Co-Design for Climate Justice: Youth expression through Science-rich Public Art

Broadening access to STEM for members of the public can be challenging, as many STEM-focused media channels and recreational venues primarily cater to those with a pre-existing interest in STEM. This is especially problematic when learning about climate change because it is the most disenfranchised members of society who will likely bear the heaviest burden of its effects. Public festivals, in particular cultural festivals and public art exhibits, are an under-explored venue for informal STEM learning, as they draw a diverse range of attendees from a local region who may or may not have experience with or interest in STEM. This project builds on prior work that developed a "Guerilla Science" model for expanding public engagement with STEM topics via "pop up" multi-sensory arts-based exhibits and events presented in public settings like festivals, and an accompanying communication training for scientists to help them translate their knowledge into these pop-up experiences. The current work will explore how local youth from non-dominant racial backgrounds can be integrated into an intergenerational co-design process with scientists and artists, bringing to the table their social positionality, local community knowledge, and diverse cultural expertise to produce public facing art events focused on climate literacy and climate justice. These events will be integrated into festivals and public programs on Governor's Island in New York City, directly impacting up to ten thousand visitors.

The project will use a Design-Based Research approach to study three alternate methods for how Black, Indigenous, and Other People of Color (BIPOC) youth participants, working with the Beam Center organization, can be engaged in the Guerilla Science participatory design experience. Drawing on participatory design, climate communication, and climate justice scholarship, the research will investigate:(1) What forms of novel and authentic contributions can BIPOC youth make to the design of island (ISL) experiences focused on climate literacy? What assets do they draw on to make these contributions?; (2) How can intergenerational collaborative design processes between BIPOC youth, scientists, and artists be effectively structured to produce informal climate literacy experiences?; and (3) What kinds of shifts in orientations to future climate engagement do BIPOC youth, artists and scientists experience through engaging in intergenerational collaborative design of climate literacy ISL experiences?

To systematically explore these questions, the project will test three different literature-derived roles for the youth to play in the design process (as informants and co-researchers, as ideation catalysts and testers, and as full design partners) across two iterations. Through collection and analysis of a range of data (field observation notes and design documents, participant interviews, participant pre/post surveys, and the designed pop-up experiences themselves) the project will refine hypotheses that can advance the literature on participatory design and further explore the design space for arts-based informal STEM education. It will also develop a body of evidence-based research that can inform the educational programming and community engagement strategies of the New York Climate Exchange (NYCE), a new large-scale cross-sector nonprofit climate education and research initiative based on Governor's Island.