Students will launch the environmental justice investigation by observing neighborhood heat and green-space conditions, hearing community perspectives, and drafting focused questions they can investigate with data, maps, interviews, and field notes in later phases.

Students will investigate an early neighborhood heat and access pattern, study how local evidence can answer a focused environmental justice question, and prepare a peer-reviewed plan for collecting reliable field data in Southeast San Diego.

Students will carry out their team investigation in the field by collecting systematic temperature, shade, surface, access, and water-use-related evidence across selected Southeast San Diego sites. They will keep traceable notebooks, site maps, and data logs, test the quality of their methods through peer and partner feedback, and revise their records so they are ready for analysis and evidence-based recommendations in the next phase.

Students will turn field notes, interviews, maps, and temperature records into evidence-based visuals and claims, test their interpretations through critique, and refine a public-facing recommendation and multimedia update for the showcase.

Students will present their environmental justice findings to community partners and classmates, defend their claims with maps, charts, and field evidence, and reflect on how their investigation methods, collaboration, and revisions shaped their final conclusions and recommendations.