A capstone is a culmination of skills and knowledge from our college education, which are applied in a project in our field. My capstone course, Projects in Environmental Education, involved a collaboration between students at CSU Monterey Bay and students from a local middle school, Los Arboles (LAMS). Our aim was to create place-based, transformative learning about climate change, which would motivate and empower students to take environmental action. Through weekly visits to the middle school, we worked together to increase environmental literacy and implement sustainability projects at Los Arboles.
I worked with the Pollinator Garden group. Over the course of the semester, we sought to create a pollinator garden to help empower students to make positive changes in their community and take an active role in addressing threats posed by climate change and environmental degradation. We planted native pollinator-attracting plants in the LAMS outdoor classroom, raised Painted Lady butterflies to foster connection to local pollinators, and engaged in art projects including painting hummingbird feeders and making interpretive signs for the plants we had planted.
By the end of the project, students expressed pride in what they had accomplished, and reported that they were more likely to agree with statements that they like to help the environment and have the power to protect it. Although we had prepared for this project for the entire semester, we were only in our project groups for five weeks, generally with a little over an hour of time per meeting. From that perspective it’s amazing what we managed to accomplish - even if some parts, like building a pathway in the outdoor classroom, had to be finished by CSUMB students outside of our meetings. It took most of that time for the students to begin to open up to us, which drives home the lesson that the creation of sustainable communities is a slow-moving process which requires patience and commitment to building trust.
By the end of the project, students expressed pride in what they had accomplished, and reported that they were more likely to agree with statements that they like to help the environment and have the power to protect it. Although we had prepared for this project for the entire semester, we were only in our project groups for five weeks, generally with a little over an hour of time per meeting. From that perspective it’s amazing what we managed to accomplish - even if some parts, like building a pathway in the outdoor classroom, had to be finished by CSUMB students outside of our meetings. It took most of that time for the students to begin to open up to us, which drives home the lesson that the creation of sustainable communities is a slow-moving process which requires patience and commitment to building trust.
This project helped me to not only practice skills such as engaging younger audiences, educational program/sustainable community development, and relationship building, but also integrative and applied learning. This capstone was a culmination of our work in environmental studies thus far, and so it required incorporating all that we have learned about environmental education, from educational theory to natural history.
Our educational framework was derived from Carlie Trott’s (2019) “Science, Camera, Action” approach to climate education, and Julie Singleton’s (2015) “Head, Heart, Hands” model for transformative learning. Trott's model was a transformative, arts-based participatory action project designed to facilitate children’s sense of climate agency where they lived. Singleton’s model relates “the cognitive domain (head) to critical reflection, the affective domain (heart) to relational knowing and the psychomotor domain (hands) to engagement” (2015). In essence: she shows that transformative educational experiences require engaging the mind, heart and body. We incorporated these theories into our project through the creation of our own participatory action project, in which we worked to engage students’ head, hands and heart to create meaningful education. This was an invaluable experience for us in learning to develop sustainability education which actually empowers people to create change.
Our educational framework was derived from Carlie Trott’s (2019) “Science, Camera, Action” approach to climate education, and Julie Singleton’s (2015) “Head, Heart, Hands” model for transformative learning. Trott's model was a transformative, arts-based participatory action project designed to facilitate children’s sense of climate agency where they lived. Singleton’s model relates “the cognitive domain (head) to critical reflection, the affective domain (heart) to relational knowing and the psychomotor domain (hands) to engagement” (2015). In essence: she shows that transformative educational experiences require engaging the mind, heart and body. We incorporated these theories into our project through the creation of our own participatory action project, in which we worked to engage students’ head, hands and heart to create meaningful education. This was an invaluable experience for us in learning to develop sustainability education which actually empowers people to create change.
I feel successful in my capstone project not only because we achieved our goal of building a garden, but because of the student responses to it. There were times over the course of the semester when I was uncertain if we were really making a difference. At the end of the project, students wrote thank-you cards and submitted a survey about how their environmental perspectives may have changed between the start and end of our project. They showed that they had high levels of fun and understanding of the material throughout the project, but more than that, they showed growth in their relationship with the environment.
In the beginning of the semester, a majority of the students had limited understanding of climate change, how it may affect them, and what they could do about it. We discussed the effects climate change is having on pollinators and plants, and how this is going to affect humans. By the end of our project, multiple students had incorporated this knowledge into what they wanted to do to help their environment, from planting more plants to reducing carbon emissions through riding bikes more often or reducing plastic use. One student wrote that he wanted to “make the Earth a better place for us humans, which you guys inspired me to do.” This was, in my opinion, the biggest success of our project: that we had inspired a new generation to help the earth, and helped them feel empowered to make a difference.
I learned that I can adapt to fill any role necessary in my group, from working in the background planning and keeping everything organized to stepping up as a leader when needed. Each of my CSUMB group members took ownership of a certain aspect of the project, giving us each the opportunity to take the lead in different areas. Facilitating the arts-based aspects of the project gave me the opportunity to combine what I love, art and science, to engage the LAMS students in new ways. I particularly enjoyed trying to spark new ways of thinking about learning scientific concepts. I led the quantitative analysis of the surveys we distributed to the students and prepared the Project Outcomes section of our report. This gave me an opportunity to develop my analytical skills in a way which I think will be beneficial in my future career. This project also reminded me that it’s okay to ask for help: there were times when I was unsure of myself, particularly when taking on leadership roles, but I was able to rely on my group members for help when needed. We had a great group which worked well together, and I believe that is reflected in our work. Our teamwork helped create a positive environment which added to team building for our wider group and fostered the LAMS students’ engagement, resulting in a project we could all feel proud of.
In the beginning of the semester, a majority of the students had limited understanding of climate change, how it may affect them, and what they could do about it. We discussed the effects climate change is having on pollinators and plants, and how this is going to affect humans. By the end of our project, multiple students had incorporated this knowledge into what they wanted to do to help their environment, from planting more plants to reducing carbon emissions through riding bikes more often or reducing plastic use. One student wrote that he wanted to “make the Earth a better place for us humans, which you guys inspired me to do.” This was, in my opinion, the biggest success of our project: that we had inspired a new generation to help the earth, and helped them feel empowered to make a difference.
I learned that I can adapt to fill any role necessary in my group, from working in the background planning and keeping everything organized to stepping up as a leader when needed. Each of my CSUMB group members took ownership of a certain aspect of the project, giving us each the opportunity to take the lead in different areas. Facilitating the arts-based aspects of the project gave me the opportunity to combine what I love, art and science, to engage the LAMS students in new ways. I particularly enjoyed trying to spark new ways of thinking about learning scientific concepts. I led the quantitative analysis of the surveys we distributed to the students and prepared the Project Outcomes section of our report. This gave me an opportunity to develop my analytical skills in a way which I think will be beneficial in my future career. This project also reminded me that it’s okay to ask for help: there were times when I was unsure of myself, particularly when taking on leadership roles, but I was able to rely on my group members for help when needed. We had a great group which worked well together, and I believe that is reflected in our work. Our teamwork helped create a positive environment which added to team building for our wider group and fostered the LAMS students’ engagement, resulting in a project we could all feel proud of.