Learning About Aquatic Ecosystems in Middle School Classrooms

• In Event: Pedagogical Approaches to Enhancing Problem-Based and Simulation-Based Learning

Abstract

We report the design and preliminary results of a technology-rich middle school classroom intervention that involved three schools, four teachers, and 311 students. The objective of this intervention was to facilitate students’ understanding of a complex aquatic ecosystem by using computer tools that allow learners to explore the relationships between an ecosystem’s structures, behaviors, and functions as well as its macro and micro processes. A pre-posttest single-group design found moderate to large effects for student understanding of relations between structures, behaviors, and functions as well as identifying connections between macro and micro structures and processes. We argue that increased noticing and discussion of relationships is necessary for a more sophisticated understanding of ecosystems.

Authors

• Catherine Eberbach, Rutgers University - New Brunswick/Piscataway

• Cindy E. Hmelo-Silver, Rutgers University

• Suparna Sinha, Rutgers University

• Rebecca Jordan, Rutgers University