Developing the Environmental Literacy Concept Inventory

生物，从细菌到人类，都受到环境的影响，环境的变化会产生意想不到的后果，有积极的也有消极的。教师们报告说，在教授环境变化如何影响生物方面存在困难，通常是因为学生们不明白这些变化是如何与他们自己的生活交织在一起的。关于环境和生命系统之间相互作用的教育有可能帮助学生将环境变化与自己的生活联系起来，并培养具有环境素养的STEM劳动力。然而，这些教育努力是有限的，因为目前还没有工具来衡量学生对环境对生物的影响的知识。为了提高环境素养教学的有效性，生物教育者需要一种有效可靠的方法来衡量学生对这一领域的理解。概念量表是一组选择题，用来评估学生对某一主题的概念知识，并帮助衡量学生对该主题的理解程度。这些清单可以确定一个主题的哪些方面对学生来说是困难的，并随着时间的推移跟踪学生的学习。概念量表也可以用来测试各种教学策略的有效性。该项目将开发和测试一个概念清单，重点关注生物学中的环境素养，其总体目标是加强本科环境教育。环境素养概念清单的目的是为教育工作者提供一种工具来衡量学生对环境对生物系统的影响的理解。该项目将进行定性研究并收集访谈数据，以确定本科生和教师对环境变化的生物影响的理解。这些资料将用于编制环境知识概念清单。该项目将在全国范围内的生物课学生样本中使用该清单，然后利用这些结果来改进清单。然后，该项目将使用修订后的清单进行测试前和测试后的定量研究，以确定学生对环境对生物系统的影响的知识。项目活动旨在开发一种有效和可靠的评估工具，并就学生对环境对生物系统的影响的理解产生研究数据。该清单和数据将指导教师努力提高本科生的环境素养。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Living things, from bacteria to humans, are all affected by their environment, and changes in this environment can have unexpected consequences, both positive and negative. Faculty report having difficulty teaching how environmental changes can affect living things, often because students do not understand how such changes intersect with their own lives. Education about interactions between the environment and living systems has the potential to help students relate environmental change to their own lives and foster an environmentally literate STEM workforce. However, these education efforts are limited because no tool currently exists to measure student knowledge of environmental impacts on living things. To improve the effectiveness of instruction in environmental literacy, biology educators need a valid and reliable way to measure student understanding in this area. Concept inventories are sets of multiple choice questions that evaluate students' conceptual knowledge about a topic and help to measure how much students understand about it. These inventories can identify what aspects of a topic are difficult for students, and track student learning over time. Concept inventories can also be used to test the effectiveness of various teaching strategies. This project will develop and test a concept inventory focused on environmental literacy in biology, with the overall goal of enhancing undergraduate environmental education.The purpose of the environmental literacy concept inventory is to provide educators with a tool to measure student understanding of environmental impacts on biotic systems. The project will conduct a qualitative study and collect interview data to identify undergraduate student and faculty understanding of the biological impacts of environmental change. This information will be used to create an environmental literacy concept inventory. The project will use the inventory with a sample of students in biology classes across the country and then use those results to improve the inventory. The project will then conduct a pre- and post-test quantitative study using the revised inventory to identify students' knowledge of environmental impacts on biotic systems. Project activities are aimed at developing a valid and reliable assessment tool, as well as producing research data on students' understanding of environmental impacts on biotic systems. The inventory and data will guide faculty efforts to improve undergraduate students' environmental literacy.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.