This empirical study develops a science learning progression that extends from 4th grade through the first year of college and focuses on key bio-geo-chemical processes in socio-ecological systems at multiples scales, including cellular and organisms, metabolism, ecosystems, energetics and carbon cycling, carbon sequestration, and combustion of fossil fuels.
The project investigates the learning progression hypothesis that there are patterns in the development of students' knowledge and practice that are both conceptually coherent and empirically verifiable. Using an iterative, design-based research process, the project develops: (1) a validated framework; (2) assessment resources; and (3) studies of sequences and mechanisms of conceptual change based on teaching experiments at the elementary, middle, high school and college levels.
This project developed a learning progression extending from upper elementary school through college, focusing on key biogeochemical processes in socio-ecological systems at multiple scales, including cellular and organismal metabolism, ecosystem energetics and carbon cycling, carbon sequestration, and combustion of fossil fuels. These processes: (a) create organic carbon (photosynthesis), (b) transform organic carbon (biosynthesis, digestion, food webs, carbon sequestration), and (c) oxidize organic carbon (cellular respiration, combustion). The primary cause of global climate change is the current worldwide imbalance among these processes, which we label carbon-transforming processes. Public understanding of this topic is uniquely important. Students who are in school today will be asked to make major changes in their own lifestyles and in social and economic policies based on scientific evidence about global climate change. Most high school and college students currently are not prepared to understand and evaluate evidence-based arguments about climate change. The goal or Upper Anchor of this learning progression encompasses the key knowledge and practices needed by citizens and policymakers. The study developed three types of products: 1. A validated learning progression framework describing how learners can make the transition from intuitive thinking to a level of environmental science literacy consistent with the Next Generation Science Standards. The framework describes students’ developing abilities to trace matter and energy through carbon-transforming processes in terms of changes in discourse (ways of using language to describe and explain the world), knowledge, and scientific practices. We have published articles on the learning progression framework in the Journal of Research in Science Teaching and other publications, based on clinical interviews with 163 elementary, middle, and high school students in the United States and China and on written tests administered to over 3500 students. 2. Assessment resources tied to this framework, including on-line and paper-and-pencil written assessments, embedded assessments for classroom teaching, and clinical interviews. These assessments provide an empirical basis for the framework and rich descriptions of the discourse, knowledge, and practice of learners who are diverse with respect to culture, age, and approaches to reasoning. Our written tests and interview protocols are available on our website (http://edr1.educ.msu.edu/EnvironmentalLit/index.htm), along with reports on validation studies. 3. Studies of sequences and mechanisms of conceptual change based on teaching experiments at the elementary, middle school, high school, and college levels. These studies both validate the learning progression framework and develop teaching resources that are available to teachers and curriculum developers. We developed teaching resources for six topics (Systems and Scale, Plants, Animals, Decomposers, Ecosystems, and Human Energy Systems). These materials and research reports based on their use in classrooms are also available on our website. The project has developed a learning progression of unprecedented breadth and scope, making several important connections among domains of knowledge and practice. These include (a) connecting K-12 and adult science learning, (b) connecting research on science learning with development of assessments and curricula for use in schools, and (c) connecting the in-school science curriculum and the out-of-school demands of citizenship and daily life. Reports on this work have been published in book chapters and in scientific journals and are cited in the National Research Council report that serves as the basis for the Next Generation Science Standards.
