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)

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)

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 Poster After 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

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 ScaleContext or Larger Scale PhylogeneticTraits 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 EcologicalAdaptations 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 (MM D).

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 Contributors Lindsey 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 ), the Center for Curriculum Materials in Science (ESI ) and Long-term Ecological Research in Row-crop Agriculture (DEB 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: