Program on the Environment

In Environment Education (EE), there should be a focus on integrating community science (CS) to inspire young students to care about their environment and solve environmental problems. This study aimed to find the best methods for creating and implementing CS activities into an EE summer camp’s curriculum. I researched youth environmental education, community science, and ways of interacting with nature. My internship with the University of Washington Botanic Gardens Summer Camp (UWBGSC) focused on creating a CS-centered activity for their curriculum. After creating an activity, I piloted it 5 times with the Cedar Camp students ages 9 to 11, collected survey feedback from the naturalists, and incorporated this feedback into my activity plan. In my literature review, I found that moving past data collection as a result of community science projects would be beneficial. I found that it performed well with the young students, as they sometimes struggled with gathering technical data points and having discussions. In my internship, I found that the community science activities must be engaging to students in order to maintain their interest. My research highlighted that these activities should be adaptable to a variety of students including their varying ages, attention spans, learning development, and learning bases. The implications of capstone showed how to adapt an activity to be community science-based, while still being fun and engaging. This way of learning can get students more involved in their local community and can foster pro-environmental behaviors and stewardship.