implementation and evaluation process. This project is expected to have a significant influence on local and national programs that are looking to incorporate climate change topics into their programming and/or broaden their reach to underrepresented communities. The hypotheses tested in this project describe how inclusion-based approaches may influence competencies in STEM topics and their impact on communities, specifically willingness to take action. Hypothesis 1: STEM competencies in climate issues increase with interactive and peer learning approaches. Hypothesis 2: Community participation in the co-creation of knowledge about climate change, by integrating their values and objectives into the climate change education program, increases people's motivation to become engaged in climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies.This Pilot and Feasibility project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to (a) advance new approaches to and evidence-based understanding of the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments; (b) provide multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences; (c) advance innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments; and (d) engage the public of all ages in learning STEM in informal environments.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.