Learning Progressions in Environmental Science LiteracyPresentation at the  Learning Progressions in Science (LeaPS) Conference, Iowa City, IA.Written by: Kristin Gunckel, University of Arizona, Lindsey Mohan, Michigan State University, Beth Covitt, University of Montana, Andy Anderson, Michigan State UniversityCulturally relevant ecology, learning progressions and environmental literacyLong Term Ecological Research Math Science PartnershipJune 2009Disclaimer: This research is supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation: Targeted Partnership: Culturally relevant ecology, learning progressions and environmental literacy (NSF-0832173). 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.

Learning Progressions in Environmental Science LiteracyPresentation at the  Learning Progressions in Science (LeaPS) Conference, Iowa City, IA.Written by: Kristin Gunckel, University of Arizona, Lindsey Mohan, Michigan State University, Beth Covitt, University of Montana, Andy Anderson, Michigan State UniversityCulturally relevant ecology, learning progressions and environmental literacyLong Term Ecological Research Math Science PartnershipJune 2009Disclaimer: This research is supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation: Targeted Partnership: Culturally relevant ecology, learning progressions and environmental literacy (NSF-0832173). 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.

Learning Progressions in Environmental Science LiteracyLearning Progressions in Environmental Science Literacy

Kristin Gunckel, University of Arizona

Lindsey Mohan, Michigan State University

Beth Covitt, University of Montana

Andy Anderson, Michigan State University

Important Contributors: Blakely Tsurusaki, Hui Jin, Jing Chen, Hasan Abdel-Kareem, Laurel Hartley, Brooke Wilke, Edna Tan, Jonathon Schramm, Hsin-Yuan Chen, Kennedy Onyancha, Hamin Baek, Josephine Zesaguli, Courtney Schenk, Rebecca Dudek, Mark Wilson, Karen Draney, Yong-Sang Lee, and Jinnie Choi.

Research Grants and PartnersResearch Grants and Partners

This research is supported in part by 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), Learning Progression on Carbon-Transforming Processes in Socio-Ecological Systems (NSF 0815993), and Targeted Partnership: Culturally relevant ecology, learning progressions and environmental literacy (NSF-0832173). 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.

Learning Progression Framework for the Environmental Literacy Project

Learning Progression Framework for the Environmental Literacy Project

Environmental Literacy ProjectEnvironmental Literacy Project

Environmental Science Literacy - the capacity to understand and participate in evidence-based decision-making about socio-ecological systems.

– Water in socio-ecological systems

– Carbon in socio-ecological systems

– Biodiversity

– Citizenship

Two Aspects of Students’ LearningTwo Aspects of Students’ Learning

• Cognitive: What do students’ learning performances tell us about what they do and do not understand about a big idea?– Goal: Identify and describe patterns in

student thinking

• Sociocultural: Why do students’ responses make sense to the students?– Goal: Explain and situate patterns of

thinking in the communities in which students participate

Community

Learning as Mastering a New DiscourseLearning as Mastering a New Discourse

Discourse

Practice

Knowledge

Primary Discourse: Force Dynamic ReasoningPrimary Discourse: Force Dynamic Reasoning

A theory of the world rooted in and shaped by the grammatical structure of language.

– Actors with Abilities

– Purposes and Results

– Needs or Enablers

– Events or Actions

– Settings or Scenes

Secondary Discourse: Scientific Model-Based Reasoning

Secondary Discourse: Scientific Model-Based Reasoning

• All phenomena are parts of connected and dynamic systems

• Operate at multiple scales– Atomic-molecular– Microscopic– Macroscopic– Landscape

• Governed by fundamental principles– Conservation of matter and energy– Gravity flow

• Relies on models grounded in data and applied consistently to explain phenomena

PracticesPractices

Accounts = Explaining & Predicting Practices

KnowledgeKnowledge

Learning Progression Framework: Water in Socio-ecological SystemsLearning Progression Framework: Water in Socio-ecological Systems

Levels of Achievement

Progress Variables Systems & Scale Movement of Water Movement of

Substances

4: Qualitative model-based accounts

3: “School science” narratives

2: Force-dynamic with hidden mechanisms

1: Force-dynamic narratives

Learning performances for specific Progress Variables and Levels of Achievement

Level 1: Force-Dynamic NarrativesLevel 1: Force-Dynamic Narratives

Water as part of the background landscape

Movement of waterPuddles Question: Where does the water in a

puddle go?

