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Environmental Literacy
Research Group
LEARNING PROGRESSIONS TOWARD
ENVIRONMENTAL LITERACY
Charles W. Anderson, Beth Covitt, Kristin Gunckel,
Lindsey Mohan, In-Young Cho, Hui Jin, Christopher D.
Wilson, John Lockhart, Ajay Sharma, Blakely Tsurusaki,
Jim Gallagher
MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY
PARTNERS
Environmental Literacy
Research Group
Mark Wilson, Karen Draney, University of
California, Berkeley
Joe Krajcik. Phil Piety, University of
Michigan
Brian Reiser, Northwestern University
Jo Ellen Roseman, AAAS Project 2061
Long Term Ecological Research (LTER)
Network








Alan Berkowitz, Baltimore Ecosystem Study
Ali Whitmer, Santa Barbara Coastal
John Moore, Shortgrass Steppe
Environmental Literacy
Research Group
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR
ENVIRONMENTAL LITERACY LEARNING
PROGRESSION
Practices
Principles
Processes in systems
MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY
Environmental Literacy
Research Group
PRACTICES for ENVIRONMENTAL
SCIENCE LITERACY (SECTIONS OF
TABLE)
1. Inquiry: Learning from experience (not addressed in these
papers)


Practical and scientific inquiry
Developing arguments from evidence
2 and 3. Scientific accounts and applications: Learning from
authorities


Applying fundamental principles to processes in
systems
Using scientific models and patterns to explain and
predict
4. Using scientific reasoning in responsible citizenship:
Reconciling experience, authority, and values



Enacting personal agency on environmental issues
Reconciling actions or policies with values
Understanding and evaluating arguments among
experts
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE ACCOUNTS
and APPLICATIONS
Applying fundamental
principles (rows of
table)…
 Structure of systems:
nanoscopic, microscopic,
macroscopic, large scale
 Constraints on processes:
tracing matter, energy,
information
 Change over time:
evolution, multiple causes,
feedback loops
…to processes in coupled
human and natural
systems (columns of
table)
 Earth systems:
Geosphere, hydrosphere,
atmosphere
 Living systems:
Producers, consumers,
decomposers
 Engineered systems:
Food, water, energy,
transportation, housing
METHODS FOR INVESTIGATING
PROGRESSIONS IN STUDENT
PERFORMANCES
Environmental Literacy
Research Group
 Data sources
– Volunteer teachers in working groups
– Tests administered to upper elementary, middle, and high school
students (available on website)
 Data analysis
– Developing rubrics for open-response questions
– Searching for patterns and common themes within and across
tests
 Patterns in accounts of environmental systems (Practices 2 and 3)
 Patterns in reconciling experience, authority, and values (Practice 4)
– Looking for developmental trends
Environmental Literacy
Research Group
A K-12 LEARNING PROGRESSION
TO SUPPORT UNDERSTANDING
OF WATER IN THE ENVIRONMENT
Beth Covitt & Kristin Gunckel
CCMS Knowledge Sharing Institute
July 10, 2006
MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY
TRACING WATER
IN ENVIRONMENTAL SYSTEMS
What to know about “tracing water and other substances”
In environmental systems, water usually exists as a mixture
When moving through systems, water carries other substances
Substances “picked up” by water occur naturally or are result of human
action
Humans prefer to find and use water with few added substances
Humans treat water to minimize harmful substances before/after use
Humans return used water to natural systems. Water travels through water
cycle and is reused by humans and other species.
PRINCIPLES, PROCESSES and SYSTEMS
One facet of water literacy is that…
Students can apply FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES
(e.g., structure of connected human & natural systems)
to PROCESSES IN SYSTEMS
(e.g., tracing water & other substances through systems)
Examples
Groundwater
Landfill Contamination
Watersheds
Ocean Water
Human Water System
SOME QUESTIONS NOT ADDRESSED TODAY
Watersheds
If a pollutant is put into a river at Town C,
which towns will be affected?
Ocean Water
Why can’t we drink clean ocean water without treating it first?
How could you make ocean water drinkable?
Human Water System
Where does water come from before it gets to your house?
Where does it go after your house?
GROUNDWATER
Draw a picture or explain what it looks like
underground where there is water.
Underground Water
70
60
Elementary
40
Middle
30
High
20
10
nt
er
pr
et
ab
le
/O
th
er
Un
i
Co
nt
ai
ne
rs
Hu
m
an
In
La
ye
rs
&
Po
ol
s
Sp
ac
es
0
In
Percent
50
GROUNDWATER
Draw a picture or explain what it looks like
underground where there is water.
Example from High School
LANDFILL CONTAMINATION
Can a landfill (garbage dump) cause water pollution
in a well?
Can a Landfill Contaminate a Well?
100
90
80
Percent
70
60
Elementary
50
Middle
40
High
30
20
10
0
Yes
No
Don't Know
LANDFILL CONTAMINATION
How could a landfill contaminate a well?
How Landfill Contaminates Well
40
35
30
Elementary
25
20
15
10
Middle
High
nt
er
pr
et
ab
le
/O
th
er
M
ec
ha
ni
sm
Un
i
Ab
ov
e
at
er
w/
ou
tW
G
ro
un
d
Tr
an
sp
or
t
an
sp
or
t
Tr
/o
ut
W
at
er
w
d
Li
qu
i
So
lid
ra
ns
po
rt
5
0
W
at
er
T
Percent
50
45
Environmental Literacy
Research Group
KEY FINDINGS: PROGRESSION IN
STUDENT UNDERSTANDING OVER TIME
Increasing understanding of complexity of systems
BUT invisible parts of systems remain invisible
Water as mixtures; transport substances
Groundwater, watersheds, atmospheric systems
Connections between natural & human systems
Increasing understanding of need for processes &
mechanisms, BUT how these mechanisms work &
constraints on processes remain poorly understood.
Evaporation, condensation
Treating water
Increasing awareness of scales, BUT little success in
connecting accounts across different levels
Macro-Large Scale: Watersheds
Environmental Literacy
Research Group
DEVELOPING A CARBON CYCLE LEARNING
PROGRESSION FOR K-12
MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY
PRINCIPLES, PROCESSES and SYSTEMS
Applying fundamental principles…


