Abstract
The global pandemic and climate change have led to unprecedented environmental, social, and economic challenges with interdisciplinary STEM foundations. Even as STEM learning has never been more important, very few pre-college programs prepare students to address these challenges by emphasizing socio-scientific issue (SSI) problem solving and the engineering design of solutions to address local phenomena. The paper discusses the design and evaluation of a pre-college, SSI curricular unit where students expand their learning by creating solutions to increase biodiversity within local urban neighborhoods. The learning approach, which we call eco-solutioning, builds from current vision and policy documents in STEM education emphasizing phenomenon-centric instructional materials, science investigations, and engineering design. The paper outlines design principles for creating an eco-solutioning instructional unit that guides young students to: collect and analyze data on local organisms, use an engineering design approach to craft solutions to increase local biodiversity, and present their solutions to local city planners and community members. Two cycles of research studies evaluated student learning using paired t-tests. Results demonstrated significant pre-post learning outcomes in both research cycles. A third research cycle in the form of a summer extension program supported students as they implemented their local solutions. Conclusions highlight design principles for the successful creation of SSI curricular units centered on local environmental issues of interest to students, teachers, and stakeholders.
Highlights
The global pandemic and climate change have led to unprecedented environmental, social, and economic challenges grounded in the interdisciplinary fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM)
The research work associated with the design and evaluation of an eco-solutioning curricular unit has two components: 1) qualitative research to identify and characterize the design principles realized in the creation of the Socio-Scientific Issues (SSI) curricular unit, and 2) quantitative research studies to evaluate student learning associated with two iterative cycles of research
Our focus was on understanding and codifying a process, that of the design principles associated with eco-solutioning curriculum design
Summary
The global pandemic and climate change have led to unprecedented environmental, social, and economic challenges grounded in the interdisciplinary fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). These ecological, socio-scientific challenges need the intelligence and resources of all of us to tackle them successfully. It seems increasingly evident that today’s pre-college students need to develop problem-solving and solutioning skills to practice and become adept at addressing these complex, interdisciplinary challenges. As stated in the report, “The Future of Education and Skills: Education 2030” (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), 2018), certain kinds of science education programs are valuable, including programs that emphasize solving problems, working with others, and identifying multiple solutions. In an era characterized by a new explosion of scientific knowledge and a growing array of complex societal problems, it is appropriate that curricula should continue to evolve, perhaps in radical ways” (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), 2018, p. 4)
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