During PhD: Crafted my research at the intersection of education, learning, and sustainability

Working as an educator in schools and informal educational contexts allows me to see how everyday and cultural understanding and disciplinary learning could enhance each other. Therefore, I started my PhD program with an interest in the design of learning ecosystems that enable the connection and integration of school and out-of-school learning (I call it expansive learning). Passionate about sustainability-related topics and believing in the power of engaging youths in the area, I chose sustainability as my Disciplinary Specialization  (Footnote 1). Driven by my interest in expansive learning about and for sustainability, my first independent research investigated how refugee-background youths integrate everyday and cultural knowledge with school knowledge in making sense of topics related to weather, climate, and climate change. The data was from one of my advisor’s research projects that involved refugee-background youths in learning about those topics in an after-school space. My advisor analyzed the data from the perspectives of trans-languaging and science literacy. My investigation revealed that the youths mix a rich repertoire of household knowledge, cultural practices, media knowledge, and lived experiences in contact with disciplinary knowledge in the sensemaking. As I completed this research, I came across an opportunity to work on a research project that aimed to develop a convergent (Footnote 2) paradigm for the transition from a linear to a circular economy. After talking with the project leader in the interview, we decided that my role on the project would be to document and facilitate team learning toward developing a convergent paradigm. I documented all project activities and took notes of team participation. I also collected surveys and interviews with individuals, small groups, and the whole team. In addition, I communicated with team members via email. Through all these ways of data collection, I gained full insights into team communication and collaboration. Using these insights, I facilitated team discussions and reflections on how to adjust collaboration approaches to advance towards the convergent paradigm. I was also part of two subgroups – one is JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion) and the other is Education and Outreach. The goal of the subgroups was to design guidance for how to engage local communities in achieving the transition. Working on the project, I realized the importance of and need for knowledge on how to facilitate cross-sector and cross-disciplinary collaboration and how to engage local communities in addressing complex societal challenges. I believe that Learning Sciences can make important contributions, as learning is fundamental to understanding and addressing sustainability challenges. This research inspired me to focus my dissertation research on learning in sustainability transition or climate change.

When deciding where to conduct my dissertation research, Mongolia immediately came to mind. I was advised that conducting my research in Chicago, where I was studying, would be easier because I could build my research on existing community partnerships of my university, the University of Illinois Chicago, and I would not need to learn a new language. However, I was strongly driven to carry out my research in Mongolia.  As an Inner Mongolian, I have first-hand experience of the impacts of climate change on the Mongolian Plateau ecosystems.  As a girl from a farming family, I also experience how climate change impacts farmers’ practices and livelihoods in the region. However, I did not have direct experience with the impacts on herders in Inner Mongolia, the majority of whom are Mongolians. Always dreaming of visiting Mongolia to learn about more intact Mongolian culture and practices, I decided that conducting my research in Mongolia would be an excellent opportunity to gain a deep understanding. I immediately started learning Mongolian, as I, from a Han family, did not learn Mongolian and only understood some basic words and phrases. At the same time, I started exploring potential local partnerships in Mongolia. I started by researching if anyone from my university might have research work in Mongolia. There was none. Then, I searched through various other channels and resources, including the American Center for Mongolian Studies, Mongolian Studies Facebook group, research publications, and LinkedIn. I conducted Zoom meetings and email communications with potential partners. Eventually, a local NGO saw an immediate opportunity and value for me to partner with them. The NGO works with herders all over Mongolia to support new practices of pastureland management. While exploring research partnerships, I applied for research grants. In the summer of 2023, with a research grant supporting pilot or explorative studies, I traveled to Mongolia to meet my local partnering organization in person. During the visit, I participated in a national forum that the NGO organized on “Rangeland degradation, desertification, and implications on steppes ecosystem services”. At the forum, I met herder representatives from different regions of Mongolia. Chatting with the team at the NGO and herder representatives refined my research questions and plans. What is more, a herder representative offered to host me during my field research. I asked how I could contribute when staying with them. The mum said she has two elementary schoolers and would like me to teach them English during the summer break.  After the visit, I started developing my full research proposal and applied for field research grants. Continuing communications with the organization were critical for co-developing a practical research plan. By February 2024. I defended my research proposal and completed IRB (Institutional Review Board) requirements. After that, I applied for a research visa, prepared research tools as well as English learning materials and arts tools, and arranged field research logistics. In early May 2025, with a research grant supporting field dissertation research and an approved research visa, I traveled to Mongolia. During the rest of May, I stayed in the capital city and participated in various meetings organized by the NGO, international development agencies, and local universities. My goal was to listen to and seek to understand discourses around climate change adaptation within herder communities. In early June, I traveled to the USA to participate in the International Conference of the Learning Sciences as a selected Doctoral Consortium participant, where I shared my research ideas and received valuable feedback. After the conference, I went back to Mongolia and traveled to my field research site in the countryside. Local people were curious to see as I was loading all my luggage, including a bulky camel wool sleeping bag, a suitcase of research gear, English learning books, notebooks, pens, and drawing tools, and a hiking backpack of my clothes, onto a bus that goes from the capital city to the rural area. They asked where I was going and what I would do there. I shared my research. Many of them nodded. One of them said, “We want to be heard. I appreciated your research.” Hearing this, my concerns about whether the research would work were gone. It strengthened my belief in the value of my research area. It was not an easy process to make things happen until this point. But I was on the bus heading to the research site.

