Development, Evaluation, and Enhancement of a Transdisciplinary Project-Based and Community-Engaged Environmental Public Health Curriculum for Primary and Secondary Students

Authors

• Victoria Peluso, LSU Health Sciences Center - New Orleans
• Kari Brisolara, LSU Health Sciences Center - New OrleansFollow
• Haley Capello, LSU Health Sciences Center - New Orleans
• Matthew Spence, Children's Hosptial, Boston, MA
• Aubrey Gilliland, LSU Health Sciences Center - New Orleans
• Adrienne Katner, LSU Health Sciences Center - New OrleansFollow

Abstract

Background: The aim of this research was to develop, evaluate, and enhance a transdisciplinary projectbased curriculum in which students engage in citizen-science to introduce them to the field of environmental public health, a subject not traditionally taught outside of tertiary education. The curriculum was designed to involve students in the transdisciplinary collaborations needed for solving real world systems-dependent environmental public health problems. Methods: A curriculum was developed by graduate students which illustrates hazard identification; exposure assessment; and risk assessment, communication, intervention and evaluation through a community-engaged and project-based lens. The curriculum was taught successively over the span of two years by teachers in four different public education settings. Curriculum strengths, weaknesses, and impacts were documented through student focus groups and surveys, and teacher questionnaires and interviews. Results were used to enhance the curriculum after each round of implementation. Results: Student feedback indicated a need to limit lecture-based teaching in favor of hands-on activities; include skill-based and career-focused learning; and allow more autonomy in project selection. Teacher feedback indicated a need for guidance in citizen science project implementation; adoption of quiz-based student evaluation tools; alignment with common core standards; and unit independence to facilitate partial curriculum adoption. Discussion: Results suggest that a community-engaged, project-based transdisciplinary curriculum has the potential to impact student knowledge, perceptions, behaviors, motivations, and career decisions. Further study and wider implementation are needed. Conclusion: The revised curriculum can be used as a basis upon which to prepare students in the kind of inter-professional collaborative approaches needed to solve today’s complex systems-dependent environmental public health problems.

DOI

10.59020/22140

Recommended Citation

Peluso, Victoria; Brisolara, Kari; Capello, Haley; Spence, Matthew; Gilliland, Aubrey; and Katner, Adrienne (2021) "Development, Evaluation, and Enhancement of a Transdisciplinary Project-Based and Community-Engaged Environmental Public Health Curriculum for Primary and Secondary Students," Journal of the Louisiana Public Health Association: Vol. 2: No. 1, Article 10.
DOI: 10.59020/22140
Available at: https://digitalscholar.lsuhsc.edu/jlpha/vol2/iss1/10