How Clean Is My Water? - A Culturally Responsive, Project-Based Interdisciplinary Summer Camp

Oct 15, 2026

Educational reform in the U.S. has not produced significant learning gains, particularly for economically disadvantaged and minoritized youth. To address this, the work describes a one-week, interdisciplinary summer science camp that integrates literacy and mathematics into a water-quality unit. Grounded in culturally responsive, project-based learning and critical literacy, it uses diverse readings, neighborhood-based water sampling, collaboration, and reflection. The program frames learning as a cultural endeavor that expands scientific vocabulary and supports critical consciousness and belonging.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages9

Reading Time23 min

AccessFree to download

Background and Rationale

Out-of-School Programs for Youth

Program Design

Partnership and Camp Structure

Integrated Literacy and Mathematics

Pedagogical Framework

Culturally Responsive Teaching

Project-Based Learning and Belonging

Critical Literacy and Empowerment

Student Learning Activities

Community-Relevant Questions

Lab Sampling and Discussion

Outcomes and Engagement

How Clean Is My Water? A Culturally Responsive, Project-Based Interdisciplinary Summer Camp Alma D. Stevenson and Shelli L. Casler-Failing During recent decades, educational reform in the U.S. has favored standards-driven curricula with the purpose of improving education. However, national assessments have not demonstrated significant improvements in educational outcomes, especially among economically disadvantaged and minoritized populations (Hussar & Bailey, 2017) . To mitigate these outcomes, youth-serving organizations provide children from these populations with out-of-school time programs to enhance their academic and social skills (see Hirsch, 2011; Springer & Diffily, 2012) . Many such organizations have focused on learning opportunities in STEM to support “youth in their intellectual, social, and emotional development”(National Research Council, 2015, p. 11) . As professors who believe in partnering with nonprofit organizations that offer quality afterschool programs, and in keeping with our university’s commitment to community outreach, we contacted the directors of our local Boys & Girls Club to discuss how we could collaborate to meet their academic goals. We wanted both to cultivate connections with the club and to develop opportunities to provide ALMA D. STEVENSON, PhD, is a professor of literacy at Georgia Southern University. Her research explores home languages and cultures to support positive identity formation and sociocultural and critical approaches to literacy to construct culturally responsive and sustaining curricula. SHELLI L. CASLER-FAILING, PhD, is an associate professor of middle grades and secondary mathematics education at Georgia Southern University. Her research focuses on mathematics teacher education and the integration of robotics technology in mathematics curricula. afterschool instruction that embodied culturally responsive, project-based teaching. After listening to the directors’ views of the club’s needs, we decided to design and implement a one-week summer science camp for students entering grades 4–7. We created an instructional unit that integrated literacy and mathematics into a science unit focused on water quality and related environmental issues; we also planned to explore student outcomes. The interdisciplinary project-based instructional unit we designed focused on culturally responsive practices. For example, the readings included individuals from diverse backgrounds, the water samples used in lab experiments were gathered from students’ neighborhoods, and discussions about water preservation helped students empathize with the struggles of other young people around the world. Through these practices, students developed awareness of environmental issues and increased their understanding and use of scientific vocabulary related to water quality. opportunities to learn. This pedagogical approach followed Ladson-Billings’ (1995) tenets for culturally relevant instruction: focusing on the students’academic success while preserving their culture and developing their critical consciousness. The project placed students “at the center of the learning orbit and turn[ed] their personal interests and strengths into opportunities for academic success,” following the principles of culturally responsive teaching (Gay, 2018, p. 61) . Culturally responsive teaching is aligned with project-based learning, which “is sensitive to the varied needs of diverse students with respect to culture, race, and gender”(Krajcik & Czerniak, 2014, p. 5) . Projectbased learning promotes a culture of belonging anda sense of identity when students engage in common activities that seek responses to a mutual problem (Penuel et al. , 1999) . The approach incorporated smallgroup interactions, collaborative learning, interesting tasks, group discussions, and daily reflections. The multidimensional curriculum incorporated high but Framing the Program obtainable expectations, which students achiev

FAQs

Why was the summer science camp developed?

It was designed to mitigate limited educational improvements revealed by national assessments and to support academic and social growth for minoritized and economically disadvantaged youth.

What did the camp integrate into its learning unit?

The camp integrated literacy and mathematics within a science unit focused on water quality and related environmental issues, using culturally responsive project-based teaching.

How did the program reflect culturally responsive and project-based learning principles?

It included diverse readings, used water samples gathered from students’ neighborhoods, and supported collaboration, group discussions, and daily reflections aligned with culturally responsive teaching principles.

Oct 15, 2026

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