What experiences in your background led you to want to spend time “doing” science or being outdoors and wanting to protect the natural world? Who helped inspire you?
This fall I took a class on public engagement in science with Dr. Bruce Lewenstein at Cornell. My interests are in studying ways to build a more diverse audience for youth and family science/outdoor activities. Literature on inclusive science communication points to engaging audiences before creating experiences, addressing language barriers, ensuring that the intended diverse audience is not sought as a token, and transforming organizations to be inclusive (see references below). And theoretical frameworks about learning like the Cultural Learning Pathway Framework (Bricker et al., 2008, Bricker & Bell, 2014) note that learning happens in informal/at home spaces throughout life, which if acknowledged that not all learning is formal or even nonformal like youth organization work, could be a key for designing experiences meaningful for more audiences. While I was working on the literature review for the topic, John Bowe, our colleague from CCE Warren County, suggested that I read Black & Brown Faces in America’s Wild Places. The book put many of the ideas and theories into perspective.
Black & Brown Faces in America’s Wild Places was written by professional photographer, Dudley Edmondson to help people of color to see other people of color that have chosen a path to explore, enjoy, protect, and work in the outdoors. The book consists of 20 interviews, framed similarly – including questions about memorable moments in childhood experiences related to nature, mentors and heroes, and minorities in wild places. While the interviews were not completed or published as research, they provided an opportunity to better consider how life experiences and the cultural fabric of one’s upbringing can shape interests, decisions, and in some cases, career choices.
The interviews revealed a strong connection between situated learning experiences, interest preferences, influential people, and places. Notably all interviewees talked about informal experiences in their upbringing being significant determinants in what they chose to study or do. Of interest, camping with family or friends was the most frequently noted activity that influenced an interest in the outdoors. Reading books and time with family were the next most frequent activities. Help on the family farm was another frequent activity – which often referred to visiting grandparents, or other family – so a novel but not regular farm experience. Outdoor play, travel, hunting/fishing, and hiking were the next most mentioned experiences. Travel was noted by several interviewees – including family military experiences, or vacations or day trips. While two interviewees talked about influential teachers, over half did not mention their formal K-12 education related to influencing their interests in nature and the outdoors. In terms of non-formal experiences, three interviewees talked about scouting, and four mentioned camps as having an influence.
In terms of influencers – fathers, mothers, and grandparents were most often cited as being heroes or mentors, with famous people including historic figures, writers and actors also playing a significant role in encouraging outdoor exploration. Historic figures provided role models and heroes to role play to some degree.
The interviews also provided some insights into how the interviewees feel about being people of color in careers and interests that are centered in the outdoors. Most mentioned wanting to see more black and brown faces, like their own, in national parks, on committees, and engaged with environmental work. This reflection is consistent with inclusive science communication research pointing to humans wanting to see others that look like themselves as role models and participants in order to be more comfortable or feel motivated to try. Interviewees indicated that they assume that the factors that keep African American audiences from being more present in outdoor adventures include fear of racism while alone in the wild, lack of previous experiences, and lack of resources like transportation. Several of the interviewees are working on mentoring and leadership programs for black and brown youth to help provide resources, experiences, and connections with other more experienced adventurers. Woven into the reflections about who participates, the majority of the interviewees talked about the restorative power of nature . Interviewees shared how time in nature made them feel whole and many suggested that others could benefit from outdoor experiences.
Reflecting on the book and readings left me thinking a lot about what experiences that we, in Extension, create for our youth and families. In what ways are we allowing for play, creativity, and experiences that value the people that we are serving? When I think about what inspired me as a young person – it also happened at home, very informally – fishing with a neighbor, hiking a family friend’s rural land, building lean-tos and forts…practicing behaviors for things that were yet to come. When I think about programs I’ve designed…they have been more formal than informal and perhaps for my goals and not my audience’s needs. The reflections on the book and the literature review were certainly eye-opening about my own practices and experiences.
If you are interested in seeing the paper and lit review about this topics, let me know – I’m happy to share and would love to discuss. My program design work intended to be inclusive continues to be a work in progress.
Selected References:
Banks, J. A., Au, K. H., Ball, A. F., Bell, P., Gordon, E. W., Gutiérrez, K. D., Heath, S. B., Lee, C. D., Lee, Y., Mahiri, J., Nasir, N. S., Valdés, G., & Zhou, M. (2007) Learning In and out of school in diverse environments. 40. https://education.uw.edu/cme/LIFE
Bricker, L. A., & Bell, P. (2014a). “What comes to mind when you think of science? The perfumery!”: Documenting science-related cultural learning pathways across contexts and timescales. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 51(3), 260–285. https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.21134
Canfield, K., & Menezes, S. (2020). The State of Inclusive Science Communication: A Landscape Study. 78.
Dawson, E. (2014). Reframing social exclusion from science communication: Moving away from ‘barriers’ towards a more complex perspective. Journal of Science Communication, 13(02), C02. https://doi.org/10.22323/2.13020302