Project SEMILLAS, a climate change education initiative led by Dr. Ayça Fackler at the University of Missouri in collaboration with Co-PI Dr. Lourdes Cardozo Gaibisso at Mississippi State University, has released new podcast episodes featuring students from Partnership Middle School in Starkville, Mississippi.

The episodes were produced by Robert Carpenter of CumbreKids Media and featured on Orbit: Science for Kids on the Move!, a science podcast designed to engage young audiences in meaningful conversations about the world around them.
   
Fackler was recently awarded a $430,000 grant from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Gulf Research Program to lead SEMILLAS: Sowing Environmental Multilingualism: Integrating Learning, Linguistics, and Action in Science. The project partners with science teachers to engage youth in community-based science learning rooted in local, familial, and multilingual contexts. Drawing on placemaking and futures-thinking pedagogies, Project SEMILLAS advances NGSS-aligned science and climate change education in the Gulf of Mexico region. The project creates opportunities for students to explore climate-related issues that affect their communities, including hurricanes, floods, and other environmental challenges. Through podcasting, students are invited to share their experiences, raise questions, and reflect on how climate disasters shape their lives, families, and local communities.
   
“These podcast episodes create a powerful space for students to be heard as knowers, question-askers, and community members,” said Fackler. “Project SEMILLAS is grounded in the belief that young people’s lived experiences and ways of knowing and communicating are essential resources for meaningful climate change education.”
   
One of the newly released episodes features a student co-host from Partnership Middle School, highlighting the project’s commitment to elevating youth voices in public conversations about science and climate change.

The podcast episodes are now available on multiple platforms:
Episode on Orbit: Science for Kids on the Move!
Spotify: https://bit.ly/49FtYTt
YouTube: https://bit.ly/4wrG2l3
Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/4fk73kl
Episode featuring a student co-host from Partnership Middle School: https://bit.ly/4d8Ms19
   
Through SEMILLAS, Fackler and Cardozo Gaibisso continue to work alongside teachers, students, and community partners to support science learning that is locally relevant, linguistically inclusive, and connected to lived experiences.