21 - Project ANiMA: Fostering Environmental Literacy Through User-Centered Design

Description/Abstract/Artist Statement

The Amazing Neighborhood Mollusk Adventure, also known as Project ANiMA, investigates how local scientific knowledge and climate resilience solutions can be effectively communicated through a K-3 climate theater in order to enhance local environmental literacy. This project theorizes that communities can better understand and act on climate resilience challenges when provided with localized information about environmental impacts. The project aims to connect local mollusk and shoreline recovery efforts with broader climate and environmental goals by linking scientists studying these strategies with students through STEM education on local waterways. Project ANiMA unites local scientists, conservationists, nonprofits, educators, and K-12/University STEM programs around a community-centered idea for climate adaptation, following biodiversity theory as a framework for biological interrelationships. Within that framework, Project ANiMA’s script and characters model regional findings to support localized STEM education and establish early foundational environmental literacy. Through research and development processes, Project ANiMA applies User-Centered Design and Design Thinking methodologies to climate science communication. Secondary research of local coastal biota analyses is utilized for baseline data to establish prototype designs, while research interviews and literature reviews guide the project narrative. User analysis, expert feedback and usability testing inform the prototyping process, integrating local research and correlating public understanding with shoreline indicators to equip local communities with climate resilience knowledge. Using public schools and neighborhood theaters as zones for social learning, the Project ANiMA employs threshold literacy methodology from Writing Studies to identify knowledge gaps and introduce new information to foster environmental literacy acquisition.

Presenting Author Name/s

Sydney Walker

Faculty Advisor/Mentor

David Robledo

Faculty Advisor/Mentor Department

English

College Affiliation

College of Arts & Letters

Presentation Type

Poster

Disciplines

Art and Design | Climate | Elementary Education | Environmental Education

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21 - Project ANiMA: Fostering Environmental Literacy Through User-Centered Design

The Amazing Neighborhood Mollusk Adventure, also known as Project ANiMA, investigates how local scientific knowledge and climate resilience solutions can be effectively communicated through a K-3 climate theater in order to enhance local environmental literacy. This project theorizes that communities can better understand and act on climate resilience challenges when provided with localized information about environmental impacts. The project aims to connect local mollusk and shoreline recovery efforts with broader climate and environmental goals by linking scientists studying these strategies with students through STEM education on local waterways. Project ANiMA unites local scientists, conservationists, nonprofits, educators, and K-12/University STEM programs around a community-centered idea for climate adaptation, following biodiversity theory as a framework for biological interrelationships. Within that framework, Project ANiMA’s script and characters model regional findings to support localized STEM education and establish early foundational environmental literacy. Through research and development processes, Project ANiMA applies User-Centered Design and Design Thinking methodologies to climate science communication. Secondary research of local coastal biota analyses is utilized for baseline data to establish prototype designs, while research interviews and literature reviews guide the project narrative. User analysis, expert feedback and usability testing inform the prototyping process, integrating local research and correlating public understanding with shoreline indicators to equip local communities with climate resilience knowledge. Using public schools and neighborhood theaters as zones for social learning, the Project ANiMA employs threshold literacy methodology from Writing Studies to identify knowledge gaps and introduce new information to foster environmental literacy acquisition.