Eliciting Motivation to Learn Science Through Community-Based Science Learning

• In Event: Bringing Equity to Science Education Through Curriculum, Assessment, and Community-Based Experiential Learning

Abstract

This paper examined the influence of community assets on science learning in rural and indigenous students. The study was based upon a model of community-based science learning (CBSL) that acknowledged the intertwined nature of learning with a community’s social practices, especially for rural and indigenous learners. Middle-school students (n=348) engaged in a CBSL curriculum that emphasized sustainability and sustainability. Interviews, group-generated systems maps, and final projects were examined for how students learned systems thinking and sustainability as well as how did CBSL elicited motivation for science learning. Implications are included for understanding how embedding science learning within students’ lived experiences engages marginalized youth to provide motivation for learning science and strengthen their identities as community members and science learners.

Authors

• Eleanor Diane Abrams, UMass Lowell College of Education

• Michael J. Middleton, Hunter College

• Sameer Honwad, University of New Hampshire

• Erica Jablonski, University of New Hampshire

• Marlena Koper, University of New Hampshire