Tying Community Science and Social Justice Together in an Urban Biology Class to Foster Environmental Responsibility

Research shows that students who are involved in projects within their communities feel more sense of belonging and connection to their space. This is also true when discussing environmental justice. Students who have been historically marginalized can feel more comfort within navigating science. The unit plan designed for this project addressed the research question: How can community science and social justice be tied together in an urban biology classroom to foster environmental responsibility? The unit plan combined the knowledge of community science which focuses on sense of place with social justice within science or critical pedagogy in order to support the teaching framework of Critical Pedagogy of Place. The unit plan focused on explicitly teaching students about community science first followed by social justice in science before having the students research and design a project themselves within the community. The goal of the project was to foster a sense of environmental responsibility within students