1. Center for Curriculum Materials in Science AAAS, Michigan State University, Northwestern University, University of Michigan Presented at the Knowledge Sharing Institute of the Center for Curriculum Materials in Science, July 2007 Center for Curriculum Materials in Science AAAS, Michigan State University, Northwestern University, University of Michigan Learning Progressions in Environmental Science Literacy

2. Center for Curriculum Materials in Science AAAS, Michigan State University, Northwestern University, University of Michigan Important Contributors Lindsey Mohan, Chris Wilson, Beth Covitt, Kristin Gunckel, Blakely Tsurusaki, Hui Jin, Jing Chen, Hasan Abdel-Kareem, Rebecca Dudek, Josephine Zesaguli, Hsin-Yuan Chen, Brook Wilke, Ed Smith, Jim Gallagher, and Edna Tan at Michigan State University Phil Piety at the University of Michigan Mark Wilson, Karen Draney, Jinnie Choi, and Yong-Sang Lee at the University of California, Berkeley.

3. Center for Curriculum Materials in Science AAAS, Michigan State University, Northwestern University, University of Michigan Session Framework Each presenter will discuss their LP in terms of these 6 common features: The domain- what is the LP about in terms of practices, ideas, phenomena? The learners- who are they? Process for characterizing the target performances- what do we want them to be able to know and do by the end, and how did we determine this end point? Process for characterizing starting place- what are our assumptions about where the learners are at the beginning? Framework for describing change- what is the backbone of the progression, how are we thinking about what changes? Defining intermediate steps- an example of change over time for one aspect of the progression

4. Center for Curriculum Materials in Science AAAS, Michigan State University, Northwestern University, University of Michigan Learners Students taking required science courses, about Grade 4 through high school, urban, suburban rural Data sources oPaper and pencil assessments (about 2000 in all) oClinical interviews (about 65 in all) oSome teaching experiment data (not analyzed for this session)

5. Center for Curriculum Materials in Science AAAS, Michigan State University, Northwestern University, University of Michigan Starting points and guiding questions Roles and practices Phenomena: Processes in socio-ecological systems Ideas: Intellectual resources and habits of mind Center for Curriculum Materials in Science AAAS, Michigan State University, Northwestern University, University of Michigan The Domain

6. Center for Curriculum Materials in Science AAAS, Michigan State University, Northwestern University, University of Michigan Domain: Roles and Practices Starting point: What science is essential for ALL Americans? One answer: Science that prepares them to play roles of citizens in environmentally responsible ways: Private roles: learner, consumer, worker Public roles: voter, volunteer, advocate

7. Center for Curriculum Materials in Science AAAS, Michigan State University, Northwestern University, University of Michigan Practices Associated with Citizens’ Roles Inquiry: learning from experience Accounts: using scientific knowledge to explain and predict Citizenship: making environmentally responsible decisions

8. Center for Curriculum Materials in Science AAAS, Michigan State University, Northwestern University, University of Michigan 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?

9. Center for Curriculum Materials in Science AAAS, Michigan State University, Northwestern University, University of Michigan The Domain: Phenomena Structures and Processes of Socio-ecological Systems (Loop Diagram--Figure 1)

10. Center for Curriculum Materials in Science AAAS, Michigan State University, Northwestern University, University of Michigan Implications for Science Curriculum Thinking about any of the issues in the loop requires “completing the loop” Our current curriculum is fragmented and inside the environmental systems box We need to teach what’s inside the box in ways that enable students to connect to the arrows

11. Center for Curriculum Materials in Science AAAS, Michigan State University, Northwestern University, University of Michigan Strands for Phenomena (Handout Table 1) Carbon: foods and fuels, global climate change, processes that produce, transform, and oxidize organic carbon Water: fresh water, water management, processes that move and distribute water, processes that alter water composition Biodiversity: foods and land for living, settlement and management for production, processes that create, sustain, and reduce biodiversity

12. Center for Curriculum Materials in Science AAAS, Michigan State University, Northwestern University, University of Michigan The Domain: Ideas Intellectual Resources and Habits of Mind Models and principles Connecting models at multiple scales Understanding processes leading to change over time Heuristics for making decisions in citizens’ roles and dealing with uncertainty

13. Center for Curriculum Materials in Science AAAS, Michigan State University, Northwestern University, University of Michigan Issues in Deciding on Target Performances What’s necessary? What do students need to be able to do in order to engage in citizens’ roles and practices in environmentally responsible ways? What’s possible? What can we reasonably expect students to learn within the time available for teaching science?

