Dilemmas and Decisions: Using Guided Writing to Increase Ecological Literacy in Undergraduate Biology Students

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Biological Sciences (61). Writing-to-learn (WTL) has been shown to effectively help students piece together concepts into meaningful conceptual frameworks, especially when they are asked to incorporate personal connections. The objective of this project is to test the effectiveness of the Cognitive-Affective-Behavior (CAB) WTL model, a pedagogical model that is being developed specifically as a teaching tool to improve ecological literacy. In the CAB-WTL model students write a series of in-class guided essays, identifying personal dilemmas relevant to current issues. These written discourses provide a measure of the level of student ecological literacy.The intellectual merit of the project lies in testing the effectiveness of the CAB-WTL model with three distinct populations: (1) Biology majors and other science majors at a 4-year college; (2) Education majors at a 4-year college and (3) students at a 2-year tribal college. Furthermore, through the qualitative analysis of student writing, the project is providing data to the science education community regarding the depth of understanding of key ecological concepts and the current state of ecological literacy among undergraduates. The project's broader impact includes: (1) the development and testing of a transferable model for increasing science literacy, (2) the presentation of regional workshops and workshops in conjunction with scientific meetings that focus on preparing faculty to use this model in a variety of settings, and (3) the dissemination of results through presentations at meetings and through publication in peer-reviewed journals. In addition, the project is building collaborative ties between faculty at a 4-year institution and at a two-year tribal college, and is serving underrepresented students (particularly Native American women) and pre-service teachers.