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Investigations in Student Thinking and Learning
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Educators have long known that experience is a powerful motivator for learning. Underlying BES instructional modules is the assumption that science is best learned through engaging in scientific inquiry, and that a deeper understanding of ecological systems and appreciation for the natural world will arise as students connect with issues relevant to their surroundings, and make use of scientific data and data collection protocols to do so.
- Student Assessments in BES Education Projects
- Environmental Science Literacy Project
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Student Assessments in BES Education Projects
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We are exploring how people develop key facets of urban ecosystem understanding (e.g., systems thinking, trans-disciplinary thinking, spatial cognition) by crafting a long-term research effort focusing on students and teachers in BES education programs. The breadth of existing BES curriculum modules and plans for teacher professional development, provide fertile ground for studying the effectiveness of compelling and content-rich learning experiences organized around local phenomena and real scientific data. Existing partnerships among BES, school sites, and community groups are exposing the nature of the interplay between formal and non-formal institutions in helping students and community members better understand urban ecological systems. Field observations of participants engaged in BES curriculum activities, samples of student work generated from BES activities, and interviews with students and teachers all are being used to reveal pathways and challenges for learning.
Ultimately, the best assessment of student learning emerges from authentic products or performances. A sterling example is the learning that took place in Karen Hinson’s classroom after participating in a BES professional development program. Hinson’s students produced a book, A Land Use History of Loch Raven Reservoir, Prettyboy Reservoir, and Liberty Reservoir Watershed Throughout the History of the United States, working closely with BES scientist Morgan Grove and a whole cast of other specialists (see cover and achknowledgement page). An excerpt from the detailed description in Grove et al. (2003) is included here:
Many school systems throughout the United States are being confronted with county, state, and national assessments that assess student achievement and performance in specific disciplines. When students are able to perform at high levels on performance assessments, they are better prepared for traditional assessments such as county, state, and national assessments. This research project was also a performance assessment for these students. The performance assessment was the book that they provided to the forester in June, 1999.
The ultimate assessment for these students is the AP United States History exam. This exam requires students to analyze and synthesize data and developments in different areas, analyze themes, make comparisons, evaluate and assess verbal, graphic, and pictoral evidence, and demonstrate mastery of a wide range of knowledge. This project reinforced these skills by having students discover, assess, evaluate, and synthesize data they collected from primary sources such as journals, census, letters, art, maps, statistical data, etc. in order to make comparisons and analyze themes in the reservoir areas. The application of knowledge from the local history of the reservoirs to the national history of the United States allowed students to demonstrate proficiency and mastery of knowledge required for success on the AP United States History exam. In the end, they had to express their findings in a written form as they would on the AP United States History exam. The final result was a 22% increase from the previous year’s students’ AP scores.
The students summed up the success of this project in the “Introduction” to their book.
Amongst the main objectives through the project we, as a class, hoped to gain knowledge of the correlation between people and their environment. These goals combined knowledge of research experience, observing how our own environment changed over time, to understand that historical trends, research methods, and analysis are important to many people in their daily work, to understand how history is relevant to decisions made about where we live, and to witness how our work will be used to protect and serve the reservoirs and people that are using the reservoir watershed. This was also the first time for many of us to complete a large scale study that would represent our own work in a usable, real situation.
Finally, the students concluded that:
There were successes, both personal and professional throughout our research exploration. Some personal successes included finding obscure data, completing a difficult portion of research, and working in a group to complete a project of which we are proud. Professional successes included making a reputation for our program, working with professionals throughout the study, and the use of such materials as the Human Ecosystem Framework to produce a complete and well-oriented discussion of our environment and habitat.
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Exerpts from student book.
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Environmental Science Literacy Project
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BES is a partner in the Environmental Literacy Research Group based at Michigan State University and headed by Andy Anderson. The project is associated with the MSU-led Kellogg Biological Station LTER site, along with the Santa Barbara Coastal Ecosystem LTER site (Allison Whitmer, UC Santa Barbara) and the Short Grass Steppe LTER Site (John Moore, Colorado State University). The larger project is developing learning progressions for environmental literacy for water, carbon, and biodiversity/evolution. More information about the project can be found at http://edr1.educ.msu.edu/EnvironmentalLit/index.htm.
BES has formed a working group focusing on water, and has plans to form a second focusing on carbon, two topics for which BES has particular expertise.
The completed learning progression and associated research will produce:
- Big ideas or unifying concepts that are appropriate for learners of different ages and cultures
- Key application and inquiry practices that are appropriate for learners of different ages and cultures
- Specific objectives or learning goals that are aligned with national standards and that enact the big ideas and practices
- Misconceptions or barriers to understanding that learners of different ages and cultures are likely to encounter—beliefs or habits of mind that may lead them to misunderstand big ideas and practices (e.g., relying primarily on narrative reasoning)
- Assessment questions or tasks that could be used to reveal learners’ reasoning about key concepts and practices.
- Data about student thinking about each dimension of environmental literacy, across ages and cultures
- Teaching materials that have been tested with different learners and in different settings.
The BES Working Groups will:
- Review the existing materials on water and carbon produced by the Michigan State working groups
- Develop Baltimore / Urban - specific additions or alternatives for the current learning progression
- Develop and implement a plan for assessing Baltimore student thinking about water and carbon
- Collect teaching materials and carry out targeted teaching experiments focusing on water and carbon
- Collaborate with the water and carbon working groups in Michigan, Colorado and California
- Help prepare grant proposals to carry out more extensive and in-depth development of the learning progression, assessment tools and teaching materials.
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