14. Center for Curriculum Materials in Science AAAS, Michigan State University, Northwestern University, University of Michigan Framework for Describing Learning (Figure 2) I.Accounts: Practices of developing accounts (e.g., narratives, models, principles) and using them to explain and predict phenomena in the domain) A.Carbon: Accounts of processes that create, transform, and oxidize organic carbon compounds in socio-ecological systems 1.Tracing matter: Accounting for what happens to the “stuff” in these processes (Mohan, Chen, & Anderson, 2007) 2.Tracing energy: Accounting for what makes things happen—or not happen (Jin & Anderson, 2007) B.Water: Accounts of processes that produce, move, and consume fresh water—and materials carried by fresh water (Gunckel, Covitt, Abdel-Kareem, Dudek, & Anderson, 2007) C.Biodiversity: Accounts of processes that create, modify, and reduce genetic diversity in populations and species diversity in communities (Wilson, Zesaguli, Tsurusaki, Wilke, & Anderson, 2007) II. Citizenship: Practices of making decisions about human actions that use environmental system services or have environmental impact. A.Knowledge: Connecting human actions with environmental systems (Tsurusaki & Anderson, 2007; Tsurusaki, Covitt,& Anderson, 2007) B. Practice: Making decisions about human actions (Tsurusaki, Covitt,& Anderson, 2007)

15. Center for Curriculum Materials in Science AAAS, Michigan State University, Northwestern University, University of Michigan Starting Place and Intermediate Steps What have we learned about how current students engage in these practices?

16. Center for Curriculum Materials in Science AAAS, Michigan State University, Northwestern University, University of Michigan Levels of Achievement (Table 2) Level 7: Quantitative reasoning about uncertainty (expert reports such as IPCC). Level 6: Quantitative reasoning about processes and change over time (decisions based on rates of change). 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). Level 2: Sequences of events with little attention to hidden mechanisms. Level 1: Egocentric reasoning about events.

17. Center for Curriculum Materials in Science AAAS, Michigan State University, Northwestern University, University of Michigan Carbon Example: Macroscopic Events We Have Asked About Plant growth Animal growth and weight loss People exercising Food chains and webs Energy pyramids What happens to food after you eat it. Decay of plants, animals, people Burning matches and candles Automobiles using gasoline

18. Center for Curriculum Materials in Science AAAS, Michigan State University, Northwestern University, University of Michigan Level 5 Reasoning about the Carbon Cycle Combustion, cellular respiration Photosynthesis Matter: CO 2 & H 2 OMatter: Organic matter & O 2 Biosynthesis, digestion, food webs, fossil fuel formation Movement of CO 2, H 2 O, and minerals Energy: Sunlight Energy: Chemical potential energy Energy: Work & heat

19. Center for Curriculum Materials in Science AAAS, Michigan State University, Northwestern University, University of Michigan Percentage of high school students giving Level 5 responses: Approximately 0

20. Center for Curriculum Materials in Science AAAS, Michigan State University, Northwestern University, University of Michigan What Makes Level 5 Reasoning Hard? Connecting scales Different macroscopic events are explained by common atomic- molecular processes Different macroscopic events are connected in large-scale systems Basic chemistry Atoms of gases can be rearranged into solid and liquid molecules Chemical identities of substances and classes of substances Understanding the power of models One model can generate stories of many different events

21. Center for Curriculum Materials in Science AAAS, Michigan State University, Northwestern University, University of Michigan Level 3 Reasoning about the Carbon Cycle Animals Plants Carbon dioxide Oxygen Decay Plants NutrientsFood chains Sunlight The oxygen-carbon dioxide cycle Energy sources for plants: sunlight, nutrients, water Energy sources for animals: food, water Decomposers don’t need energy

