Endangered Species Conservation as a Context for Understanding Student Thinking about Genetic Diversity Shawna McMahon, John Moore & Biodiversity Team Colorado State University

Learning Progressions for Environmental Literacy Motivation & Context One issue where citizens may be called upon to provide an opinion is in the case of endangered species.

Learning Progressions for Environmental Literacy Research Goals Learning Progressions for Environmental Literacy Explore student thinking about genetic diversity in the context of endangered species – do they even think about it? Evaluate if “place” plays a role in this thinking – specifically, will answers differ between charismatic, distant megafauna and local, less charismatic organisms? progress from making such decisions based on emotional/aesthetic criteria to scientifically principled criteria Studies have shown that when material self-interest is not involved, most people make their decisions based on emotional criteria, rather than evidence

Sample of Framework: Genetic Diversity @ Individual/Population Learning Progressions for Environmental Literacy Scale Processes Observations Principles Individual Life cycles Phenotypic variation over an individual’s lifetime Phenotypic variation due to developmental changes and/or plasticity An organism’s physical traits and behaviors are the result of genes being expressed within a determined range, moderated by the environment Population Change in genetic make-up of populations over time & space Phenotypic variability within populations Differential survival & reproduction Specifically, phenotypic & genotypic variability among individuals in and among populations

Learning Progressions for Environmental Literacy Captive Breeding

Level 1 Answers: Relationships, Aesthetics, Protectionism Learning Progressions for Environmental Literacy Level Rubric Description L1 Focus is on the individual and is often strongly anthropomorphic. Students are thinking about animals in human terms (what makes a good group of humans would make a good group of animals), so they may be protecting the small, sick & weak animals or they might be choosing family units for the animals' emotional well-being. Other variables used to choose animals are familiar traits (e.g. age, aesthetics (pretty, cute, etc.), personality, etc.) without a reason as to why these traits would be valuable or lead to reproductive success. Student 1015 (9th Grade Polar Bear): “i would select a group that is healthy and very good in the wild. i would look for nice fur, good survival instincs, and friendly. i would choose the same amount of male and female.” Student 709 (10th Grade, Polar Bear): “i w ould slect the non violent ones that can have self controll.the bears that are nice and polayful and that look interesting.i would only choose 4” Student 1219 (8th Grade, Plover): “i would get the ones who needed the most help”

Level 2 Answers: Healthy & Reproductive Learning Progressions for Environmental Literacy Level Rubric Description L2 Answer focuses on health of the individual (e.g. large, strong, healthy). Health is important for the individual to survive in the program but is not really used as an indicator of fitness. Age may be discussed in the context of the animals being of appropriate reproductive age. Students may choose animals randomly but without indicating why that is important. Time scale is "long time" without mentioning hereditary information - focus is on individuals rather than lineages. Student 1230 (7th Grade, Warbler): “I will probably choose healthy birds, so they live longer.I would look for young, entergetic birds. I would choose about 10 males and 10 females, to be safe.

Level 3 Answers: Best Adapted Learning Progressions for Environmental Literacy Level Rubric Description L3 Answer focuses on picking the best traits that are suited/adapted to a particular environment. The selection process is eugenic - focus on the good and specifically avoid bad genes (or the products of bad genes). Students may select individuals randomly to get unrelated individuals but does not specify why that is important. They may also choose randomly to avoid depopulating an area. Students are considering multiple generations (a focus on the population rather than the individual mating pairs) with traits being passed from parents to offspring. Student 1127 (12th Grade, Polar Bear): “I would look for the polar bears that are the biggest size population because those seem to be surviving the best and probably have characteristics best suted to there envronment.”

Level 4 Answers: Genetic Variation for Future Adaptation Learning Progressions for Environmental Literacy Level Rubric Description L4 Picking a variety of traits for a plausible reason such as preparation for future change, avoiding inbreeding depression, disease resistance, etc. May specifically say that individuals are chosen at random, but must be obvious that it is for genetic variation not for avoiding depopulation. Population must retain some diversity that is not necessarily "good" - focus shifts away from only good traits to traits that could allow for adaptation to future change. Student 1219 (8th Grade, Plover): “i would look for a lot of different birds w/ different characteristics. i would choose just the weak or just the strong birds because if you take stonger birds you can mess up the ecosystem and if you take the weaker ones and try to re introduce them back into the wild, they'll probably die. when you get a mix of strong and waek ones you keep the gene pool varied and give the birds a better chance of survival” Student 765 (9th Grade, Polar Bear): “I would select a fairly large group that had sufficient genetic diversity in order to preserve as many traits and variations as possible.“

Learning Progressions for Environmental Literacy All Animals Together n = (L1-4) = 266 (79%) 289 (88%)

Distant vs. Local - California Learning Progressions for Environmental Literacy Distant vs. Local - California n = (L1-4) = 29 (71%) 17 (50%)

Distant vs. Local - Colorado Learning Progressions for Environmental Literacy Distant vs. Local - Colorado n = (L1-4) = 54 (84%) 58 (79%) n = (L1-4) = 42 (95%) 46 (90%)

Distant vs. Local - Michigan Learning Progressions for Environmental Literacy Distant vs. Local - Michigan 40 (93%) 49 (92%) n = (L1-4) = 57 (92%) 66 (92%) n = (L1-4) =

Distant vs. Local – MD & NY Learning Progressions for Environmental Literacy Distant vs. Local – MD & NY 17 (89%) 19 (95%) n = (L1-4) = 17 (77%) 24 (96%) n = (L1-4) =

Overall: All Grades/Sites by Animals Learning Progressions for Environmental Literacy Overall: All Grades/Sites by Animals n = (L1-4) = 268 (86%) 17 (68%) 104 (84%) 115 (92%) 44 (96%)

Learning Progressions for Environmental Literacy Summary of Findings Learning Progressions for Environmental Literacy HS slightly higher than MS Not much difference in distant vs. local species Some differences between site (especially NY) Good context for talking about genetic diversity in populations Future: Design an intervention that helps kids explore genetic diversity & its consequences