Touch Tank as a Learning Tool for Understanding Complex Ecosystem Processes

• In Event: 54.064 - Engaging Complex Social and Scientific Issues in Informal Learning Spaces

Abstract

Objectives:
Learning about ecosystems is challenging because it requires learners to understand how different aspects of an ecosystem are interconnected and interdependent on one another. Most studies on how students learn about complex ecosystems are situated in formal classroom learning environments (Bechtel & Abrahamson, 2005). However given that a growing body of research demonstrates that informal science learning spaces are a vital component of STEM education (NRC, 2009), this study is designed to help learners/visitors understand complex processes that occur within different ocean ecosystems in a science center situated in NE, United States.
Using the touch tank as a model ecosystem, the study focuses on the following research questions:
a) What fosters visitor’s abilities to observe elements of an ecosystem, and
b) How do visitors’ understandings about interconnectedness among elements of an ecosystem change as a result of interacting with a touch tank learning experience?

Theoretical framework:
Making sense of ecosystems is challenging because it requires individuals to deal with visible, invisible, known and unknown aspects of the ecosystem (Hmelo-Silver & Pfeffer, 2004). There are several ways that one can make sense of an ecosystem. Wilensky & Resnick (1999) suggest that one way to learn about ecosystems is to try and understand the different levels within the system. This approach to learning about ecosystems is called “thinking-in levels”. According to the thinking-in-levels way of learning an ecosystem can be viewed from the level of an individual micro or macro organism and also from the level of the environment. Both these levels are interdependent on each other and a disturbance at any one level affects the entire system. The study uses thinking-in-levels framework to help learners understand how the elements within an ocean ecosystem are connected to each other and how they might function as a system.

Methods:
We designed a learning experience for visitors that used the touch tank to explain how elements in a ocean ecosystem are connected to one another. We then used, pre surveys and post surveys (before and after visitors interact with the touch tank) to access learner’s changed understandings of how elements in the ocean ecosystem interact with one another.
Data sources: Families (adults and children) visiting the science center (n (number of families =15). We define family as minimum two individuals arriving at the science center together.

Results:
Preliminary data collection is underway. We will present findings from the surveys about how families understand the interconnectedness between elements of an ecosystem. We also present our findings about how museum exhibits can be designed to help visitors understand complex phenomena.

Scholarly significance:
Prior research has shown that learners find it challenging to conceptualize the role of invisible elements within an ecosystem. Research also suggests that learners consistently focus on the interactions between visible components of the ecosystem (Authors, 2010). This study is significant as it helps learners think about visible and invisible elements in the touch tank ecosystem. The study also helps learners observe the connections between visible and invisible components of the ecosystem.

Authors

• Sameer Honwad, University of New Hampshire

• Kate Leavitt, Seacoast Science Center