Fostering Climate Resilience Through Education and Arts (2026-2027)

Background

As climate disasters intensify, communities need strategies that build resilience — the ability to tolerate, absorb or adjust to stressors. Resilience can be ecological, social or personal. Ecological resilience is strengthened when individuals develop a sense of place and connection to nature. Social resilience grows when people connect across diverse groups. Personal resilience relies on connection, hope, optimism and a sense of agency.

This project supports all three forms of resilience by expanding the Ready, Set, Resilience (RSR) education program for middle school students. RSR uses nature-based fables in which characters respond to environmental disturbances and “bounce back.” The curriculum also incorporates somatic exercises, standards-aligned lessons and community-based arts programming. 

Puppetry plays a central role in RSR because it helps young people articulate emotion, build empathy, process anxiety and express climate concerns creatively. Public performance of puppetry also helps communities reflect on climate impacts and resilience through active engagement with student-created art.

Project Description

This project builds on the work of previous teams and multi-year collaborations among teachers, artists and Duke researchers. The 2026–2027 team will support middle schools using the RSR program, expand puppetry and arts-based storytelling and evaluate the effects of resilience-themed education and community events.

The project will proceed in several phases:

• Summer 2026 will focus on piloting RSR puppetry performances within summer camps and community reading events.
• Fall 2026 will begin with a workshop on puppetry and background learning about the facets of resilience and the history of RSR. Students will then engage with the program by helping teachers design opportunities for showcasing student art, such as art walks, poetry slams and classroom puppet performances.
• Fall 2026 through winter 2027 will emphasize creative production. Duke students will design and construct two flexible shadow puppet adaptations of RSR fables for classroom and public use.
• Winter and spring 2027 will center on community events focused on resilience. The team will organize storytelling celebrations and collaborate with teachers and students to exhibit RSR projects and perform the adapted fables.
• Throughout the project, the team will work to evaluate program outcomes using existing IRB-approved tools.

Anticipated Outputs

• At least six Duke students trained as resilience near-peer mentors
• Support for at least 10 middle school teachers and more than 900 students using the RSR curriculum
• Two RSR fable-based puppetry performances created for classroom and community use
• Two community resilience events co-created with schools and partners
• Evaluation of how RSR affects personal, ecological and social resilience and whether puppetry enhances resilience education

Student Opportunities

Ideally, this team will include 5 graduate and 10 undergraduate students from diverse academic backgrounds including art, English, education, social sciences, environmental sciences, biological sciences, divinity and public policy. Applicants should be eager to partner authentically with community collaborators and engage with a variety of perspectives.

Students will gain experience in:

• Community engagement and partnership building
• Art- and storytelling-based environmental education
• Puppetry design, adaptation and performance
• Intergenerational learning theory and practice
• Event planning and facilitation
• Qualitative evaluation of educational programs
• Collaboration across campuses and with K–12 schools

Students will meet weekly as a full team and in smaller groups to design, build and test puppetry materials, support teachers and prepare for community performances. Graduate students will have the opportunity to lead subteams and improve their leadership skills based on their own individualized goals. Team members may have the opportunity to travel to Carteret, Buncombe or Yancey Counties in North Carolina.

Timing

Summer 2026 – Spring 2027

Summer 2026

• Pilot puppetry performances in summer camps
• Evaluate success of pilot performances

Fall 2026

• Learn resilience concepts, puppetry and RSR curriculum methods
• Support middle school classrooms weekly
• Adapt an RSR fable into a puppetry performance

Spring 2027

• Finalize puppet adaptations
• Continue to support classrooms with RSR programming
• Design and run community resilience events
• Evaluate overall program success

Crediting

Academic credit available for fall and spring semesters

See earlier related team, Fostering Climate Resilience Through Education and Arts (2025-2026).