TY - JOUR
T1 - Towards an overdetermined design for informal high school girls’ learning in geospatial technologies for climate change
AU - Solís, Patricia
AU - Huynh, Niem Tu
AU - Huot, Philippe
AU - Zeballos, Marcela
AU - Ng, Astrid
AU - Menkiti, Nwasinachi
N1 - Funding Information:
Many thanks to all of the student participants whose journeys inspire us. Also to: Candida Mannozzi and Kelsey Taylor, Association of American Geographers; Michael Solem, National Center for Research in Geographic Education; Matthew Hamilton, Instructor and Geotechnologies Training Specialist; Nekya Young, Javier Nuñez Villalba, Alejandra Choque, Universidad Mayor de San Andrés; Sives Govender, EIS-Africa; Bridget Fleming and Gavin Fleming, AfriSpatial; Serena Coetzee and Petrus Lombard, University of Pretoria; Ferdie Heunis, FREE Trust; Tsholo Diphoko, ESRI South Africa; Melissa Ford and Ryan Ingrassia, U.S. Embassy in South Africa; Manuel Quintero, Autoridad de Innovación Gubernamental; Rocio Vega and José Luis González, Esri Panama; Alexis Torrez, MyCOE Alumni; Marta Lewis de Cardoze and Clorislena Alvarez, Galindo Foundation; Oscar Ramirez, Magdalena Durán and Julissa Arcia, Universidad Tecnológica de Panamá; Nick Oehm, Florida Costal Everglades Long Term Ecological Research, Florida International University; Joseph Kerski, Esri; Yuki Kondo-Shah, U.S. Embassy in Bolivia; Dario Solis, University of Texas at Dallas, Ambassador Jonathan Farrar, Andrea Corey, Margarita Pearce and Amy Canby, U.S. Embassy in Panama. The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018, © 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2019/4/3
Y1 - 2019/4/3
N2 - This article explores an experimental effort to develop a short-term informal learning experience to achieve awareness, confidence and knowledge in geography and geospatial technologies related to environmental and climate change for all participants but particularly for female secondary learners. The intervention incorporated various elements to promote gender-sensitive technical and cultural literacy through an international outreach and science diplomacy framework, justified by various kind of literature in STEM learning. We recount the experiences of three cohorts of students learning about impacts of climate change at sites in Bolivia, South Africa and Panama. The results of student surveys before, immediately after, and 9 months post-participation reveal the extent to which the design met objectives for learning, across genders. Our experimental conclusion reinforces the idea that even short-term, informal learning programs can elicit greater confidence, knowledge and abilities in all students, especially female students, when as many as possible of the elements known to improve gendered participation for STEM are taken into consideration into the very design of the experience. We coin the term “overdetermined design” to designate this kind of approach to take reinforcing, even redundant steps to increase the likelihood of obtaining desired results of improved confidence overall and reducing the gender gap, particularly through the use of geospatial technologies.
AB - This article explores an experimental effort to develop a short-term informal learning experience to achieve awareness, confidence and knowledge in geography and geospatial technologies related to environmental and climate change for all participants but particularly for female secondary learners. The intervention incorporated various elements to promote gender-sensitive technical and cultural literacy through an international outreach and science diplomacy framework, justified by various kind of literature in STEM learning. We recount the experiences of three cohorts of students learning about impacts of climate change at sites in Bolivia, South Africa and Panama. The results of student surveys before, immediately after, and 9 months post-participation reveal the extent to which the design met objectives for learning, across genders. Our experimental conclusion reinforces the idea that even short-term, informal learning programs can elicit greater confidence, knowledge and abilities in all students, especially female students, when as many as possible of the elements known to improve gendered participation for STEM are taken into consideration into the very design of the experience. We coin the term “overdetermined design” to designate this kind of approach to take reinforcing, even redundant steps to increase the likelihood of obtaining desired results of improved confidence overall and reducing the gender gap, particularly through the use of geospatial technologies.
KW - GIS
KW - Gender
KW - climate change
KW - international exchange
KW - secondary school
KW - technology
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U2 - 10.1080/10382046.2018.1513447
DO - 10.1080/10382046.2018.1513447
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85054324234
SN - 1038-2046
VL - 28
SP - 151
EP - 174
JO - International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education
JF - International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education
IS - 2
ER -