Hello! My name is Jiayi Guo (she/her), and I am a rising junior majoring in Design and Environmental Analysis with a prospective minor in Healthy Futures. This summer, I will be working as a Cornell Cooperative Extension Summer Intern with Professor Gary Evans, in collaboration with CCE Tompkins County and CCE Oneida County. I will be posting once a week with a description of my tasks for the week, my thoughts about the progress of the project, and my reflections.
About Me
I am passionate about design and research, specifically designing spaces that promote health and happiness for all, and researching how physical environments impact human well-being. I have been conducting research with Professor Evans since freshman year because I was intrigued by how Environmental Psychology findings can translate into evidence-based-design decisions. I am also involved in Cornell University Sustainable Design and Amber Dance Troupe.
About the Project
This internship is a translational research project on what young children understand about climate change and how they feel about it. We will engage in a combination of data analysis and interpretation as a team with our community partners who are early childhood educators with experience in environmental education. We will also rely on our community partners to direct our analyses along lines of inquiry they are interested in.
We will then develop and tryout curriculum for 5-7 year olds. We plan on a highly iterative process from research to practice, from practice to research, piloting and evaluation of curriculum, and then revisions based on work with this age group in camp settings at both locations. It is a long process, but I am excited to see what we can accomplish this summer.
This week, I reached out to community partners to discuss the focus of this summer and their particular interests within environmental education. Please follow along for more posts in the coming weeks!