Secondary Module for Science Educators Southeastern Forests and - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Pine Integrated Network: Education, Mitigation, and Adaptation project (PINEMAP) is a Coordinated Agriculture Project funded by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture

PINEMAP and Project Learning Tree Secondary Module for Science Educators

Southeastern Forests and Climate Change

Jennifer Hubbard-Sánchez, Kentucky State University

Project Leads: Martha Monroe, Annie Oxarart School of Forest Resources and Conservation University of Florida

Pine Integrated Network: Education, Mitigation, and Adaptation project (PINEMAP) is a Coordinated Agriculture Project funded by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture

Project Learning Tree

• National environmental education program

– www.plt.org

• Curriculum materials and professional development
• Secondary Modules

– Middle/High School Courses – Issue focus

• New secondary module

– Southeastern Forests and Climate Change – Partnership with PINEMAP

Southeastern Forests and Climate Change

• Focus on Southeast
• 14 activities to explore

– Climate Change and Forests – Forest Management and Adaptation – Carbon Sequestration – Life Cycle Assessment

• Developed in partnership with

PINEMAP

• Activities follow PINEMAP

research framework

Pine Integrated Network: Education, Mitigation, and Adaptation project (PINEMAP) is a Coordinated Agriculture Project funded by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture

PINEMAP

• Pine Integrated Network:

Education, Mitigation, and Adaptation Project

• USDA, National Institute of Food

and Agriculture

– Coordinated Agriculture Project

• Integrated research, extension,

and education

Pine Integrated Network: Education, Mitigation, and Adaptation project (PINEMAP) is a Coordinated Agriculture Project funded by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture

PINEMAP Research = Module Framework

14 activities, separated into five sections 1. Climate Change and Forests

• Climate science and policy
• Southern forest responses to projected climate changes

2. Forest Management and Adaptation

• Strategies landowners can use to adapt to changes
• Genetic breeding activities to identify trees that may thrive in the future

3. Carbon Sequestration

• Carbon Cycle
• Reducing atmospheric carbon through forest management

4. Life Cycle Assessment

• The role of product life cycles in reducing carbon emissions
• The role of consumers in making wise purchases

5. Solutions for Change

• How students and consumers can be part of solutions

Pine Integrated Network: Education, Mitigation, and Adaptation project (PINEMAP) is a Coordinated Agriculture Project funded by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture

Educational Strategies

• Engaging teaching methods

– Role play

• Debate

– Web quest

• Small group discussions

– Data analysis

• Service-learning action project

– Videos and slide presentations

• Field work

– Cooperative learning exercises

• Increasing

– Student knowledge – Systems-thinking and decision-making skills – Confidence that individual and community actions can help address climate change.

From USDA FS Tree Atlas; forest ecosystems at present

Pine Integrated Network: Education, Mitigation, and Adaptation project (PINEMAP) is a Coordinated Agriculture Project funded by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture

Learning Theory: Socio-scientific Issues Research

• Socio-scientific issues (SSI): controversial social issues which relate to

science; open-ended problems which have multiple solutions.

e.g. genetic engineering, climate change, animal testing for medical purposes

• Goal of SSI: Cultivate a scientifically literate citizens who are able to apply

evidence-based scientific content knowledge to real-world socioscientific scenarios.

• SSI research shows that teachers could utilize SSI to foster understanding
• f science content and consequences involved in everyday scientific

issues.

• Students learn the nature of science and formulate their own informed

decisions and understand those whose views differ from themselves in the context of a SSI.

Zeidler, D. L., Sadler, T. D. Simmons, M. L. & Howes, E. V. (2005). Beyond STS: A research- based framework for socioscientific issues education. Science Education, 89(3), 357-377

Pine Integrated Network: Education, Mitigation, and Adaptation project (PINEMAP) is a Coordinated Agriculture Project funded by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture

Learning Theory: Problem-based Learning Research

• Students learning centers on a complex problem that does not have a single

correct answer or solution.

• Students work in collaborative groups to identify what they need to learn in
• rder to solve a problem.
• PBL is an instructional method in which teacher acts to facilitate the

learning process rather than to provide knowledge.

