ABSTRACT
In September 2009, I was invited to work with a group of ethnoculturally diverse high school students through a National Science Foundation GK-12 Graduate Teaching Fellowship. The students were participating in an urban ecology research class, principally focused on air and water pollution. Given the focus of the class, I thought it would be an interesting opportunity to learn more about young people’s conceptions of urban nature and how these conceptions are produced and reproduced in the context of their active participation in urban environmental research. As such, the urban ecology research class presented a timely opportunity to work with young people in a school ethnography context, tracking their knowledge and understanding of urban environmental issues through their engagement in active and original, student-led research.
