Can Informal Learning Help Promote Science Identity And Learning In College Students Impacted By Climate Change Disasters?

Abstract: Natural disasters, including those linked to climate change, such as hurricanes, can have lasting impacts on a community, especially the youth. The damage after a disaster can lead to more stress for students and affect how they perform in school. There is little research on how this affects college-aged students, and effective learning approaches to help them recover. We evaluated how participation in informal learning experiences after a natural disaster affected students’ persistence, resilience, and STEM identity. Fifty undergraduate students from NC State, selected from a pool of 4797 impacted by Hurricane Florence (each paid a $1000 stipend), engaged in an informal learning experience where they worked in pairs over 2 weeks to collect community-relevant forest impact data in their home counties. The informal learning experience took place in Summer 2019. Students had different opportunities to participate in research, i.e., collecting oral histories related to forest damage, photographing the forestry damage following the hurricane, and using geospatial analytic techniques to map hurricane impacts. We used pre- and post-test measures to evaluate changes in students’ learning, science identity, persistence, and resilience. Students reported a growth in science identity, knowledge of trees and climate change, and in perceptions that science can be used to effect change in local communities. Further, participants experienced a boost in science interest and identity on days when they had positive data collection experiences. Post-disaster interventions using relevant research learning experiences can thus play an important role in helping students recover from disasters.