“I think the water went into the air”(disappeared).

Bathtub Question: Could the water from the puddle end up in your bathtub?

“No, it already disappeared into the air”

Substances in water“lake water,” “ocean water,” “clean water,” “dirty

water,” “polluted water”

Level 2: Force Dynamic: with Hidden MechanismsLevel 2: Force Dynamic: with Hidden Mechanisms

Actors & Enablers• Movement of water

Bathtub Question

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

• Substances in waterSalty Rain Question: If you live by the

ocean, will your rain be salty? Why or why not?

“No, because the water is filtered by the sky.”

Level 3: School Science Narratives Level 3: School Science Narratives

• Partially connected systemsBathtub Question

“Yes. Water could seep down into the ground and slowly reach its way to your pipes, and it would leak in, and could be part of the water in our bathtub.”

• Substances mixed with waterSalty Rain Question

“No, because when water evaporates, it only evaporated as water and leaves the salt behind.”

Level 4: Qualitative Model-Based ReasoningLevel 4: Qualitative Model-Based Reasoning

• Movement through connected systems at multiple scalesPuddles Question

“Into the ground and into the air. The moleculs [sic] are soaked into the ground like a sponge. Then in evaporation the molecules are heated and forced to move more, and eventually become gas.”

• Substances mixed with water at multiple scalesSalt in Water Question: What happens when

salt dissolves in water?

“ When salt is dissolved into water the salt breaks up into its ions of Na+ and Cl-”

What Progresses?What Progresses?

Home Community

Student

Primary Discourse

Home Community

Primary Discourse

New Community

Secondary Discourse

Student

Learning•New knowledge•New practices•New Discourse

Alternative Pathways and Teaching Experiments

Alternative Pathways and Teaching Experiments

Multi-DimensionalityMulti-Dimensionality

ACCOUNTS (explaining/predicting)

Processes: Generation (photosynthesis), Transformation (digestion, biosynthesis and food chains), and Oxidation (cellular respiration, combustion) of organic carbon

Principles: Matter (conservation of mass and atoms), Energy (conservation and degradation), and Scale.

Naming/Explaining: Words and phrases used, and the types of explanations given.

Matter and Energy DimensionsMatter and Energy Dimensions

Based on person-ability estimates

Correlation .959, so students likely show similar reasoning about matter and energy

Good face validity and make sense to science educators, but for measurement purposes and alternative pathways, these dimensions are not useful.

Multi-DimensionalityMulti-Dimensionality

For the practice of accounts(explaining/predicting)

Processes: Generation (photosynthesis), Transformation (digestion, biosynthesis and food chains), and Oxidation (cellular respiration, combustion) of organic carbon

Principles: Matter (conservation of mass and atoms), Energy (conservation and degradation), and Scale.

Naming/Explaining: Words and phrases used, and the types of explanations given.

Structure-First: Details and NamesStructure-First: Details and Names

Level 1: Force-Dynamic Accounts of Actors and Events

Level 4: Processes and Systems Constrained by Principles

Level 2: Hidden mechanisms about

events

Level 3: Chemical change with unsuccessful

constraints

Learning pathway we’ve documented in classrooms without special instructional intervention.

Represents a pathway that is more the norm than the exception.

Only 10% of HS students reach Upper Anchor on this pathway.

Structure-First: Details and NamesStructure-First: Details and Names

Level 1: Force-Dynamic Accounts of Actors and Events

Level 4: Processes and Systems Constrained by Principles

Level 2: Hidden mechanisms about

events

Level 3: Chemical change with unsuccessful

constraints

Characteristics:

Ability to name systems and processes exceeds explanations

Detailed stories about individual processes

Principles are “assumed”, but not used.

Structure-First: Details and NamesEXAMPLE

Structure-First: Details and NamesEXAMPLE

INTERVIEWER: When the tree grows it becomes heavier, right? It will put on more weight. So where does the mass come from?DRH: It comes from the, like the glucose that it makes, it like keeps building on and building on until it gets as big as it is.INTERVIEWER: So what are the energy sources for the tree?DRH: Well, the same as photosynthesis, vitamins, water, air, light, yeah.….

DRH: Well, yeah I think that it uses like all the same… after it makes its food it uses the glucose for energy.INTERVIEWER: Glucose is a type of energy?DRH: Yep.

