Characteristics of nonformal K-12 pathway programs aiming to enhance diversity in Environmental Science

Abstract

We conducted interviews with non-formal environmental education programs aimed at K-12 student participants to: 1) understand the current objectives of non-formal environmental science-focused K-12 diversity pathway programs; 2) learn techniques used to recruit and engage participants with the ultimate goal of advancing them along an environmental science diversity pathway; and 3) identify current evaluation approaches used by environmental science-focused K-12 diversity pathway programs to evaluate program effectiveness and recruitment techniques. This review reveals that while several programs target particular underrepresented demographic groups, program objectives are not always aligned with increasing diversity in the field or retaining those participants in environmental science careers. Additionally, findings demonstrate a lack of statistically validated participant recruitment strategies, teaching methods, and program evaluation techniques. We discuss the implications of these findings for K-12 environmental science pathway program stakeholders. We also offer areas for future research in environmental education programming and methods for evaluating program effectiveness.