Journal
FACETS
Volume 6, Issue -, Pages 773-794Publisher
CANADIAN SCIENCE PUBLISHING
DOI: 10.1139/facets-2021-0003
Keywords
community science; citizen science; climate change; transformative learning; place
Categories
Funding
- University of Northern British Columbia
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Community science involves the collaborative creation of scientific pursuits and outcomes to promote community engagement and environmental governance. Findings suggest that elements such as data collection and team dynamics, as well as conducting data collection in a new environment, are most likely to prompt participants to challenge their beliefs, values, and assumptions.
Community science involves the co-creation of scientific pursuits, learning, and outcomes and is presented as a transformative practice for community engagement and environmental governance. Emphasizing critical reflection, this study adopts Mezirow's conception of transformative learning to theorize the transformative capacity of community science. Findings from interviews with participants in a community science program reveal critical reflection, although instances acknowledging attitudes and beliefs without challenging personal assumptions were more common. Program elements most likely to prompt participants to identify beliefs, values, and assumptions include data collection and interaction in team dynamics, whereas data collection in a novel environment was most likely to prompt participants to challenge their beliefs, values, and assumptions. A review of 71 climate change focused programs further demonstrates the extent that program designs support transformative learning. Key features of the community science landscape like the broad inclusion of stated learning objectives offer a constructive starting point for deepening transformative capacity, while the dominance of contributory program designs stands as a likely roadblock. Overall, this study contributes by applying a developed field to theorize transformation in relation to community science and by highlighting where facilitators should focus program design efforts to better promote transformation toward environmental sustainability.
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