22. Center for Curriculum Materials in Science AAAS, Michigan State University, Northwestern University, University of Michigan Some Characteristics of Level 3 Reasoning Focus on macroscopic events and systems Separate stories about different events Stories of gases are separate from stories of solids and liquids Energy as conditions or materials needed to make something happen

23. Center for Curriculum Materials in Science AAAS, Michigan State University, Northwestern University, University of Michigan 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 Procedures to Models Constrained by Principles (changing balance between stories and models, using principles to constrain and connect models, distinguishing models from observations and patterns)

24. Center for Curriculum Materials in Science AAAS, Michigan State University, Northwestern University, University of Michigan Implications for Science Curriculum What’s necessary? What do students need to be able to do in order to engage in citizens’ roles and practices in environmentally responsible ways? Level 7: IPCC reports, Scientific American Level 5: New York Times, High school benchmarks What’s possible? Current levels of achievement in our samples: High school: Levels 3 and 4 Middle school: Levels 2 and 3

25. Center for Curriculum Materials in Science AAAS, Michigan State University, Northwestern University, University of Michigan Our Thinking about Interview Students Student 1 – Level 5: Qualitative model-based reasoning; Separate accounting for matter and energy Student 2 – Level 4-5: Qualitative model-based reasoning about matter. School science narratives about energy: Confusion about forms of energy (especially chemical potential energy) prevents meaningful use of conservation of energy for tracing energy Student 3 – Level 4: School science narratives: processes changing matter and energy. Confusion about substances and forms of energy prevents meaningful use of conservation laws to trace matter or energy Student 4 – Level 3-4: School science narratives about matter: Stories of events use mostly common-language names for materials without meaningful accounting for how matter is conserved or transformed. Gas exchange (O 2 and CO 2 ) is separate from accounts of what happens to food, fuel, and energy. Energy is used in ways consistent with common cultural models (energy in sunlight, muscles, motor of car, not in decaying tree), but not in ways that give it any power as an explanatory concept Student 5 – Level 2-3: Descriptions focus on observable macroscopic events and use mostly informal names for materials. No clear distinction among materials, conditions, and forms of energy in accounts of events. Occasional reference to internal mechanisms, components of materials

26. Center for Curriculum Materials in Science AAAS, Michigan State University, Northwestern University, University of Michigan Extra slides Water, biodiversity, and citizenship

27. Center for Curriculum Materials in Science AAAS, Michigan State University, Northwestern University, University of Michigan The Water Cycle Framing Questions  Where does water come from and go to? (water)  What is in water and how can that change? (materials in water)

28. Center for Curriculum Materials in Science AAAS, Michigan State University, Northwestern University, University of Michigan Phenomena for the Water Cycle Rain and where it comes from Rain soaking into the ground Lakes, rivers, creeks Water pollution and purification Wells Reading maps and cross sectional diagrams Human water systems: Where our water comes from and goes to

29. Center for Curriculum Materials in Science AAAS, Michigan State University, Northwestern University, University of Michigan Biological Diversity and Change over Time in Environmental Systems A third critical component of Environmental Science Literacy is Biodiversity across scales, and how human systems modify and benefit from it. Processes within Populations Processes within Communities Processes that create biodiversity Mutation, sexual recombination Colonization by new species Processes that sustain biodiversity Life cycles, reproduction. Relationships between populations. Processes that reduce biodiversity Natural selection, human selection Natural succession Human management.

30. Center for Curriculum Materials in Science AAAS, Michigan State University, Northwestern University, University of Michigan Data on student reasoning about structure/function, e.g.... and change over time, e.g. Pesticide resistance (Natural selection at the intersection between natural and human systems). Dog breeding (How ancestral wolves gave rise to different breeds.

31. Center for Curriculum Materials in Science AAAS, Michigan State University, Northwestern University, University of Michigan Citizenship Framework

32. Center for Curriculum Materials in Science AAAS, Michigan State University, Northwestern University, University of Michigan Issues for Citizenship Interviews Strawberries. Students in consumer role decide what kind of strawberry products to buy Ice Mountain water. Students in voter role decide whether the Nestle company should be allowed to take water from a Northern Michigan aquifer.