Structure of systems:
– atomic-molecular (CO2 and organic
materials),
– single-celled and multicellular
organisms (producers, consumers,
decomposers),
– ecosystems
Constraints on processes:
– Tracing matter: inorganic to organic
forms
…to processes in
coupled human
and natural
systems
 Physical Change of
Dry Ice
 Burning Match
 Losing Weight
 Plant Growth
Environmental Literacy
Research Group
TRACING CARBON
IN ENVIRONMENTAL SYSTEMS
Living systems follow the basic principles of physical and
chemical change, including conservation of mass and
conservation of atoms
Organisms are made mostly of water and organic
substances
Organic substances consist of molecules with reduced C
plus H, O, and a few other elements
Virtually all reduced C is created from CO2 and H2O through
the process of photosynthesis
Virtually all organisms get their energy by oxidizing reduced
C compounds in cellular respiration
The products of cellular respiration are CO2 and H2O
Summary: CO2 + H2O + minerals with N, P, etc.
photosynthesis
Organic substances + O2
CO2 + H2O + minerals
c. respiration
Environmental Literacy
Research Group
CONSERVING MASS DURING
PHYSICAL CHANGE
A sample of solid carbon dioxide (dry ice) is placed in a tube
and the tube is sealed after all of the air is removed. The tube
and solid carbon dioxide weigh 27 grams.
Dry Ice
The tube is then heated until all of the dry ice evaporates and
the tube is filled with carbon dioxide gas. The weight after
heating will be:
a.
less than 26 grams.
b.
26 grams.
c.
between 26 and 27 grams.
d.
27 grams.
e.
more than 27 grams.
Explain the reason for your answer to the previous question.
CHANGE OF STATE
Environmental Literacy
Research Group
Conserving Mass
DryDuring
Ice Physical Change
70
% of students
60
50
40
Middle
30
High
20
10
0
Weight is
less after
sublimation
Weight is
Weight is
the same more after
after
sublimation
sublimation
No
response
 “Because going from a solid to a gas, it weighs less”
 “Because of the law of conservation of mass”
BURNING MATCH
Environmental Literacy
Research Group
What happens to the wood of a match as the match burns?
Why does the match lose weight as it burns?
Elem
Middle
High
Account for matter (CO2 and H2O)
0%
0%
10%
Match turns to gases, do not specify gases
0%
10%
5%
12.5%
15%
12.5%
0%
0%
5%
27.5%
47.5%
17.5%
Physical “visible” changes (turns to smaller pieces)
10%
20%
20%
I don’t know or no response
50%
7.5%
30%
Account for matter as visible products
Matter is transformed to energy
Matter disappears, evaporates, disintegrates
LOSING WEIGHT
Environmental Literacy
Research Group
A person on a diet lost 20 pounds.
Some of his fat is gone. What
happened to the mass of the fat?




