Presented at the Annual Meeting of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching,

March 31, 2008

Learning Progressions in Environmental Science Literacy

Three Stories on These Posters

• A policy story concerning the implications of research on learning progressions for environmental science literacy on standards, assessments, and curricula.

• A research story, about the iterative process of developing and validating a learning progression.

• A learning story about how children can develop understanding and responsible citizenship in a complex and important domain: Processes that transform carbon, water, and biodiversity in socio-ecological systems.

The Policy Story

Implications of Research on Learning Progressions for

Standards, Assessments, and Curricula

Why is dialogue between researchers and developers so difficult?

Different design constraints• Curricula and large-scale assessment programs

– Need frameworks that describe learning in broad domains over long periods of time

– Usually work on short timelines– Need stable frameworks

• Researchers – Need to develop knowledge claims that are

theoretically coherent and empirically grounded – Often on longer timelines– Value innovation

The Learning Progression Hypothesis

• Guarded optimism that we may be ready to bridge the gap—to develop larger-scale frameworks that meet research-based standards for theoretical and empirical validation and that can guide day-to-day teaching.

• This hypothesis can only be tested through the development and validation of specific learning progressions.

The Research Story

Iterative Development and Validation of Learning

Progressions

Definition and Guiding Question

• Environmental science literacy is the capacity to understand and participate in evidence-based discussions of socio-ecological systems.

• What scientific knowledge and practices should all students learn that will give them the capacity to be environmentally responsible citizens?

Processes in Socio-ecological Systems (Loop Diagram on Handout)

Practices (all involve “completing the loop”)

• Inquiry: learning from experience (not addressed in these posters

• Accounts: using scientific knowledge to explain and predict– Carbon (2 posters)

– Water (3 posters)

– Biodiversity (1 poster)

• Citizenship: making environmentally responsible decisions (1 poster)• Private roles: learner, consumer, worker

• Public roles: voter, volunteer, advocate

Learning Progression Framework (on Handout)

Progress Variables (Carbon-transforming processes)

Levels of Achieveme nt

Photosynt hesis Transf ormat ion of organic

car bon

Cellular Respi ration

Co mbusti on Large -scale processes

5: Q ualitative model-bas e d acco unts

4: “Sc hool scienc e ” nar ratives

3: Events with hidde n mec hanis ms

2: Event -ba s ed nar ratives

1: Huma n-bas e d nar ratives

Learni ng performances for spec ific pro ces ses

and Leve ls of Achieve ment:

Accounts of p rocesses in soc io-eco logica l sy stems

Parts of Framework

• Progress Variables (columns of the table): Aspects of knowledge and practice that are present in some form at all Levels of Achievement, so that their development can be traced across Levels.

• Levels of Achievement (rows of the table): Patterns in learners’ knowledge and practice that extend across Progress Variables.

• Learning Performances (cells of the table): specific practices characteristic of students who are at a particular Level of Achievement and reasoning about a particular Progress Variable.

Criteria for Validation

• Conceptual coherence: a learning progression should “make sense,” in that it tells a comprehensible and reasonable story of how initially naïve students can develop mastery in a domain.

• Compatibility with current research: a learning progression should build on findings or frameworks of the best current research about student learning.

• Empirical validation: The assertions we make about student learning should be grounded in empirical data about real students.

Applying the Criteria to Specific Parts of the Framework (on Handout)

Characteristic of Learning

Progressions

Conc ept ual Coheren ce

Compati bility wi th Current Research

Empirical Validat ion

Indiv idual cells:

Learni ng performances

• Learnin gperformances ar e

describedi nconsistent ways, including (a) knowledge, (b) practice, an ( )d c context—real-w orldsystems andphenomena.

