Inquiry Approaches to IntegratingEnvironmental Literacy and 21st Century Skills

Our end goal

Change the World!One person at a time

Our end goal

YOUTH ACTIVE

What does “active” means?

ECOMANAGEMENT

PERSUASSION

CONSUMER

POLITICALLEGAL

B E H A V I O U R S

How we do it?

"In the end, we will conserve only what we love, we will love only what we understand, and we will understand only what we are taught.“

Baba Dioum

+

How we do it?

+Ecological Knowledge

Competencies (skills)

Dispositions Behaviors

Environmental Literate= Active in ConservationAdapted from

NAAEE, 2011Developing a framework for

assessing environmental literacy.http://www.naaee.net/framework

How we do it?

Based on

NAAEE, 2011

Framework for the New K-12 Science Education Standards, National Academy of Sciences, 2012http://www.nextgenscience.org/framework-k%E2%80%9312-science-education

PRAC 11

Epi and 21st century skills

We facilitate a practical application framework for the 21st century skills to be applied into science and conservation education.

How we actually do it?

The target population

The educational approach

The experience

9-12GRADE

How we actually do it?

The target population

The educational approach

The experience

INQUIRY BASED LEARNING

5e Learning cycle (2)

Constructivism (1)

ENGAGE

EXPLORE

EXPLAIN

ELABORATE - EXPAND

EVALUATE

(2) Biological Science Curriculum Study (BSCS), a team led by Principal Investigator Roger Bybee (1978)

(1) Jean Piaget / Howard Garner

Informed by best practices including lessons from Pacific Education Institute (PEI)

Types of Research

Questions

Descriptive Field

Investigations

Comparative Field

Investigations

Correlative Field

Investigations

Curriculum example

competencies core-track

Identify and ask

Design and collects

Analyzes & Interprets

Constructs

Explanations

Arguments – from evidence

Presents & Articulates

Lessons

competencies

Based on Pacific Education Institute, 2007

Field Investigations: Using Outdoor Environments to Foster Student Learning of Scientific Processes

http://www.fishwildlife.org/files/ConEd-Field-Investigations-Guide.pdf

TEAM 2

TEAM 1

CROCODILE

TURTLES

ENGAGE - CROCODILE RIVER

OBJECTIVES

1. PREVIOUS KNOWLEDGE

2. TEAM BUILDING

HYPOTESIS

METHODOLOGY

VARIABLES

COMPARATIVE INVESTIGATIONS

EXPLORE – COLLECT DIFFERENT TIMES-POPULATIONS

EXPLAIN - CONCEPTS

EXPAND – DESIGN ANOTHER COMPARATIVE INV.

EVALUATE – PRESENTATION

How we actually do it?

The target population

The educational approach

The experience

Outside the classroom

Unique places

Hands-on science experiences

Working on real conservation projectsWith endangered species or habitats

Real contribution to long-term research projects

How we actually do it?

The target population

The educational approach

The experience

Visiting students

turtles forest 9-12 days

Local students

turtlesPreparation Follow-up

1 Semester

Research project

mentorshipEco -club arts

VIDEO

Where we work?

belize Costa rica

Mexico yellostone Galapagos (Ecuador)

Eric Angel Ramos, 2012

How we evaluate our results?

The hypothesis

The timeline

The Instruments

The Results

EPI’s alumni demonstrates GREATER knowledge, dispositions, competencies and behavior to actively engage, individually or as a group, in addressing environmental challenges

EPI’s Environmental Literacy Index = 100 points

Knowledge = 20 dispositions = 25 competencies = 25 behaviours = 30

How we evaluate our results?

The hypothesis

The timeline

The Instruments

The Results

KNOWLEDGE

COMPETENCIES

BEHAVIOURS

DISPOSITIONS

PRE POSTPOST-

POST

ALUMNI

SURVEYOUTREACH

EVENTSAT EVENT

ON

LY

SE

LF

EV

ALU

AT

ION

SU

BJE

CT

SP

EC

IFIC

BA

SE

LIN

E

How we evaluate our results?

