TY - JOUR
T1 - Co-created environmental health science
T2 - Identifying community questions and co-generating knowledge to support science learning
AU - Ramírez-Andreotta, Mónica D.
AU - Buxner, Sanlyn
AU - Sandhaus, Shana
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was funded by the National Science Foundation's Division of Research on Learning—Advancing Informal STEM Learning Program, grant number 1612554.
Funding Information:
We are incredibly grateful and would like to thank all the Project Harvest CS for their time and the co-generation of data. We would like to thank all the promotoras: Armida Boneo, Luz Imelda Cortez, Margaret Dewey, Palmira Henriquez, Miriam Jones, Lisa Ochoa, Aviva O'Neil, and Theresa Foley for their facilitation in participant recruitment, training, and ongoing commitment to the project and community. Special thank you to Leona Davis, Dorsey Kaufmann, Desiree Miller, Nikki Lippert, Annabelle Guptill, and Tasmin Alshuli for their efforts. We thank the Sonora Environmental Research Institute, Inc. for their community outreach and promotora support. We would like to thank and acknowledge Maria Del Rocío Estrella Sanchez for providing the Spanish translation of all Project Harvest materials and data sharing products. Finally, thank you to our anonymous reviewers and journal editors.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 National Association for Research in Science Teaching.
PY - 2023/10
Y1 - 2023/10
N2 - Social, political, and cultural complexities observed in environmental justice (EJ) communities require new forms of investigation, science teaching, and communication. Defined broadly, participatory approaches can challenge and change inequity and mistrust in science. Here, we describe Project Harvest and the partnership building and co-generation of knowledge alongside four EJ communities in Arizona. From 2017 to 2021, Project Harvest centered learning around these communities and the participant experience drove the data sharing practice. The framework of sense-making is used to analyze how community scientists (CS) are learning within the context of environmental pollution and (in)justice. The environmental health literacy (EHL) framework is applied to document the acquisition of skills that enable protective decision-making and the capacity of CS to move along the EHL continuum. Using data from surveys, focus groups, and semi-structured interviews, we are asking how did: (1) Personal connections and local relevancy fuel sense-making? (2) Data sharing make pollution visible and connect to historical knowledge to either reinforce or modify their existing mental map around pollution? and (3) The co-creation process build data literacy and a relationship science? Results indicate that due to the program framing, CS personally connected with, and made sense of their data based on use and experience. CS synthesized and connected their pollution history and lived experiences with their data and evaluated contaminant transport. CS saw themselves as part of the process, are taking what they learned and the evidence they helped produce to adopt protective environmental health measures and are applying these skills to new contexts. Here, co-created science nurtured a new/renewed relationship with science. This science culture rooted in co-creation, fosters action, trust, and supports ongoing science engagement. The science learning that stems from co-created efforts can set the pace for social transformation and provide the foundation for structural change.
AB - Social, political, and cultural complexities observed in environmental justice (EJ) communities require new forms of investigation, science teaching, and communication. Defined broadly, participatory approaches can challenge and change inequity and mistrust in science. Here, we describe Project Harvest and the partnership building and co-generation of knowledge alongside four EJ communities in Arizona. From 2017 to 2021, Project Harvest centered learning around these communities and the participant experience drove the data sharing practice. The framework of sense-making is used to analyze how community scientists (CS) are learning within the context of environmental pollution and (in)justice. The environmental health literacy (EHL) framework is applied to document the acquisition of skills that enable protective decision-making and the capacity of CS to move along the EHL continuum. Using data from surveys, focus groups, and semi-structured interviews, we are asking how did: (1) Personal connections and local relevancy fuel sense-making? (2) Data sharing make pollution visible and connect to historical knowledge to either reinforce or modify their existing mental map around pollution? and (3) The co-creation process build data literacy and a relationship science? Results indicate that due to the program framing, CS personally connected with, and made sense of their data based on use and experience. CS synthesized and connected their pollution history and lived experiences with their data and evaluated contaminant transport. CS saw themselves as part of the process, are taking what they learned and the evidence they helped produce to adopt protective environmental health measures and are applying these skills to new contexts. Here, co-created science nurtured a new/renewed relationship with science. This science culture rooted in co-creation, fosters action, trust, and supports ongoing science engagement. The science learning that stems from co-created efforts can set the pace for social transformation and provide the foundation for structural change.
KW - citizen science
KW - community science
KW - community-driven science
KW - environmental health
KW - environmental health literacy
KW - environmental justice
KW - participatory research
KW - pollution science
KW - sense-making
KW - underrepresented populations
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U2 - 10.1002/tea.21882
DO - 10.1002/tea.21882
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85163207317
SN - 0022-4308
VL - 60
SP - 1657
EP - 1696
JO - Journal of Research in Science Teaching
JF - Journal of Research in Science Teaching
IS - 8
ER -