This is a story of becoming. In this creative non-fiction essay, I share a case study of an informal science program for high school aged youth that took place over 5-weeks one summer in an urban park in Pittsburgh, PA, USA. I conducted observations, interviews, and artifact analysis to explore how youth environmental interest and identity…

This paper is a reflection on Bobby Habig, Preeti Gupta, and Jennifer Adams' article "Disrupting deficit narratives in informal science education: Applying community cultural wealth theory to youth learning and engagement" (EJ1307485). The article examines the significance of community cultural capital and the need for informal STEM…

Engagement with and study of nature is increasingly important for science literacy and civic engagement. Spurred on by challenges of the Anthropocene, many informal learning institutions are exploring how their collections, programs, and scientific expertise can be mobilized to create new naturalist learning pathways for children and youth. In…

In this paper, we explore relational processes between and among three key learning ecosystem actors -- youth, educators, and more-than-human beings -- as a unit of analysis for understanding a specific type of environmental identity development: a 21st century naturalist. Our conceptualization of these relational processes aims to knit together…

In this paper, we describe an informal science program where specific program elements were designed to support youth development of a 21st century naturalist identity, which we call out as an important subtype of environmental and scientific identity. As part of a research-practice partnership, we conducted a case study of a teen youth program…