Abstract Heatwaves are increasingly impacting rural communities in Malaysia, with disproportionate effects on youth due to limited adaptive capacity and a lack of targeted interventions. This study presents a data-driven, participatory heatwave co-adaptation mapping initiative involving thirty Form Three students from a rural high school in Segamat, Johor. The structured, interactive workshop comprised five core activities: emoji-based reflection and gamification exercises to elicit emotional responses and visualize the climate change process; a Mini Talk with interactive materials and quizzes on local climate trends and adaptation options; and hands-on group dotmocracy mapping sessions to identify cold and thermal hotspots, assess vulnerabilities, and propose adaptation measures. Analysis of the school environment revealed a long-term warming trend, with daily Tmax increasing by 0.022 °C per year (≈ 0.22 °C per decade; t = 46.86, p 35 °C) with 160 days (7.07% of March days), and Level 1 heatwaves (> 35 °C) occurred 46 times, lasting 3–14 days, whereas only 2 Level 2 events (> 37 °C) were observed, highlighting moderate heatwaves as the primary seasonal stressor. Peak heat occurred between 11:00 AM and 1:30 PM, coinciding with school dismissal, while shaded indoor areas maintained temperatures of 20–29 °C. Workshop areas were the hottest indoor spaces, with 66.5% of users experiencing thermal discomfort, whereas classrooms maintained comfort around 29.3 °C for 75% of students. Following the intervention, students’ climate-related knowledge improved significantly. Among proposed adaptation strategies, structural and technological measures dominated (> 70%), complemented by nature-based and behavioral interventions (~ 30%), while 75% of students employed active cooling measures and 35–40% used passive or green strategies. These results demonstrate the effectiveness of participatory, multi-scalar interventions in enhancing climate literacy, emotional engagement, and adaptive capacity among rural youth, while providing actionable insights for targeted heatwave adaptation in educational settings.
Sa'adi et al. (2026) studied this question.