Learning in and About Rural Places: Connecting Students’ Everyday Experiences to Science Practices in the Environmental Sciences

• In Event: Poster Session 4
  In Poster Session: Examining Engagement in Science Across People, Places, and Time

Abstract

uided by sociocultural perspectives on learning, we investigated 14- and 15-year old students’ understandings of their community and science in a watershed unit. Data collection and analysis included a theory-driven thematic analysis of fieldnotes from four biology classrooms, a qualitative analysis of 74 concept maps, and a content analysis of 74 student reflections. Learners recognized the relevance of the watershed’s health to their community’s health as they learned about stream health. Students acknowledged the impacts of local economically-driven activities (natural gas wells, application of agrichemicals) on the watershed’s environmental health, yet, as a group struggled to fully understand humans’ impact on watersheds. Implications are discussed about rural experiences (i.e., gas drilling, farming) as assets to future science learning

Authors

• Heather Toomey Zimmerman, The Pennsylvania State University

• Jennifer Lynn Weible, The Pennsylvania State University