Principles-First: Principle-based explanationsPrinciples-First: Principle-based explanations

Level 1: Force-Dynamic Accounts of Actors and Events

Level 4: Processes and Systems Constrained by Principles

Level 2: Hidden mechanisms about

events

Level 3: Chemical change with unsuccessful

constraints

Level 3: Principled accounts at molecular scale w/ few

chemical details

Level 2: Successful conservation at

macroscopic scale

Principles-First: Principle-based explanationsPrinciples-First: Principle-based explanations

Level 1: Force-Dynamic Accounts of Actors and Events

Level 4: Processes and Systems Constrained by Principles

Level 3: Principled accounts at molecular scale w/ few

chemical details

Level 2: Successful conservation at

macroscopic scale

Testing through teaching experiments

Principles-First: Principle-based explanationsPrinciples-First: Principle-based explanations

Level 1: Force-Dynamic Accounts of Actors and Events

Level 4: Processes and Systems Constrained by Principles

Level 3: Principled accounts at molecular scale w/ few

chemical details

Level 2: Successful conservation at

macroscopic scale

Characteristics:

Naming and explaining aligned

Connections across systems and processes in terms of matter and energy

Principles foregrounded

Principles-First: Principle-based explanationsEXAMPLE

Principles-First: Principle-based explanationsEXAMPLE

INTERVIEWER: You said sunlight, can you tell me a little bit about sunlight, how does it supply the tree with energy, do you know how it happens?ER: It comes in, obviously as a form of light energy, and that being a form of energy, it then converts through photosynthesis, it converts that to a form of energy that the tree can use. INTERVIEWER: What form of energy is that?ER: Either kinetic or stored, I am not sure, probably more stored…and it would use kinetic for whatever growing it does at the moment, but it would probably use more stored energy to store it away for another time to use.INTERVIEWER: Where does the tree store its energy?ER: It stores it mostly in the trunk, since that’s the largest area, but in all of the branches of it, in the form of starch.INTERVIEWER: Do you think energy is stored in molecules? ER: No.

Approach to Teaching ExperimentsApproach to Teaching Experiments

•Focus on Principle-based explanations

•Sustained (but flexible) use of tools for reasoning

•Scale: Powers of Ten

•Matter/Energy: Process Tool

Process Tool ExampleProcess Tool Example

Car Running

Process:

Scale:

(Matter Input) (Matter Output)

(Energy Output)(Energy Input)

Chemical Energy Heat

Motion

Octane (CH3(CH2)6CH3)(liquid)

Water (H2O) (gas)

Oxygen (O2) (gas) Carbon Dioxide (CO2) (gas)

Combustion

Atomic-molecular

Car Running

Process:

Scale:

(Matter Input) (Matter Output)

(Energy Output)(Energy Input)

Chemical Energy Heat

Motion

Octane (CH3(CH2)6CH3)(liquid)

Water (H2O) (gas)

Oxygen (O2) (gas) Carbon Dioxide (CO2) (gas)

Combustion

Atomic-molecular

Process Tool ExampleProcess Tool Example

Car Running

Process:

Scale:

(Matter Input) (Matter Output)

(Energy Output)(Energy Input)

Chemical Energy Heat

Motion

Octane (CH3(CH2)6CH3)(liquid)

Water (H2O) (gas)

Oxygen (O2) (gas) Carbon Dioxide (CO2) (gas)

Combustion

Atomic-molecular

Process Tool ExampleProcess Tool Example

Process Tool ExampleProcess Tool Example

Car Running

Process:

Scale:

(Matter Input) (Matter Output)

(Energy Output)(Energy Input)

Chemical Energy Heat

Motion

Octane (CH3(CH2)6CH3)(liquid)

Water (H2O) (gas)

Oxygen (O2) (gas) Carbon Dioxide (CO2) (gas)

Combustion

Atomic-molecular

Powers of Ten ExamplePowers of Ten Example

Validation & Teaching ExperimentsValidation & Teaching Experiments

Three Qualities:• Conceptually coherent• Compatible with current research• Empirically validated

Teaching Experiments:

• Help us engage in hypthesis-testing of alternative pathways (documenting what could be as opposed to what is).

• Help us understand what it takes to get from one level to the next (and how prescriptive instruction must be).

THANK YOU!

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

THANK YOU!

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