Collaborative Research: Biocomplexity and the Habitable Planet -- An Innovative Capstone Course for High School

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This project will develop a set of instructional materials that engages students, teachers and their parents in the science of coupled natural human (CNH) systems. Teacher guides, a website and family/community materials accompany the four student modules (which focus on an urban watershed, an urban/agricultural system, Amazonia and a polar system). The curriculum provides material for a yearlong capstone course; individual modules can be used as replacement units. In an era of global human impact on the environment, understanding the "complex fabric of relationships" between humans and the environment is of unique urgency for all citizens. It is no longer possible to study "natural" systems without considering human interactions. There is a need for high school materials that reflect this critically important fact, and that also support students to engage in authentic investigations of systems phenomena. To address this need, Biocomplexity draws on current research by the Long-term Ecological Research (LTER) sites and other CNH Biocomplexity grantees as the basis for the materials. Biocomplexity is inquiry-based. Student materials scaffold activities to support all students -- particularly those from historically underserved backgrounds -- to learn successfully. Curriculum design is informed by research on progression in student learning of scientific content and reasoning. Developed using the "backward design" approach, Biocomplexity ensures that instructional strategies promote learning the key ideas. Biocomplexity is an "educative curriculum:" teacher materials provide extensive and practical support that increasing teachers' content knowledge and pedagogical skills. This proposal promises to effectively link the high school classroom with important current science and at the same time extend and strengthen the learning of core scientific and mathematical concepts, in the context of an innovative curriculum incorporating authentic scientific inquiry and using a case-based approach. Furthermore, the project will make a significant contribution to educational research on students' understanding of models and their use in science inquiry. This curriculum makes a unique contribution to the field because of its grounding in current research on Biocomplexity. Its focus on CNH systems, situated in urban, rural and other settings, results in problem-based cases in applied science that will compel the interest of students from all backgrounds. Students experience authentic scientific inquiry, exploring the same fundamental ideas that engage scientists and researchers. Informed by the best recent research -- both scientific and educational -- the curriculum will reflect the growing importance of science unifying insights from many fields of biological inquiry. Community elements serve to develop strong ties between school, parents and communities. The partnership with researchers at LTERs and elsewhere will have positive synergistic outcomes for the LTERs' education programs, while connecting a new range of nationally important research centers with high school classrooms across the country.