• Learnin gperformances ar ecompatible with th ose

describedi n th e research litera .ture

• Learning performa nces describe actual observe d

performances by rea lstuden .ts

• Students are consisten t across differen t questions o r

modes of assessment (e.g., written assessments an dclinical in ) terviews tha t

assess the same learnin gperformance

:Rows Level sof

Achievement

• Levels ar econceptually coherent: Different Learnin gPerformances reflec tsome underlyi ngconsistency in reasoning or outlook

• Levels reflec tconsideration (explici t

or implici ) t of strand s of scientific li teracy

( see above).

• Levels have predictive power: Students should show simi lar

Levelso f Achievement f orLearnin g Performance sassociated wi th differe ntProgress Variable.

Columns: Strands a nd

ProgressVariables

• Definition of Pro gressVariable capture simportant asp ects o fLearnin gPerformances at a ll

Levelso f Achievement

• Progress from o neLevel to the nex t isconsistent wit h

research on students’ learning, considerin g

alls trands of scientif icliteracy

• Progress from one L evel t othe next can be achieve dthrough teaching strateg iesthat directly address th edif ferences betw een Learnin gPerformances

Development and Validation: An Iterative Process

• Develop initial framework

• Develop assessments (e.g. written tests, interviews) and/or teaching experiments based on the framework

• Use data from assessments and teaching experiments to revise framework

• Develop new assessments….

The Learning Story

Levels of Achievement and Trends

Trends from Younger to Older Students

• Awareness of Systems and Processes: From Invisible to Visible (small- and large-scale systems, invisible mechanisms, gases)

• Precision in Measurement and Description: From Impressions to Data (trust and accuracy in measurement, scientific terms, categories, data representation)

• Nature of Accounts: From Stories and Metaphors to Models Constrained by Principles (changing balance between stories and models, using principles to constrain and connect models, distinguishing models from observations and patterns)

Levels of Achievement

• Level 5: Successful qualitative model-based reasoning about processes in socio-ecological systems (high school standards).

• Level 4: “School science” narratives of processes in systems (middle school standards).

• Level 3: Events driven by hidden mechanisms (elementary standards).

• Levels 1-2: Sequences of events with little attention to hidden mechanisms.

Introductions to Posters

Carbon Cycling

Upper Anchor - Loop Diagram Environmental Issue:

Human energy consumption and imbalanced carbon cycling processes cause climate change over time

Three key atomic-molecular processes: Organic carbon generation & harnessing energy in photosynthesis; Organic carbon transformation & energy passing on in digestion and

biosynthesis; Organic carbon oxidation & energy dissipating in cellular respiration and

combustion.

Successful tracing matter and energy within and across processes: Trace matter and energy separately Tracing matter at atomic-molecular scale and tracing energy with

degradation

Intermediate Levels & Lower Anchor -- Developed based on assessment and interview data.

Frame Questions:

• Matter– What happens to "stuff" during carbon-transforming processes?

(those processes include photosynthesis, food chain, digestion, cellular respiration, combustion)

– In terms of carbon transformation, how do different processes connect with each other and how do events at different scales connect with each other? (e.g. global warming and cutting trees)?

• Energy– What cause things to happen? – Where does energy come from?– Where does energy go after the change?

Matter in Carbon Cycle Poster

Jared, the Subway man, lost a lot of weight eating a low calorie diet. Where did the mass of his fat go (how was it lost)?– Level 5: “Through breathing out CO2 and H2O through the process of cellular

respiration.”

– Level 4: “The mass was turned into energy and mostly breathed out as CO2.”

– Level 3: “The fat was burned into energy.”

– Level 1/2: “It was lost from eating healthy.”

Energy in Carbon Cycling Poster• Why do people use gasoline instead of water to run

their car?– Level 1/2: Because cars take gas. – Level 3: Because the gasoline has certain fumes to run the car,

but was has none. – Level 4: Gasoline is used instead of water because it is required

to help the engine run. The gasoline undergoes a chemical process in the engine that helps move the car. It is burned up to create energy that helps the car move, which water would not do as successfully, or successfully at all.

• How can the food you eat help you move your little finger?– Level 1/2: When you eat it, it helps you to move your finger. – Level 3: Food is like energy. It helps you move. It helps you

move your little finger by burning energy in your little finger.