• The goals of PBL include helping students develop
• flexible knowledge
• problem-solving skills
• self-directed learning
• collaborative skills
• intrinsic motivation

Hmelo-Silver, C.E. (2004). Problem-based learning: what and how do students learn? Educational Psychology Review 16, 3, 235-266

Pine Integrated Network: Education, Mitigation, and Adaptation project (PINEMAP) is a Coordinated Agriculture Project funded by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture

Special Features

• Research connections
• Systems thinking
• STEM and NGSS
• Social science connections
• Website
• Participatory process

Pine Integrated Network: Education, Mitigation, and Adaptation project (PINEMAP) is a Coordinated Agriculture Project funded by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture

Research Connection

• PINEMAP is an integrated research activity

– 50 faculty and 45 graduate students across 11 universities – Synthesizing research and making it available to stakeholders

• This module helps teachers make sense out of current forest research
• Videos from students and faculty about their research
• Activities to use data bases, interpret graphs, collect data
• Researchers critiqued materials

Pine Integrated Network: Education, Mitigation, and Adaptation project (PINEMAP) is a Coordinated Agriculture Project funded by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture

Systems thinking

• Systems thinking
• Every activity has a systems

thinking connection

• 5 activities have

supplemental activities on systems

• Two activities use systems

thinking tools

Tree disease Tree growth Risk of wildfire High-Intensity Wildfire Understory fuel load Available Nutrients Forest Density Tree Stress Risk of tree disease Available Water Sample causal system diagram used to predict impacts of climate change

Pine Integrated Network: Education, Mitigation, and Adaptation project (PINEMAP) is a Coordinated Agriculture Project funded by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture

STEM and NGSS

• What science can tell us
• How scientists work
• How scientists work with data

– Graphing, modeling, databases

• How forest managers can use research findings to change

practice

• Engineering connection: Life Cycle Assessment
• Mathematics: data analysis, graph interpretation, tree

measurement

Pine Integrated Network: Education, Mitigation, and Adaptation project (PINEMAP) is a Coordinated Agriculture Project funded by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture

Social Science Connections

• Why do people disagree about climate change?

– Common facts but different assumptions – Despite disagreement, how can communities move forward?

• What can people do about it?

– Consumer can add GHG emissions to “green” product choices – Forest managers can increase resilience

Product Life Cycle

Pine Integrated Network: Education, Mitigation, and Adaptation project (PINEMAP) is a Coordinated Agriculture Project funded by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture

Participatory Process

• Assessment of SE science teachers

– Focus on data analysis, systems thinking, and problem solving

• Advisory Board
• Activity testing and revision
• Expert review
• Formative evaluation
• Researchable questions
• Summative evaluation

17% 17% 44% 14% 8% Middle School Science Biology and AP Biology Env and AP Env Science Earth Science Other

Over 60 teachers participated in the formative evaluation in Fall 2013

Pine Integrated Network: Education, Mitigation, and Adaptation project (PINEMAP) is a Coordinated Agriculture Project funded by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture

Research findings to date

• Science teachers want quality materials to help them navigate this issue

– Especially using climate change as an example of the nature of science

• Students are motivated to learn about climate

– And climate change can increase interest and knowledge about other science concepts, such as carbon cycle

Pine Integrated Network: Education, Mitigation, and Adaptation project (PINEMAP) is a Coordinated Agriculture Project funded by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture

• Students become more hopeful about climate after exposure to four

activities

– Information is empowering – Forests can be resilient – Consumers can be part of the solution

• Student evaluation suggests:

– Knowledge – Systems-thinking skills – Hope that individual and community actions can help address climate change

Our research findings to date

Pine Integrated Network: Education, Mitigation, and Adaptation project (PINEMAP) is a Coordinated Agriculture Project funded by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture

Walk Through the Website

– Enables teachers to find links to resources, download slide presentations and handouts – Provides introduction and “training” for those who cannot attend a workshop

• Narrated and video overviews
• Narrated “tour” of each activity
• Check Your Knowledge quiz
• Resources and background
• PDF of all materials
• Word and PPT versions of instructional materials to

modify www.sfrc.ufl.edu/extension/ee/climate

1. Climate Change and Forests

• Stepping through Climate

Science

• Clearing the Air
• Atlas of Change

2. Forest Management and Adaptation

• The Changing Forests
• Managing Forests for Change
• Mapping Seed Sources

3. Carbon Sequestration

• Carbon on the Move
• Counting Carbon

4. Life Cycle Assessment

• The Real Cost
• Adventures in Life Cycle

Assessment

• Life Cycle Assessment Debate

5. Solutions for Change

• The Carbon Puzzle
• Future of Our Forest
• Starting a Climate Service-

Learning Project

Pine Integrated Network: Education, Mitigation, and Adaptation project (PINEMAP) is a Coordinated Agriculture Project funded by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture

www.sfrc.ufl.edu/extension/ee/climate

Pine Integrated Network: Education, Mitigation, and Adaptation project (PINEMAP) is a Coordinated Agriculture Project funded by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture

Kentucky Adaptations

• Rationale
• Process
• Usage

Pine Integrated Network: Education, Mitigation, and Adaptation project (PINEMAP) is a Coordinated Agriculture Project funded by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture

Questions?

For more information, please contact: mcmonroe@ufl.edu

www.sfrc.ufl.edu/extension/ee/climate