Carlie Trott

• PhD
• Professor (Associate) at University of Cincinnati

Youth activism for climate justice is inherently intergenerational. Fundamentally, young activists demand urgent action by today's adult power‐holders for the security and well‐being of their own and future generations. Despite intergenerationality being core to the movement, few studies with young activists have explored their views and experience...

Young people in the United States foster care system face unique challenges related to their involvement in the system, often stemming from placement instability, disconnected policy and action, and an overburdened child welfare system. These experiences often result in limited opportunities for self-advocacy and change, difficulties forming qualit...

Young people worldwide are increasingly participating in a global movement for climate justice, yet to date, little research has examined how youth climate justice activists conceive of and experience activism as education. The present study used in‐depth, semi‐structured interviews with 16 US climate justice activists (aged 15–17) to address the r...

Amidst intensifying climate breakdown and inadequate climate change education, young people are increasingly taking part in a global movement for climate justice. Young climate justice activists are disseminating stories of injustice and possibility intended to inform and activate their peers, parents, politicians, powerholders, and the public for...

Through in‐depth interviews, this study explored US youth climate justice activists' views and experiences of climate change education (CCE) and their recommendations for alternative educational approaches to advance climate justice. Youth activists (N = 16; ages 15 to 17) viewed education as critical to spurring societal transformation, however, m...

Haiti is among the most climate-vulnerable nations in the world, and Haitian youth face disproportionate risks to their health and well-being. Yet, to date, few studies have partnered with young people to position them as agents of change addressing climate change impacts in their communities, particularly in Global South contexts. As a step toward...

Increasing recognition of the multi-faceted injustices of climate change has led to growing interest in the actions people can take to advance climate justice (CJ). Yet, within the empirical literature on climate change action by everyday people, limited research has considered climate justice as a framework for action. To explore the current state...

Growing recognition of the multi-faceted injustices of climate change has resulted in shifting public and policy discourse around how to understand and address climate change, yet justice considerations are rarely present in climate change education (CCE). With aims of bringing visibility to existing efforts and building a foundation for more wides...

Hybrid symposium on Community, Psychology and Climate Justice on 5-7 June 2023 in Johannesburg, South Africa. Hosted by the University of Johannesburg, University of Cincinnati, and York St. John University. Selected papers will be invited to submit a chapter to an edited collection after the symposium.

Children that participate in early childhood education (ECE) experience improvements in academic, social, and life outcomes. However, since Latinx children continue to be enrolled in ECE at lower rates and face many barriers to entry, the true benefit to Latinx individuals is unknown. The current qualitative study utilizes focus groups (and an indi...

Most studies of children and climate change focus on instilling literacy (a ‘top-down’ process), positioning children as passive recipients of climate change knowledge rather than active agents in shaping their lived realities. Photovoice, a form of participatory action research, can help explore how children make sense of climate change, while inv...

Teacher education is pivotal to advancing pedagogies, practices, and content knowledge that promote sustainability literacy in formal education settings. To explore preservice teachers’ (PST) readiness to implement transformative sustainability learning with elementary (i.e. kindergarten to 6th grade) students, we analyzed unit plans created by PST...

In response to growing recognition for the mental health impacts of climate change, understanding the full range of children’s psychological experiences in climate change education (CCE) contexts is critical to developing approaches that support children’s constructive engagement and overall well-being. Through surveys and focus groups conducted wi...

Empirical studies of children’s climate change action are rare, especially beyond the formal classroom and among pre-teen youth. This mixed-methods study examined the multi-level impacts of climate action by ten- to twelve-year-olds following an after-school program that used participatory methods to encourage children’s action at household and com...

Given the enormity of the climate crisis, the transformative potential of ‘everyday’ activism is often questioned. In this theoretical discussion, I explore the real-world significance of everyday activism by children and youth. First, I emphasize the need for top-down policy change as well as bottom-up cultural shifts. Next, I describe the signifi...

Background Optimistic thinking is a facet of social-emotional learning linked to better mental health and problem-solving in children; however, few educational tools exist to improve this important aspect of self-awareness.Objective To examine the effectiveness of an optimistic thinking tool with diverse students in an elementary school setting. St...

Sustainability education plays a pivotal role in driving change in the present and shaping our global future. This study explores the process of transformative learning among 67 preservice elementary teachers (PSTs) enrolled in a sustainability science course by analyzing six assignments submitted throughout the semester. Using a combined deductive...

Despite being on the front lines of climate catastrophe, the voices and actions of critically affected groups are often overlooked. The present research partnered with Haitian youth—who are marginalized from climate decision-making on the basis of nationality and age—to explore and address sustainability challenges in their coastal community. Speci...

