Award Abstract # 2010155
Collaborative Research: Developing a Modeling Orientation to Science: Teaching and Learning Variability and Change in Ecosystems

NSF Org: DRL
Division of Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings (DRL)
Recipient: BOWDOIN COLLEGE
Initial Amendment Date: July 22, 2020
Latest Amendment Date: July 22, 2020
Award Number: 2010155
Award Instrument: Standard Grant
Program Manager: Michael Ford
miford@nsf.gov
 (703)292-5153
DRL
 Division of Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings (DRL)
EDU
 Directorate for STEM Education
Start Date: September 1, 2020
End Date: August 31, 2024 (Estimated)
Total Intended Award Amount: $515,164.00
Total Awarded Amount to Date: $515,164.00
Funds Obligated to Date: FY 2020 = $515,164.00
History of Investigator:
  • Alison Miller (Principal Investigator)
    amiller2@bowdoin.edu
Recipient Sponsored Research Office: Bowdoin College
255 MAINE ST
BRUNSWICK
ME  US  04011-3343
(207)725-3767
Sponsor Congressional District: 01
Primary Place of Performance: Bowdoin College
Department of Education, 7400 Co
Brunswick
ME  US  04011-8474
Primary Place of Performance
Congressional District:
01
Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): JE5WBLZJUME7
Parent UEI:
NSF Program(s): Discovery Research K-12
Primary Program Source: 04002021DB NSF Education & Human Resource
Program Reference Code(s): 8817
Program Element Code(s): 764500
Award Agency Code: 4900
Fund Agency Code: 4900
Assistance Listing Number(s): 47.076

ABSTRACT

This project engages middle-school students in building and revising models of variability and change in ecosystems and studies the learning and instruction in these classroom contexts. Students construct and critique models that they and peers invent and ? through the lens of models ?develop foundational knowledge about the roles of variability and change in ecosystem functioning, as well as the roles of models and argumentation in scientific practice. The context for students? work is a set of citizen science-based investigations of changes in ecosystems in Maine conducted in twelve collaborating classrooms. The project studies how and to what extent students? use of different forms of modeling emerges from and informs how they investigate ecosystems. A parallel research effort investigates how and to what extent the development of teachers? comfort and proficiency with modeling changes students? engagement in these forms of modeling and students? understandings of ecosystems. A key contribution of the project is capitalizing on the Gulf of Maine Research Institutes?s Ecosystem Investigation Network's citizen science field research to ground for middle school students the need to invent, revise, and contest models about real ecosystems. The understandings that result from the project?s research provide evidence toward first, scaling the learning experiences to the network of 500+ teachers who are part of the Ecosystem Investigation Network, and, second, replication by programs nationally that aim to engage students in data-rich, field-based ecological investigations.

The investigation takes place in twelve collaborating middle-school classrooms, drawn from the network of 500+ Maine teachers trained in Maine's Ecosystem Investigation Network. Over the course of their field investigations, students engage in the construction, critique, and revision of three forms of modeling that play central roles in ecology: microcosms, system dynamics, and data modeling. Two innovations are introduced over the course of the project. The first is focused on enriching classroom supports for engaging in multiple forms of modeling. The second involves enhancing middle school teachers? learning about modeling, especially in the context of large data citizen science investigations. The study uses a mixed methods approach to explore the impact of the innovations on the experiences and understandings of both teachers and students. Instruments include teacher interviews and questionnaires, student interviews, and classroom observation. The understandings that result from the project?s research will inform the design of professional development for teachers around data analysis and interpretation, and around how student understanding of modeling develops with sustained support, both of which are practices at the heart of scientific literacy.

The Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics by preK-12 students and teachers, through the research and development of new innovations and approaches. Projects in the DRK-12 program build on fundamental research in STEM education and prior research and development efforts that provide theoretical and empirical justification for the projects. This project is jointly funded by DRK-12 and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT

Disclaimer

This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.

Supported by the Ecosystem Investigation Network, created by the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, researchers investigated the development of middle-school (grades 5-8) teachers' understandings and practices of modeling in the context of citizen science investigations of variability and change in ecosystems. The project explored to what extent teachers' participation in professional learning experiences around modeling impacted students’ opportunities to participate in multiple forms of modeling in the science classroom. 

Two instructional innovations to the Network’s classroom-based investigations were introduced over the course of the DMOS project. The first was focused on enriching classroom supports for engaging in multiple forms of modeling – physical microcosms, data modeling, and system dynamics modeling – through a co-design process with teachers. The second involved enhancing teachers’ learning about modeling through innovative professional learning experiences, and establishment of a professional learning community (PLC) around modeling. All of these innovations featured participation by Partner Scientists who are experts in the ecosystems being studied by students and teachers.

Using design-based research methods, researchers conducted classroom observations, teacher interviews, and questionnaires, and collected classroom artifacts for analysis while nine participating teachers took part in two multi-day summer professional learning institutes and met regularly throughout the school year over two years as part of a professional learning community (PLC) around modeling. The focus of these professional learning experiences was developing teacher agency, facility, and confidence with modeling. As such, participating teachers were positioned throughout the project as collaborators and co-designers of curricular resources.

A core feature of the professional learning experiences designed for teachers was the experience of working side-by-side with scientists and researchers within both familiar and novel ecosystem investigations and experiencing uncertainty while exploring a system without a predetermined answer to the questions posed. While reflecting on her own learning, one teacher offered, "I had an ah-ha moment watching a project team member make graphs in CODAP as we were discussing our data - seeing her create graphs to help answer questions was powerful. I think I've been creating graphs to show what I know as opposed to using them to think". Another teacher asserted, "If you had asked me two years ago, I don't think I would've identified all of these things as models, but now I see that so much of what I do in my classroom is modeling".

Researchers believe that these statements illustrate teachers' deepening understanding of and confidence with using modeling, not as an isolated activity or single strategy, but as an approach or orientation towards sensemaking in science, and in ecosystem investigations specifically. Further, analysis of classroom observations and artifacts reveals that teachers' participation in these professional learning experiences appears to have substantially improved students opportunities for more and varied modeling experiences in their science classrooms. 

 

 


Last Modified: 12/27/2024
Modified by: Alison R Miller

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