STEAM in the Community: Place-Based STEAM Learning in Arvin and Lamont, CA
The CA STEAM Initiatives’ blog series celebrates stories of STEAM education in California. To learn more about our work, visit steamcalifornia.org.
This past March, twenty-nine high school students in Arvin and Lamont, California, and a team of educators embarked on a learning journey that began at César Chávez National Monument and culminated this June in Sequoia National Park. Students created STEAM-infused projects that demonstrated the intersection of data literacy, geospatial thinking, and place-based learning as a pathway for youth-led change in the community. One of the educators who co-developed the program shared how she made this experience happen, and lessons learned for other educators who wish to inspire STEAM learning in their students.
Dr. Brittney Beck is an Associate Professor of Teacher Education at California State University, Bakersfield, Founder and Director of the Citizen Scientist Project, and a National Geographic Explorer. Her recent work with 2892 Miles To Go, an education program supported by the National Geographic Society, fostered the cross-disciplinary STEAM learning opportunity for the high school students in Arvin and Lamont. The students, all children of farm workers or farm workers themselves, were supported in their exploration of historical activism in their community and their contemporary role as agents of change who are capable of addressing enduring issues of environmental injustice.
Dr. Beck launched the project as part of 2892 Miles to Go. Founded by fellow Explorer Ashley Lamb-Sinclair, 2892 Miles To Go connects young people with educators and leaders to co-create solutions to address environmental, social, and cultural issues impacting their communities. They worked with the César Chávez National Monument team and Arvin High School to co-design an immersive educational experience to better understand the environmental and historical issues impacting the local community and how to address them. Dr. Beck first collaborated with staff from Arvin High School to recruit students into the experience, including Jareth Regpala, a counselor, and Harim Garcia, a science teacher.
“I then reached out to César Chávez National Monument, and they were thrilled to partner. They have an education mission to their work, like many national parks and monuments. They were hoping to connect further with the community, especially with Arvin High School, which is one of the closest local high schools to the Monument and a place of historical significance for the United Farm Workers’ Movement,” explained Dr. Beck.
On March 6th, the project team kicked off the program with students and educators at César Chávez National Monument. The students learned from Andres Chavez, grandson of César Chávez, about his grandfather’s work and living legacy. The students also learned about the power of photography in social movements from National Geographic Explorer Nova West. Nova unpacked the significance of photography in storytelling, inspiring students to think critically about how art can be a medium for change.
The following day, students hosted guests on the Arvin High School campus to explore the historical and ongoing role of their local community in activist movements. An alumni of Arvin High School and current intern at César Chávez National Monument, Toni Gallardo, joined Andres Chavez to share stories about people and events that were inspired by the work of César Chávez and took place in Arvin.
“The first day was like a thirty-thousand-foot perspective. Day two was the thirty-foot perspective, reinforcing that this change-making work has happened here and can continue to happen here.”
Leveraging various STEAM competencies, students were then tasked with developing different projects inspired by the work of César Chávez. These projects are designed to develop a connection between the past, present, and future for the students of Arvin and Lamont. The students met every two weeks for 2-hour sessions to work on their projects. Students learned how to use geospatial tools through Esri, an online mapping technology, with support from California-based National Geographic Explorer Anita Palmer. Students also completed the youth-oriented community mapping modules from Esri, Community Mapping for Racial Equity and Social Justice. Students then told the story of their project through ArcGIS StoryMaps, which ties data to a particular spot on a map, to highlight significant locations and data related to their projects. To view the ongoing collection of Alvin/Lamont student projects, visit this link.
“With their projects, there is an intersection of data literacy and place-based learning that creates a pathway for data-informed community activism. The students told their stories, for example, through photography, geospatial maps, existing data on poverty or air pollution,” said Dr. Beck. “The new Mathematics Framework in California encourages data literacy, and these projects bring all that together- art, activism, data, technology. It helps students see how data is a form of storytelling, how those stories can be told in multi-modal ways, and how data can be used to create and inspire change.”
This last June was the culminating event for students in Sequoia National Park. For many students, it was their first visit to the park.
“One of the most profound moments was when students were at Moro Rock. It was the first time they were far above the air pollution line enough to look down on it. One student said, ‘Wow, this is the first time I am breathing actual clean air,’” recounted Dr. Beck. “Visiting new places can evoke these moments of cognitive dissonance and shed new light on the places we call home.”
During the next school year, Dr. Beck will continue to support students in their journey to learn more about what it means to be a citizen and community scientist. One project she is particularly excited about is a student-made mural. As part of his project with 2892 Miles to Go, high school student Juan Villegas documented local street art, including murals and graffiti, and used ArcGIS Survey123 to interview the community about their perspectives related to community art. He hopes to make his own mural that will include a QR code that links to all of the students’ ongoing projects and StoryMaps, which is a profound intersection of art and technology to embody student learning. When asked about how educators can inspire and impart STEAM learning to their students, Dr. Beck shared:
“One way is to connect place-based learning with what they are learning inside the classroom, including STEAM competencies. We must engage our lives as a text, and position students and educators as storytellers and decision-makers in the bigger context of the state standard. This helps to improve the rigor and relevance of our curricula and pedagogy, but, more importantly, creates space for educators and youth to jointly apply learning in real-world contexts — right now.”
Educator resources
- National Geographic, Learning through Citizen Science
- National Geographic Citizen Science Collection
- The Citizen Scientist Project
- 2892 Miles to Go
- Esri Education
