Supporting Students to Choose Consequential Science Projects

• In Event: Pre-K–8–Focused Science Teaching and Learning

Abstract

This study explores how a partnership of teachers and researchers can support students to choose their own consequential final projects. We examine two years of instruction with a unit about global climate change (GCC) featuring a student chosen project. In the first year, the partnership analyzed student work and observed that students conflated human activities that impact climate and those that broadly impact the environment. The partnership refined the unit and instruction before the second year. In both years, students gained insights into GCC. The refined instruction supported some students to select more consequential topics for their final projects. These results illustrate promising directions for refinement and reveal the challenges of helping students to distinguish among complex environmental processes.

Authors

• Allison Bradford, University of California - Berkeley

• Marcia Linn, University of California - Berkeley