Scientists and sustainability scholars continue to make urgent calls for rapid societal transformation to sustainability. Science education is a key venue for this transformation. In this manuscript, we argue that by positioning children as critical actors for sustainability in science education contexts, they may begin to reimagine what science me...

This manuscript explores the possibilities and challenges of art–science integration in facilitating collaborative sustainability action in local settings. To date, much sustainability education is prescriptive, rather than participatory, and most integrated art–science programming aims for content learning, rather than societal change. What this m...

This study explored how a process of community transformation emerged in post-hurricane Puerto Rico. Most post-disaster research focuses on community and personal losses while little is known about strengths and positive outcomes. In the aftermath of Hurricanes Irma and María in 2017, vast structural injustices in Puerto Rico were made visible. Gov...

This mixed-methods study examined how ten- to twelve-year-old children experienced and made sense of their growing climate change awareness through an after-school program that used participatory methods to facilitate children’s informed climate change action. The fifteen-week program combined hands-on educational activities with digital photograph...

Embedded within ongoing university-community partnerships, participatory action research experiences for undergraduates – or PAR-based UREs – are multi-disciplinary, action-oriented research opportunities that engage undergraduates in collaborative research to address community-defined challenges. PAR-based UREs integrate participatory action resea...

This paper documents a collaborative, multi-site participatory action research project in collaboration with children to act on climate change within local community settings. The project was an after-school program that combined hands-on climate change educational activities with photovoice, a participatory action research method that uses digital...

Undergraduate research experiences (UREs) have been shown to facilitate students’ pursuit of graduate studies and careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, including geoscience. Less is known about why or how UREs have a lasting impact on participants, particularly through graduate school and into careers. Furtherm...

PAR-based UREs are undergraduate research experiences (UREs)—built into university-community partnerships—that apply principles of participatory action research (PAR) towards addressing community-defined challenges. In this paper, we advance PAR-based UREs as an action-oriented framework through which higher education institutions can simultaneousl...

Undergraduate research experiences (UREs) that include interdisciplinary, engagement‐oriented, and collaborative experiences have the potential to benefit students in unique ways. Through these innovative experiences, students are able to see the social impact and importance of their work—a factor known to strengthen the academic and career persist...

This chapter makes a case for a focus on climate change community resilience-the study of a community’s capability to flexibly and effectively respond to climate change-in order to understand and promote functionally adaptive responses to climate change. While there is considerable research on the role of individual psychological processes in promo...

Women are underrepresented as tenure-stream faculty in U.S. academia, particularly in science fields, despite the growth of women among doctorate holders. The decision to pursue an academic career matures during the graduate-school years. What are female science graduate students’ views of an academic career, and what values and priorities influenc...

This study draws on a social norms framework to examine the influence of interview context—specifically the presence of other women and men—on women’s reported attitudes toward intimate partner violence (IPV) in Ethiopia, where IPV rates are among the highest in the world. The sample (16,515 women, ages 15-49) was taken from Ethiopia’s 2011 Demogra...

Psychological contributions to social movement scholarship have disproportionately concentrated on a "politics of demand", rather than on a "politics of the act", or prefigurative politics. Prefigurative actors, rather than making demands of power-holders, take direct action aimed at creating change in the ‘here and now’ by constructing alternative...

Research experiences for undergraduates (REU) have been shown to support the success of STEM undergraduates through improving their research skills, ability to synthesize knowledge, and personal and professional development, all while socializing them into the nature of science. REUs are further intended to support STEM career choice and profession...

This qualitative, thematic analysis explores how patriarchal power is reflected in labels used to describe women and men who engage (or not) in multiple and concurrent sexual partnerships. Label research and muted group theory provide theoretical frames to assess how sexual network-related labels are used by women and men. The use of power-embedded...

The rights of women are violated in every society in the world, often with no consequences for perpetrators. This lack of consequence is especially common when violations of women’s rights are a longstanding practice in a culture. Violations of women’s rights classified as “harmful cultural/traditional practices” include female genital cutting, juv...

There is a persisting gap in the participation of women in atmospheric science (ATS), particularly at the higher levels of ATS education and occupations. This gap raises questions about ATS women's career motives, plans, and challenges relative to men's. To explore these questions, in-depth interviews were conducted with 10 female and male ATS grad...

In 2010, an estimated 22.5 million people were living with HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, accounting for more than two-thirds of global HIV/AIDS cases (UNAIDS, 2010). Empirical studies in the region demonstrate that multiple concurrent partnerships (MCPs) may play a key role in the spread of HIV/AIDS (Enns et al., 2011). In Tanzania, MCPs have bee...

Background: Young women in Kenya significantly are more likely to be infected with HIV and other STIs than their male counterparts. Kenyan health-focused institutions have made a call to include parents in prevention programs. This study explored the role of communication between mothers and daughters in sexual risk reduction among young women in r...