From Virtual Learning to Youth Action: Lessons learned from the Youth Engaging in the Science of Resilience (YES-Resilience) Teen Climate Ambassadors Program

Abstract:

Understanding the current and future impacts of climate hazards is central to creating resilient communities. Having grown up in a world where the impacts of a changing climate are seen and felt daily, today’s youth are particularly in tune with these hazards but may not feel equipped to address them. Informal STEM education programs provide youth opportunities to build the social-emotional & interdisciplinary skills necessary for addressing climate change. Further, while research has shown that informal STEM learning experiences can play an essential role in increasing youth interest in and engagement with STEM, the rise of virtual learning opportunities in response to COVD-19 represents a new era for informal education, particularly when it comes to conducting programming with the intention of building a community of youth motivated to take action. The Youth Engaging in the Science of Resilience in Urban and Rural NC (YES-Resilience) Teen Climate Ambassadors (TCA) Program is a year-long informal STEM education program led by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Institute for the Environment and the North Carolina (NC) Museum of Natural Sciences. With museum locations in Raleigh and Whiteville, NC, this program engages high school aged youth from groups underrepresented in STEM, including females, minorities, and youth from rural communities. In this session, we will describe the unique challenges and opportunities associated with engaging 37 youth from rural and urban settings in a virtual learning format to advance resilience education and support youth-led community action projects. Virtual interactive sessions occur as monthly ½ day academies and 90-minute webinars and are supplemented with offline opportunities to enable youth to investigate impacts of climate change in their communities, examine solutions and design and implement community action projects. Building on prior experience helping youth develop community action projects, program staff will describe best practices for supporting participants as they explore the intersection of personal interests and community need and plug into existing initiatives. Finally, we will highlight the successes and shortcomings of supporting youth virtually as they select a climate impact to investigate, plan and implement an action project.