Into today’s climate, children and youth are faced with constant uncertainties that relate to realities of environmental and social crises. In the case of one of these issues, climate change, studies have found that children and youth are often misinformed or not informed about actions, attitudes, and behaviors that contribute to “unsustainable patterns…that exceed the capacities of the Earth’s ecological systems” (Rousell, & Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles, 2020, p. 191) and that fail to foster healthy habits that encourage deep understanding and dedication for environmental sustainability. Children and youth need access to spaces that offer opportunities to critically explore and deeply understand the issues we all face, and teachers need support in developing strategies for making these spaces accessible and available.

While many teachers recognize the importance of teaching about these topics, many struggle with a challenge of understanding what it looks like to effectively support students in developing the understandings, skills, and habits necessary to nurture seeds of real change (Rousell, & Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles, 2020). Equally important is the work of teacher educators as they consider how to support pre-service teachers in learning how to meaningfully foster student learning around issues that are so universally critical (Favier, Van Gorp, Cyvin, & Cyvin, J. 2021).

This longitudinal, ethnographic case study focuses on the learning of a group of teachers (the Citizen Scientist Curriculum Team) who are engaged in the challenge of developing pedagogical practices that directly and deeply connect students to environmental issues that impact us all. The study offers one example of teachers who are seeking to untangle questions of teaching and learning in the context of a real issue (environmental sustainability) and the journey of the group as they have devised, implemented, reflected on, and then revised curriculum and pedagogical practices through in multiple iterations.

Members of the Citizen Scientist Curriculum Team work at a variety of schools in New York City. The curriculum they designed prioritizes hands-on, project-based learning that emphasized an inquiry into the health of local waterways. Students engage in cycles of place-based scientific fieldwork, data analysis, and synthesis. 

In addition to exploring these dilemmas in their own work, the group also created space for pre-service teachers to work alongside them as they engaged in this messy and imperfect work. This added complexity and also richness to the experience as members of the team learned from each other and pushed themselves to take pedagogical risks that were designed to enhance student connections to hands-on, field-based curriculum that was designed to explore environmental sustainability.

The research questions related to this study are:

1. What do teachers do together in a space where they are attempting to reimagine the boundaries of what teaching and learning look like, especially in the context of elevating the importance issues such as climate change with students?

2. As they reflect on multiple year-long iterations of creation, implementation, reflection, and revision as members of the Citizen Scientist Curriculum Team, how do teachers talk about their own evolution as professionals?

This study was developed and designed using principles of qualitative community-based research, including that (1) it is collaborative in nature; (2) employs a critical stance; (3) seeks to generate transformation (Johnson, 2016). In keeping with these tenets the author of this short film project acted as a full participant in the Citizen Scientist Curriculum Team with all members participating in different aspects of the research design. Data for this study were collected between 2017 and 2022. A mixture of interviews, artifacts, videos, and documents were collected and then later analyzed. Data analysis for this project were analyzed sequentially, thematically, and through examination of critical instances. These types of analysis were used to cyclically build layers of understanding as patterns emerged from the data.

A portion of the findings for this study will be presented at this conference in the form of a short film. The aim of the film is to explore the journey of the Citizen Scientist Curriculum Team, including their insight about how their experiences as members of the group evolved over time. This includes reflections on the development of a "space" where complex, multi-directional teacher learning happens. Members of the group describe the space as “this really amazing sandbox”, a place for “experimentation”, and as “a community”. While members of the group shared a passion for developing “hands-on” and “fun” ways for students to learn. Developing the curriculum also led to situations where members of the group were pushing back against the norms of their typical teaching context. One member of the group, a veteran teacher reflected on how new teachers often, "get schooled in how school is...and it really takes some of the joy of teaching." In focusing their efforts on building curriculum that would lead to students being deeply engaged in the study of environmental sustainability, the teachers also ended up creating a space where they were able to rediscover the joy. In the form of video presentation, that joy can be seen on the faces of students as they stand in the middle of the river, wearing waders and collecting data. The findings of this study encourage considerations around the development of collaboration of teaching coalitions for purposes of enhancing instruction for students.

Darity, K. & Pratt, S. (2023). “Giving them the opportunity to create”: Planning for Critical Media Literacy in a STEM+C context. heiEDUCATION Journal [Special Issue]. Favier, T., Van Gorp, B., Cyvin, J. B., & Cyvin, J. (2021). Learning to teach climate change: students in teacher training and their progression in pedagogical content knowledge. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 45(4), 594-620. Johnson, L. R. (2016). Community-based qualitative research: Approaches for education and the social sciences. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Rousell, D., & Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles, A. (2020). A systematic review of climate change education: Giving children and young people a ‘voice’and a ‘hand’in redressing climate change. Children's Geographies, 18(2), 191-208.