During the first month, I did not do any data collection. I lived and worked alongside my host family, milking cows in the morning, cooking morning milk tea and dinner (lunch is not common in the countryside), fetching water, making all sorts of dairy products, and herding animals back home in the evenings. In between tasks, I had a daily 1-hour language learning session with the two elementary kids. While I was teaching the kids English, I also learned Mongolian from them. When not working or studying, the family and I went foraging in forests. Sometimes we went up hill to get phone signals after 2 or 3 weeks of not having any phone connection down in the valley area. We also sometimes visited other herder houses in the area in the evenings after taking the animals home. In addition, I went with my host family to birthday celebrations, weddings, and cultural festivals. These interactions provided opportunities for me to get familiar with and familiarized by local people. During cultural events, I also got to connect with people from the area across the hill. Thanks to the connections, I later went to stay with a second host family in that area. In each area, I took time listening, understanding, and building relationships while conducting participatory field observations. My interviews with herder households only started afterward, with refined interview questions informed by my observations and learning on the ground. I felt the trust local people were developing in me when they changed from calling my name to affectionate addressing “Our Autumn”.  With the support of members from my host families, we visited 25 households in two areas and interviewed 52 household members. The interview questions for senior herders, young herders, and pastoral women were derived from the same research questions, but were targeted for each group. For example, regarding challenges that climate change imposes, the question for senior herders asked how climate change shapes herding practices. In comparison, the question for pastoral women targeted on how climate change impacts pastoral women in particular; the one for young herders promoted them to reflect on how climate change influences young people in carrying on pastoral heritage. Whoever was at home during our visit shared their perspectives in response to the interview questions. During this period, I witnessed herder families’ seasonal migration from the summer pasture in the valley area to the fall pastures up higher at the foothills. It was amazing to see how they disassembled and then reassembled the ger. So much wisdom in the design of the traditional house. In addition, I witnessed herder families harvesting grass as winter fodder for livestock, picking pine nuts in forests as an additional source of income, and changing the frequency of milking from twice to once a day. These practices tell herders’ adaptation to seasonal changes and preparations for potential harsh winters. After the field research, I was selected for a research fellowship to complete data analysis and thesis writing. Two years after the first visit to Mongolia, I defended my thesis and graduated on May 1st, 2025.

Now reflecting on this research journey, I was thinking to myself how I managed to push forward without being deterred by any of the challenges, from developing a partnership, securing research funding, learning a new language, going into a new culture without a local research assistant, to eating almost-vegetable-free meat meals every day while I was a vegetarian. Oh, does traveling on my own to a countryside where there is no phone signal sound daunting as well? Well, I owe great thanks to my local partner and host families, with whom I had been communicating way before I went to the field site. Their generosity, support, hospitality, kindness, and trust meant so much to me and this research. Our connections sustain beyond my field research period. We send each other greetings and updates through Facebook. I hope to contribute back to the communities in mindful ways.

Now, I am exploring Postdoc or research fellowship opportunities that would support me to continue my research with Mongolian communities or conduct similar community-based research with other communities. Through gaining insights into local people’s learning in adapting to climate change, either through locally led adaptation, by participating in interventions, or a combination of both, I hope to contribute research-based knowledge for community engagement in achieving desired adaptation outcomes.

Footnotes:

• My program suggests that students choose a disciplinary specialization as a context in which they investigate learning that happens.
• The USA National Science Foundation’s definition of convergence: the merging of innovative ideas, approaches, and technologies from a wide range of sectors and expertise.