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. EVIRONMENTAL LITERACY ENVIRONMENTAL LITERACY Center for Curriculum Materials in Science (CCMS) Comparing Palestinian and American Students’ Accounts of Water in Environmental Systems Hasan Abdelkareem & Charles W. Anderson Michigan State University Comparing Palestinian and American Students’ Accounts of Water in Environmental Systems Hasan Abdelkareem & Charles W. Anderson Michigan State University Palestine and Michigan: Two Different environments Examples of Results: Similarities and differences Discussion & Implications This poster reports on a study comparing two groups of learners in terms of their understanding of the water cycle. We compared how two groups of American and Palestinian students understand concepts and processes related to water cycle. These two contexts are different in both environmental and socio-political regards: Unlike in Michigan context, where the American students are located, water sources in Palestine are scarce and limited. Furthermore, Palestinian students rarely experience surface water such as rivers, lakes, or ocean. In Palestine, access to water and water sources management are vivid examples of how environmental issues are turned to political struggle. There is an ongoing conflict between the Palestinians and the Israelis regarding access to water. A. Out of sight out of mind: Students have shown similar naïve reasoning regarding school curricula concepts and processes such as evaporation, condensation, and precipitation. Regardless students cultural and environmental context, these usually are the main topics in water cycle that addressed in the formal curriculum. Very few students from the American and Palestinian contexts were able to draw reasonable diagrams of underground water or to interpret a three-dimensional map about watersheds. These “out of sight” parts of the water cycle were the most difficult for participants to visualize. B. Local culture & global aspects of environmental literacy: There is a vivid difference in how groups traced water through natural and human systems. Unlike their American peers, Palestinian learners did not trace water through treatment plants before or after their houses. Our work suggests that although many environmental problems are seen as global, learners’ locations and cultures play a significant role in their understanding. C. Environmental crises or political struggle? Access to water in many places like Palestine is an example of the power struggle that prevents the basic environmental system services for people of all social classes, nations, and generations. Water resources management is one of the main complicated issues in the Palestinian – Israeli conflict. Political conflict over water resources Socio-economic status and water management Water availability in the two environments. Surface water distribution We were interested in how the reasoning of the two groups in terms of water cycle is affected by their geographic location and culture. 1.Participants: Participants were upper elementary through high school students in rural and urban areas. Around 1000 students participated in this study from 20 American and Palestinian schools. 2. Instrument: We administrated written tests in both Arabic and English languages. The test addressed three main domains of the water cycle: A. Factual questions: such as water distribution and water usage for daily life activities. B. Scientific representations: water cycle diagrams, watersheds, and underground water. C. Tracing water through human and natural systems. Although participants in this study were from elementary, middle, and high school, in this stage we are only reporting on a representative sample from high school learners. QuestionMichigan StudentsPalestine Students A. Draw a picture or explain what it looks like underground where there is water. (Representations of ground water: students in both groups show superficial spatial visualizations of ground water. They tend to show it in rivers and containers) B. Where is most of the fresh water on the Earth found? Unlike their Palestinian peers, around 58% of Michigan students were able to locate fresh water around the Poles. The majority of the Palestinian students thought that most of the fresh water is underground. C. When you take a shower, water comes out of the showerhead and then goes to the drain. But where does it come from and where does it go? (Water treatment plants, recycling water, and connecting natural and human engineering systems were more vivid to the American students than the Palestinians) Methods & Data Sources