Uncovering College Students’ Epistemological Foundations of Interdisciplinary Understanding of Carbon Cycling Through Constructed Responses

• In Event: AERA Poster Session Friday 3:45pm
  In Poster Session: Making Sense of Complexity in Science Education

Abstract

This study investigates college students’ interdisciplinary (ID) understanding of carbon cycling using the Interdisciplinary Science Assessment of Carbon Cycling II (ISACC II). Analyzing responses to seven constructed-response items (N = 556), we employed structural topic modeling (sLDA) to identify science disciplinary components and examine how these patterns predict student performance. Results revealed that students integrated varying combinations of biology, chemistry, physics, and earth science, and that specific interdisciplinary patterns were significantly associated with higher scores. These findings highlight how characterizing ID integration provides insight into students’ cognitive processes and supports future curriculum design. This research advances our understanding of ID science education and offers implications for teaching complex global challenges such as climate change and sustainability.

Authors

• Hyesun You, University of Iowa

• Minju Hong, Chung-Ang University