From Awareness to Action: Using Community Service to Explore Secondary Science Students' Functional Environmental Scientific Literacy

As the rate of environmental degradation continues to rise, and the consequences of inaction worsen, achieving community-wide functional environmental scientific literacy (FESL) is paramount. It is more important than ever to prepare students to take an active part in addressing socioscientific issues (SSI) related to environmental sustainability. Community service provides an appropriate context for students to apply their understanding of science and science content as well as learn how to take action on environmental issues that they care about (Meuers, 2023; Sumarmi et al., 2022). Research has shown that environmental identity (EI) influences engagement with SSI, and informed decision making on SSI requires adequate understanding of nature of science (NOS). However, this study is the first to explore all three in one context. Understanding how students address SSI affecting their community is the first step in using service projects as an intervention strategy to improve FESL for all learners. Participants included 18 individuals previously enrolled in an environmental education course during the 2021-2022 academic school year at a public high school in the southeastern United States. During the course, students received explicit and reflective, integrated, and non-integrated NOS instruction centered around socioscientific issues. Participants ranged in age from 18-20 years old and represented a diverse range of races/ethnicities and socioeconomic status. Data sources included community service portfolios, VNOS and EI surveys, and interviews. Thematic analysis revealed participants EI influenced the SSI they addressed, the task they conducted, as well as the location and/or community members their service was designed to assist. Participants held informed views of NOS at the time they conducted their service, and they applied their holistic understanding of NOS in their decision-making throughout each step of the process. In reflecting on their experience, participants noted they were better able to recognize themselves and/or be recognized as agents of change within their community, suggesting service projects can also promote identity development. While addressing SSI, the decisions participants made reflected their EI and their understanding of NOS. Thus, it is important to account for all three components when planning service-learning opportunities for secondary science students.