Environmental Literacy

Research Group

MSU Environmental Literacy Project

Kristin L. Gunckel & Blakely K. Tsurusaki

MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY

Presented at the 2007 Michigan Alliance for Outdoor and
Environmental Education Conference

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 0529636), the
Center for Curriculum Materials in Science (ESI-0227557) and Long-
term Ecological Research in Row-crop Agriculture (DEB 0423627.
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.

CCMS
 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE LITERACY
Environmental Literacy
Research Group
RESEARCH GROUP

 Principal Investigator, Charles W. Anderson,

Michigan State University
 Lindsey Mohan, Chris Wilson, Beth Covitt, 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.
PRESENTATION OVERVIEW
Environmental Literacy
Research Group

 What is Environmental Science Literacy?

 Introduction to Learning Progressions
 Our research
 Audience participation
 Implications of our research
 Resources
 Get Involved!
 THE NEED FOR
Environmental Literacy
Research Group
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE LITERACY

 Humans are fundamentally altering natural

systems that sustain life on Earth
 Citizens need to understand science to make
informed decisions that maintain Earth’s life
supporting systems
 Citizens act in multiple roles that affect
environmental systems: as learners,
consumers, voters, workers, volunteers, and
advocates
RESPONSIBLE CITIZENSHIP and
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE LITERACY Environmental Literacy
Research Group

Environmental science literacy is the capacity

to understand and participate in evidence-
based decision-making about the effects of
human actions in coupled human and natural
environmental systems.

(Anderson, et al., 2006)

 STRANDS FOR PHENOMENA
Environmental Literacy
Research Group

 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,
processes that create, sustain, and reduce
biodiversity
THE LOOP DIAGRAM: STRUCTURES
AND PROCESSES OF SOCIO- Environmental Literacy

ECOLOGICAL SYSTEMS Research Group

 IMPLICATIONS FOR SCIENCE
Environmental Literacy
Research Group
CURRICULUM

 Thinking about any of the issues in the

loop requires “completing the loop”
 Our current K-12 school 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
 EXAMPLE SCENARIO: Ice Mountain
Environmental Literacy
Research Group
Water

 Nestle Bottling Company (Ice

Mountain Bottled Water) has applied
to drill a large well in the Muskegon
River Watershed. Should they be
allowed to do so?
 Where is the source of the water?
 How much water will be withdrawn?
 How will the well affect the groundwater
supply?
 How will the well affect the tributary rivers
and the trout in the rivers?
THE LOOP DIAGRAM: ICE MOUNTAIN Environmental Literacy
Research Group

Human Actions with Environmental Impact

Groundwater Pumping

Human, Social, & Economic Systems Natural Environmental Systems

Structure of systems Structure of systems

Wells Groundwater, Surface water,
Connections to Atmosphere
Natural systems, Connections among systems
Social & Economic systems
Processes that move water through
Processes that move water connected systems
Groundwater pumping Precipitation, Run-off, infiltration

Environmental System Services

Abundant, high quality fresh

water
Water: Current K-12 Curriculum
Environmental Literacy
Research Group

 K-5:
 Water cycle, where water is located, water conservation
 6-12:
 Physical science: phase change
 Chemistry: solutions
 Earth science: weather
 Missing
 Groundwater
 Watersheds
 Engineered systems
 LEARNING PROGRESSIONS
Environmental Literacy
Research Group

High School Connected Understanding

Middle School

Elementary School
LEARNING PROGRESSIONS
Environmental Literacy
Research Group

Upper Anchor
What high school students should know
and be able to do

Lower Anchor
How children think and
make sense of the world
WHY LEARNING PROGRESSIONS?
Environmental Literacy
Research Group

 How do students move from their ideas to more

scientific answers? (learning trajectory)
 What are the connections between students’
experiences and how they are thinking about
concepts at different points in their K-12
schooling?
 How can we rethink curriculum to best help
students learn?
 STUDENT ASSESSMENTS
Environmental Literacy
Research Group

 Assess student understand of science

concepts
 Analyze patterns in student answers
 Conduct interviews
 PARTICIPATION
Environmental Literacy
Research Group

 Arrange the answers from highest to

lowest in terms of understanding.
 What do these questions tell you
about students’ understandings of
watersheds, groundwater, and the
connections between them?
 WATER IN THE RIVER QUESTION
Environmental Literacy
Research Group

Why is there still water flowing in

rivers even when it hasn’t rained
recently anywhere along the river?
 WATERSHED QUESTION
Environmental Literacy
Research Group

If a water pollutant is put into the river at

town C, which towns (if any) would be
affected by the pollution? Explain why only
these towns would be affected.
 GROUNDWATER QUESTION
Environmental Literacy
Research Group

Sometimes we get water out of the

ground using wells. Draw a picture of
what you think it looks like
underground where there’s water. Be
sure to label the important things that
help show how water exists
underground. Also, show in your
picture how we get water out of the
ground.
INTERPRETATION: Structure of Systems
Environmental Literacy
Research Group

 Trend from lower to higher level answers:

Invisible to visible
 Yet even at higher levels, important parts and
connections remain invisible or poorly
understood
 Examples:
 Groundwater Question: Answer C vs. Answer A
 Water in River Question: Answer B vs. Answer C
INTERPRETATION: Connections Among
Systems Environmental Literacy
Research Group

 Trend from lower to higher level answer: Need

for processes to explain what happens
 Yet even at higher levels, some important
processes remain poorly understood
 Examples:
 Watershed Question: Answer A vs. Answer B
 Water in River Question: Answer B vs. Answer C
 WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
Environmental Literacy
Research Group

Interview Data: Ice Mountain Scenario

 What stands out to you about

students’ understanding of the
science?
 What are students basing their
decisions on?
 How is their understanding of
science affecting their decisions?
INTERPRETATION Environmental Literacy
Research Group
IMPLICATIONS
Environmental Literacy
Research Group

 Make the invisible parts of systems visible

 Students need to understand how water moves
through one system before they can understand
how to connect systems
 Start with the ideas that students bring to
learning about the environment
 Recognize that how humans are connected to
and influence environmental systems
 NEXT STEPS
Environmental Literacy
Research Group

 Increase emphasis on inquiry and citizenship

in addition to accounts
 Refine assessments
 Conduct teaching experiments to refine
understanding of how students engage with
and learn about environmental science
 Use research to…
 Inform development of curriculum materials
 Inform development of new standards for formal
K-12 science education
 RESOURCES
Environmental Literacy
Research Group

Environmental Literacy website:

 Assessments
 Curriculum
 Papers and Presentations

http://edr1.educ.msu.edu/EnvironmentalLit/i
Environmental Literacy
QUESTIONS & COMMENTS
Research Group