Youth Engaging in the Science of Resilience: Sensing the Environment and Envisioning Solutions

这一发展创新项目支持不同种族和民族的年轻人在非正式环境中学习气候适应能力，包括社区中心、课后项目和博物馆。该项目旨在：(1)培养社区组织实施关于气候适应能力的青年方案的能力；(2)增加与气候适应能力有关的青年知识、技能和自我效能(也称为气候适应能力的环境健康素养)；以及(3)探讨合作研究型大学和社区组织如何让不同的青年参与STEM的非正式学习。项目合作伙伴包括北卡罗来纳大学环境研究所、华盛顿大学-暴露、疾病、基因组和环境跨学科中心、北卡罗来纳自然科学博物馆、北卡罗来纳州Juntos和杜瓦米什河社区联盟(DRCC)。Juntos NC和DRCC积极让拉美裔和土著青年参与其方案拟订工作，并寻求实施注重复原力的方案，以支持青年科学学习和领导力发展。非正式教育工作者和参与其中的青年将共同制定与当地相关的解决方案，以应对他们所在社区的气候影响。青年将与大学气候科学家和教育工作者互动，收集和分析数据，并将参与社区中以复原力为重点的对话、规划和行动。年轻人将通过家庭活动和青少年峰会与家人和同龄人分享他们所学到的东西。该项目将吸引社区组织中的数十名教育工作者和至少250名青年，他们将与家人和社区分享他们所学到的东西，通过交流和当地行动项目接触到数百人。混合方法评估将深入了解参与评估的青年在以下方面的程度：(A)培养适应气候变化的环境健康素养；(B)采取行动解决其家乡社区的适应能力问题。该团队将评估这些结果如何随地点的不同而变化，以及任何变化对项目复制潜力的影响。由外部评估员领导的参与性评价将提供对赋权成果的洞察。调查结果将在地方和国家会议上向专业受众传播；该项目的课程材料将通过项目网站传播。该项目由推进非正式STEM学习计划(AISL)资助，该计划旨在推动对非正式环境中STEM学习的设计和发展的循证理解的新方法。这些方法包括提供多种途径，扩大获得和参与STEM学习经验的途径，在非正式环境中推进对STEM学习的创新研究和评估，以及加深参与者对更深层次学习的理解。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。

This Innovations in Development project supports racially and ethnically diverse youth in learning about climate resilience in informal settings, including community centers, afterschool programs, and museums. The project aims to: (1) build the capacity of community organizations to implement youth programming on climate resilience; (2) increase youth knowledge, skills, and self-efficacy associated with climate resilience (also referred to as environmental health literacy for climate resilience); and (3) explore how collaborating research universities and community organizations engage diverse youth in informal STEM learning. Project partners include the UNC Institute for the Environment, the University of Washington-Interdisciplinary Center for Exposures, Diseases, Genomics and Environment, the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, Juntos NC, and the Duwamish River Community Coalition (DRCC). Juntos NC and DRCC actively engage Latino and Indigenous youth in their programming and seek to implement resilience-focused programming that supports youth science learning and leadership development. Together, informal educators and participating youth will develop locally relevant solutions to climate impacts in their communities. Youth will interact with university-based climate scientists and educators to collect and analyze data and will participate in resilience-focused dialogue, planning, and actions in their communities. Youth will share what they learn with their families and peers through family events and teen summits. The project will engage dozens of educators in community organizations and at least 250 youth, who will share what they learn with their families and communities, reaching hundreds more people through communications and local action projects. Mixed-methods assessment will provide insight into the extent participating youth (a) develop environmental health literacy for climate resilience, and (b) take action to address resilience in their home communities. The team will assess how these outcomes vary by location, and the implications of any variation on potential for project replication. A participatory evaluation, led by an external evaluator, will provide insight into empowerment outcomes. Findings will be disseminated to professional audiences at local and national conferences; and curricular materials from this project will be disseminated through the project website. This project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to advance new approaches to an evidence-based understanding of the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments. These approaches include providing multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences, advancing innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments, and developing understandings of deeper learning by participants.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.