Designing environmental storylines to achieve the complementary aims of environmental and science education through science and engineering practices

Abstract

Environmental education is implemented in formal curricula in multiple ways, including K-12 science. In the United States, the adoption of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) has provided a lens for considering how the goals of environmental education and formal science education may overlap and complement one another. Potential synergies emerge from similarities between NGSS science and engineering practices and the skills of questioning, analysis, and interpretation in the NAAEE Guidelines for Excellence. In this study, middle school students were engaged in an environmental storyline unit that supported their abilities to ask questions, design and conduct investigations, and develop model-based explanations, practices consistent across both fields. Participating students demonstrated positive gains in nature relatedness environmental attitudes. This study provides evidence that curricular design around the practices of science and environmental education connects the goals of each and may be a promising approach to broadening access to effective environmental education experiences. Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/00958964.2021.1949569 .