Reaching Underserved Populations through a Fisheries Education Program

Abstract

Environmentally literate citizens capable of making informed decisions are essential to successfully managed fisheries. Fisheries‐focused environmental education programs may help build environmental literacy, but experimental evaluations are needed to determine the effectiveness of fisheries education programs. We begin addressing this need with a study of “Shad in the Classroom.” The program engages students in American Shad Alosa sapidissima restoration through rearing and releasing fry. We used a pre/post, treatment (n = 777)/control (n = 57) evaluation during the 2016–2017 academic year. Participation in the program created large improvements in American Shad knowledge between tests (P < 0.001). All students gained knowledge, but African Americans (P < 0.001) and students identifying as “other” races and ethnicities (P = 0.003) fell behind their peers. Shad in the Classroom is an effective tool for teaching children about fisheries management but, may help ethnic minorities the least, suggesting a need to tailor content for diverse students.

How a marine debris environmental education program plays to strengths of linguistically diverse learners

“…Key findings across these studies are that EE programming typically benefits those with non-dominant identities as well as, or to a greater degree than, those with dominant identities, leveling the playing field by differentially helping groups who typically fall behind (i.e., producing equigenic impacts: Kuo et al, 2019). For instance, findings from Szczytko et al (2020) showed that race was not a factor in young people's connection to nature, despite previous assumptions to the contrary, and Clark et al (2020) found that EE programs centering on fisheries had positive impacts on all learners, not just a certain group. Additionally, multiple studies have reported that EE programming has positive impacts particularly for girls (Stevenson et al, 2021) and children with learning disabilities (Szczytko et al, 2018).…”

“…A first step at understanding how to foster such a sense of belonging is to better understand how learners from diverse identities may uniquely engage with EE programming. Relevant EE studies focused on specific identities have examined how factors such as race and ethnicity (Larson et al, 2011;Stevenson et al, 2013;Clark et al, 2020;Szczytko et al, 2020), gender (Stevenson et al, 2021), and learning differences (Szczytko et al, 2018), may shape how various learners benefit from EE opportunities. Key findings across these studies are that EE programming typically benefits those with non-dominant identities as well as, or to a greater degree than, those with dominant identities, leveling the playing field by differentially helping groups who typically fall behind (i.e., producing equigenic impacts: Kuo et al, 2019).…”