The Water Cycle

Framing Questions

• Where does water come from and where does it go to?

• What is in water, how does it get there, and where does it go?

• Do students living in water rich regions think about water differently than students in arid regions?

Moving Water PosterAfter it rains you notice puddles in the middle of the soccer field. After a few days you notice that the puddles are gone. Where did the water go?

“The water had evaporated into the air and when it does that it moves to a pond, river, or lake.”

Could the water end up in your bathtub?

“Yes. If yesterday was a rainy day and if there were puddles saved from yesterday and you open the door it could go in to the bath tub then there would be puddles in the bathtub.”

Substances in Water Poster

How do students connect their understanding of water moving in environmental systems with their understanding of mixtures and solutions?

Question: If you live by the ocean, will your rain be salty? Explain why or why not.

One answer: Yes, because when ocean water evaporates, it will have the salt with the water when it evaporates.

Q: Draw a picture or explain what it looks like where there is water?

Q: Where is most of the fresh water on the Earth found?

Comparing Palestinian and American students’ accounts of water systems

An American student A Palestinian Student

0

20

40

60

80

100

Ar.Poles

Under G Lakesor Riv.

Oceans Others

Location of Fresh Water

Percent

Michigan

Palestine

We focus on biodiversity in environmental systems, across scales, specifically phylogenetic and ecological connections at both smaller and larger scales.

Type of Connection

Mechanism or Smaller Scale Context or Larger Scale

Phylogenetic Traits of organisms associated with heredity, environment, and stage of life cycle; Genetics; Genetic engineering.

Life cycles; Pedigrees; Populations: size and genetic variability; Population change due to natural or human selection

Ecological Adaptations to environmental conditions;Relations with other organisms: ecological niche

Community structure: trophic levels, niches, habitats; Relationships among populations: predation, competition, symbiosis (parasitism, mutualism, commensalisms); Species diversity in ecosystems; Changes in ecosystems due to succession, disturbances, human settlement and management practices.

Biodiversity

Weeds

Why are weeds bad for crops?

Farmers till the soil (stir it up with machines) to get rid of weeds.

Weeds

•Weeds are bad for plants because they ruin the plants.

(VLK)

•Weeds are bad for crops because some are poisonous so

then the weeds get picked with the crops and eaten. (CJD)

•Weeds can kill the crops. They can grow over them and

then they have to compete for nutrients, energy and

sunlight. The weeds can over populate the crops (MMD).

Citizenship

• We live in a society where daily individual decisions have far reaching socio-ecological ramifications. How are students making these decisions?

• How do we equip students with the resources to make such decisions as environmentally responsible citizens?

John’s view of locally grown strawberries

Int: Okay, so you said, let me just repeat to make sure I understand what you’re saying. You’re saying that these are locally grown and that’s not very good because, what about Michigan?

John: The economy’s going to hell and I don’t like Michigan.

Int: Okay, so the economy’s not very good so you think that has some impact on the quality of the produce.

John: Yeah, I think so.

Thank You

Major ContributorsLindsey Mohan, Hui Jin, Kristin Gunckel, Beth Covitt, Edna Tan, Blakely Tsurusaki, Jing Chen, Hasan Abdel-Kareem, Rebecca Dudek, Josephine Zesaguli, Hsin-Yuan Chen, Brook Wilke, Laurel Hartley, Hamin Baek, Kennedy Onyancha, Chris Wilson, Ed Smith, and Jim Gallagher at Michigan State University

Mark Wilson, Karen Draney, Jinnie Choi, and Yong-Sang Lee at the University of California, Berkeley.

This research is supported in part by three grants from the National Science Foundation: Developing a Research-based Learning Progression for the Role of Carbon in Environmental Systems (REC 0529636), the Center for Curriculum Materials in Science (ESI-0227557) and Long-term Ecological Research in Row-crop Agriculture (DEB 0423627. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

Website: http://edr1.educ.msu.edu/EnvironmentalLit/index.htm