The hypothesis

The timeline

The Instruments

The Results

Reliability

validity

Test-retest

Content – 2 experts

Informed by:

MSELS – MSELI - cheaks

spsi

Margin error 3 percent

sample 245 students380 total

Middle School Environmental Literacy Survey

Secondary School Environmental Literacy Instrument

Children's Environmental Attitudes and Knowledge Scale

Science Process Skills Inventory

How we evaluate our results?

The hypothesis

The timeline

The Instruments

The Results

AGE BREAKDOWN

GRADE BREAKDOWN

GENDER BREAKDOWN

EVALUATION

PARTICIPANTS

245

EFFECT SIZE DEFINITION: In each Cohen’s d test, the mean of the population

(PRE) was subtracted from the mean of the sample (POST), and then divided

by the standard deviation of the population. The results of Cohen’s d are

commonly referred to as effect size. Cohen indicated that d = 20% was

considered a small effect size, d = 50% was a medium effect size, and d = 80%

was considered a large effect size

Expectations vs results

EXPECTED:INCREASE IN MEANS FOR EACH SECTION

DECREASE ON STANDARD DEVIATION

SMALL TO LARGE EFFECT SIZE FOR EACH SECTION

RESULTS ON EFFECT SIZE:

ECOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE

DISPOSITIONS

COMPETENCIES

BEHAVIOURS

POSITIVE

SMALL EFFECT

POSITIVE

MEDIUM EFFECT

POSITIVE

LARGE EFFECT

0.22

0.36

0.86

1.18

Expectations vs results

EXPECTED:INCREASE IN MEANS FOR EACH SECTION

DECREASE ON STANDARD DEVIATION

SMALL TO LARGE EFFECT SIZE FOR EACH SECTION

RESULTS:

POSITIVE

MEDIUM EFFECT

Knowledge about strategies I can use to express behaviors

Only section with an increase

on standard deviation

Expectations vs results

EXPECTED:INCREASE IN MEANS FOR EACH SECTION

DECREASE ON STANDARD DEVIATION

SMALL TO LARGE EFFECT SIZE FOR EACH SECTION

RESULTS:

While there is a positive effect, this is small.

Participants expressed before the intervention

a high level of dispositions towards the

environment. (20,9 points out of 25) .

Expectations vs results

EXPECTED:INCREASE IN MEANS FOR EACH SECTION

DECREASE ON STANDARD DEVIATION

SMALL TO LARGE EFFECT SIZE FOR EACH SECTION

RESULTS:

[…] relatively few environmental education programs have contributed significantly

to the development, application, and transfer of cognitive skills.

North American association of environmental education (NAAEE)

Framework for assessing environmental literacy,2011

POSITIVE

LARGE EFFECT

Expectations vs results

EXPECTED:INCREASE IN MEANS FOR EACH SECTION

DECREASE ON STANDARD DEVIATION

SMALL TO LARGE EFFECT SIZE FOR EACH SECTION

RESULTS:

This variable was evaluated on a post-post test implemented on sept 28th.,

five months later from first intervention. 157 random participants from

2013 filled the test which gave us 90per cent confidence and 5 per cent

margin error.

POSITIVE

LARGE EFFECT

How we evaluate our results?

The hypothesis

The timeline

The Instruments

The Results

Other results

Says that EPIs program…

Improved my scientific skills

Better understand science concepts

related to their science curriculum

Study limitations

Language - tropicalization

Lack of “control group” to compare dispositions AND BEHAVIOURS

self-percepction assessment vs more objective assessment

Miguel fuentesCurriculum and evaluation directormiguel@ecologyproject.org @mgfuentes

Eylen zuñigaCurriculum coordinatoreylen@ecologyproject.org

14 OR LESS

15

16

17

18+

14 OR LESS

15

FEMALE

MALE 7TH – 9TH

10TH

11TH

12TH