“As mass is converted into energy for energy
for use, it has to go somewhere. This energy
is used to power the body and the fat (now
transformed to energy) is spent and no long
in the body”
“I think it is turned into energy and it also
comes out by it turning into water or gas”
“it will come out of the large intestine”
“the person sweats”
LOSING WEIGHT
Environmental Literacy
Research Group
% of students
A person on a diet lost 20 pounds. Some of his fat is gone.
What happened to the mass of the fat?
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Elem
Middle
High
Fat is broken
Fat is
Fat is
Fat is stored
down to CO2 changed into converted into in the body
and H2O in water / sweat
energy for
cells
body functions
Fat is
released in
the form of
feces
Fat burns out I don’t know /
or disappears no response /
unintelligible
PRINCIPLES, PROCESSES and SYSTEMS
Environmental Literacy
Research Group

The fundamental principle of tracing matter is
not being applied by students.

Few students understand gases as products
or reactants in cellular respiration

Students frequently interconvert matter and
energy.

Many students saw “fat burning” as a process
involving “breaking down”, but did not trace it
to a chemical process of oxidation into CO2
and H2O in cellular respiration
PLANT GROWTH
Environmental Literacy
Research Group
A small acorn grows into a large oak tree. Where do
you think the plant’s increase in weight comes from?
Elem
Middle
High
CO2 in air and H2O from roots
0%
0%
0%
From food or glucose
15%
15%
12.5%
12.5%
7.5%
25%
H2O from roots
15%
25%
10%
Air
2.5%
0%
0%
From the ground or roots
12.5%
17.5%
5%
Natural growth
7.5%
12.5%
7.5%
Other or Unintelligible
10%
17.5%
32.5%
I don’t know or no response
25%
5%
7.5%
From air, sun, water, minerals and/or soil
PRINCIPLES, PROCESSES and SYSTEMS
Environmental Literacy
Research Group
•
The fundamental principle of tracing matter is
not being applied by students.
•
Few students understand gases as products
or reactants in photosynthesis.
•
Students frequently saw water and soil
nutrients as the critical source of plant weight.
KEY FINDINGS: FROM YOUNGER TO OLDER
STUDENTS, WE SEE PROGRESS…
 From stories to model-based accounts
– Shift from why to how--purposes to mechanisms
– BUT lack knowledge of critical parts of systems
 From macroscopic to hierarchy of systems
– Increased awareness of atomic-molecular and large-scale systems
– BUT little success in connecting accounts at different levels
 Increasing awareness of constraints on processes
– Increasing awareness of conservation laws
– BUT rarely successful in constraint-based reasoning
 Increasing awareness of “invisible” parts of systems
– Increasing detail and complexity
– BUT gases, decomposers, connections between human and
natural systems remain “invisible”
TO DO LIST
Environmental Literacy
Research Group




