Social Problem Solving Through Science: An Approach to Critical, Place-Based, Science Teaching and Learning

The Social Problem Solving through Science (SPSS) project engaged middle school-aged youth in the study of local environmental challenges with implications for human health and well-being, both globally and locally. Students considered environmental risk factors in a series of structured activities to develop background knowledge on environmental health issues. Pairs of students then worked together on a relevant topic of their choosing to create and share “public service announcements” in the form of posters to educate their peers, family, and community members about one of the public health topics they had studied. The project goal was to assess the degree to which learning tasks designed to be transformative to students’ understanding of their place in the world could also increase students’ science knowledge despite that outcome not being a primary focus of instruction. Pre- and post-interviews of the 23 project participants indicated that participation enhanced science content knowledge while also engaging them in a process of decolonization and reinhabitation of their places as members of society.