GP-IN:Teaching for Resilience in a Museum Youth Program

Yale University, New Haven CT

Investigators

Abstract

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ This project aims to study and break down the barriers that prevent young people of color from taking on leadership roles in geological and environmental sciences. Students from historically marginalized communities are ready to take on these roles and have an important part to play in finding solutions to the urgent environmental challenges that our society faces, and in bringing new and diverse perspectives to science. Unfortunately, the university departments that will provide this training are often poorly-prepared to welcome them. Students of color face systematic challenges that are deeply embedded in the structure of their universities. The project will apply critical frameworks in educational research to better understand barriers faced by young men and women of color who pursue earth and environmental science majors. The PIs will develop programs for high school and undergraduate students that offer exposure to careers, opportunities for leadership, and training on strategies that will help them overcome the ever-present barriers that they will encounter as students in predominantly white geoscience departments. The project builds on the work of an existing, and very successful museum youth program at the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History (YPM). It will directly impact 40-50 high school students in New Haven, Connecticut, and numerous graduate student and faculty mentors. As students progress into their undergraduate environmental science programs, they will be better positioned to recognize and challenge the existing power dynamics within their university communities. This initiative will build upon an existing museum youth program, EVOLUTIONS, which serves 100 high school students each year at the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History (YPM). PIs Dr. Andrea Motto and Dr. Chris Norris will work with two cohorts of 20 EVOLUTIONS alumni along with staff from the Yale Peabody Museum, Dinosaur State Park, and the New Haven Climate Movement to create a network of support and resources for students during the formative years in which they select a college major. Using a critical pedagogy and Community Cultural Wealth framework, the PIs will construct a geoscience learning ecosystem for high school that will call out oppressive practices and encourage resilience and persistence in environmental science fields. Activities will include workshops, field trips, and intensive internships in geosciences with mentorship from BIPOC graduate students, and the research will use qualitative methods to investigate barriers to participation and tools for resilience. 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.