Systematic review of literature
Better assessments
- for inquiry (Practice 1)
- for applications to citizenship (Practice 4)
- Psychometric quality (BEAR assessment
system)
Understanding pre-model-based
reasoning in elementary students (and all
of us)
- Embodied reasoning and inquiry
- Storytelling and scientific accounts
Teaching experiments at upper elementary,
middle school, and high school levels
Environmental Literacy
Research Group
MORE INFORMATION
Papers, Assessments, and Other
Materials are Available on Our
Website:
http://edr1.educ.msu.edu/EnvironmentalLit/index.htm
SLIDES AFTER THIS ARE
FOR BACKUP IN
RESPONSE TO QUESTIONS
NEXT STEPS
Environmental Literacy
Research Group
Continue literature review
Revise and expand assessments
Greater emphasis on inquiry and citizenship
Develop “mini water units”
Conduct teaching experiments
Further articulation of “K-12 Water in Environmental
Systems Learning Progression”
WATERSHEDS
If a water pollutant is put into river at town C,
which towns will be affected?
Which towns will be affected?
70
60
Percent
50
40
Middle
30
High
20
10
0
A or
A&C
ABC or ABCD
or D
AB or
BC or B
C Only
Other /
No
Answer
 Few students understand how water flows in watersheds
WATERSHEDS
If a water pollutant is put into river at town C,
which towns will be affected?
Why were towns affected?
70
60
Percent
50
40
Middle
30
High
20
10
0
Explains how
water moves
All are
connected
Water flows
other way
Pollution
evaporates
Other / No
Answer
OCEAN WATER
Why can’t we use clean ocean water for drinking
without treating it first?
Why can't we drink ocean water?
100
Elementary
60
Middle
40
High
20
did not
answer
don't know
other
harmful
polluted
bacteria/germs
0
Too salty
Percent
80
OCEAN WATER
How could you make ocean water drinkable?
How would you make ocean water drinkable?
100
60
Middle
40
High
Did not
answer
Other
Combination
Filter
Boil only
0
Clean/Treat
20
Boil &
Condense
Percent
80
THE HUMAN WATER SYSTEM
Where does water come from before it gets to your
house? And where does it go after?
THE HUMAN WATER SYSTEM
Water Treatment
Water Treated After Home
80
80
70
70
60
60
50
Elementary
40
Middle
30
High
Percent
Percent
Water Treated Before Home
50
Elementary
40
Middle
30
High
20
20
10
10
0
0
Treated
Before
Not Treated
Before
No Answer
Treated After Not Treated
After
No Answer
 Most students do not mention water treatment
 More of elementary & middle mention treatment before
 More of high school mention treatment after
THE HUMAN WATER SYSTEM
Water Recycling in the Human System
Water Recycles After Home
Water Recycles Before Home
90
90
80
80
70
70
60
Elementary
50
Middle
40
High
Percent
Percent
60
Middle
40
30
30
20
20
10
10
0
Elementary
50
High
0
Recycles in Human
System
No Recycling
No Answ er
Recycles in Human
System
No Recycling
No Answ er
 40 percent of high school students indicate that water recycles
PRACTICES 2 and 3: SCIENTIFIC ACCOUNTS
and their APPLICATIONS
 From stories to model-based accounts
– Shift from why to how--purposes to mechanisms
– BUT lack knowledge of critical parts of systems
 From macroscopic to hierarchy of systems
– Increased awareness of atomic-molecular and large-scale systems
– BUT little success in connecting accounts at different levels
 Increasing awareness of constraints on systems
– Increasing awareness of conservation laws
– BUT rarely successful in constraint-based reasoning
 Increasing awareness of “invisible” parts of systems
– Increasing detail and complexity
– BUT gases, decomposers, connections between human and
natural systems remain “invisible”