UCSF

In collaboration with the Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council and the Department of Environmental Management, the Brown University Superfund Research Program's Community Engagement Core piloted an environmental health justice program with middle school students in Rhode Island. Our curriculum introduces students to environmental justice and the nearby Superfund site, with the goal of building environmental health justice literacy and encouraging civic engagement in local environmental remediation. Although little research has been done on teaching middle school students about environmental justice, popular education approaches rooted in community-based participatory research methods are regularly used in community outreach activities to organize and engage local residents in community issues. With this particular program, we present a place-based, student-centered, standards-aligned model for teaching environmental health justice. © Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.