Page 114 - Cultural Studies of Science Education

7 Engaging the Environment 91

what the students might glean out of the process. As I walked around in the breakout
sessions and listened to students during my first Youth Summit, I noticed a didactic
transmission of knowledge from “the expert” to the students about what they should
follow up and do. A few students questioned these motives. However, at the follow-up
planning meeting that was held 3 months later, I found out that the selection of the
experts was based more on political clout than on their ability to communicate with
students. I asked what the teachers and students were supposed to do as a result of
coming to the program and if there were any evaluations or assessments. I was told
that the teachers were supposed to help the students work on an environmental
project and then share the project with other students at the next Youth Summit.
And yet, very few teachers actually did what was expected. My observations of the
Youth Summit confirmed it. The next Youth Summit was a repeat of the first.
Despite that, the third Youth Summit involved a volunteer student steering committee
that met monthly to plan the event with help from the education coordinator of a
Louisville Metropolitan Government organization called “Brightside.” The 12 stu-
dents, ages 12–17, decided to plan an art and environment Youth Summit to be held
on Earth Day. They had some great ideas but difficulty articulating what they
wanted or needed from the adults. The adult collaborators did not follow through
with a number of plans including getting the word out. The Youth Summit was
attended by only about 20 students, but they did have a good time making art out
of recyclables.
Prior to the subsequent Youth Summit, I was introduced to two programs: the
Kentucky Green and Healthy Schools (KGHS) and the national Earth Force CAPS
(Community Action and Problem Solving) initiatives. We received funding to use
these initiatives in the Youth Summit. Both these programs offered frameworks that
the teachers readily understood in practice. I was able to attend and send eight
teachers to a 2-day Earth Force training where they experienced the “steps to
action” in what I would consider an abstract, generic way. However, because of the
opportunity for interaction with the other teachers from around the state, and some
encouragement from the Earth Force staff, each “step” was critiqued, contextual-
ized, and revised by teachers. As a science educator who understands the impor-
tance of discussing what a model is and its limitations, I appreciated this component
of the training. Both the CAPS and KGHS programs are student-centered and
designed to encourage community-based problem solving and the development of
decision-making skills. The teachers felt it offered an opportunity to reevaluate
their thinking about implementing student-centered, community-action projects.
One teacher noted that she was particularly informed by “step six,” which involves
celebrating the learning that took place during the project regardless of the actual
progress made toward the original goal. She said that she had allowed herself to feel
like a failure when the problem was not solved or the project did not work out in
the way she intended. This feeling of failure transferred to her students in how they
saw the project and their ability to act. She later stated that, once she started to focus
on and celebrate the learning that took place, the students were able to take pride
that they contributed to a knowledge base. She decided that it was important to
document their work in a way that students would learn from previous groups and