Engaged environmental science for underserved youth

Abstract

The National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences has called for targeted efforts to engage underserved youth in environmental education programs that support environmental literacy and contribute to the development of a diverse workforce pipeline for environmental science-related occupations. Evidence suggests that career knowledge among low income and minority youth is more likely to be incompatible with post-secondary educational opportunities than other racial and ethnic groups. One approach to attenuating discordant college and career expectations among underserved youth is building networks for information sharing between secondary and post-secondary students. The purpose of this commentary is to describe the development and implementation of a high school curriculum on environmental science and environmental justice by Texas A&M University in collaboration with community engagement partners, students, and teachers at Furr High School, an innovative XQ Super School in Houston, Texas.

Keywords:

• Engaged scholarship
• environmental health literacy
• environmental science education
• curriculum

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Katie R. Kirsch

Katie Kirsch is a research associate for the Community Engagement Core (CEC) of the Texas A&M Superfund Research Program. Steven Washington is a planning specialist working in community engagement. Juan Elizondo and David Salazar are teachers at Furr High School. Travis Burdick and Pablo Alvarez are graduate students. Jennifer Horney leads the Texas A&M Superfund CEC and is a Professor in the Epidemiology Program and Core Faculty of the Disaster Research Center at the University of Delaware.