Ocean acidification (OA) occurs when carbon dioxide (CO2) dissolves into oceans. OA and climate change are both caused by anthropogenic CO2 emissions, and many scientists consider them equally critical problems. We assess if preexisting beliefs, ideologies, value predispositions, and demographics affect OA perceptions among the U.S. public. Nearly 80% of respondents know little about OA, but concern increased following a message explaining OA and climate change, especially among females, liberals, and climate change believers. OA information seeking intentions and research support were also greater among females, liberals, and climate change believers. We discuss implications for efforts to increase OA public awareness.
Posts Tagged 'education'
Exploring the “evil twin of global warming”: public understanding of ocean acidification in the United States
Published 16 August 2019 Science ClosedTags: education
Professional development training in ocean acidification: a case study of marine resource managers
Published 22 July 2019 Science ClosedTags: education, policy
Ocean acidification (OA) is the result of increasing concentrations of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, leading to a suite of alterations to specific parameters of ocean chemistry, which can negatively impact many marine organisms and ecosystems. Understanding how to measure and monitor the chemistry of OA will require specialized education and training, which may be important for the marine resource managers called upon to devise management strategies in response to the impacts of OA. We can best serve these OA ‘first responders’ by making this information more accessible via appropriate educational products that enhance their learning and empower effective management decision-making. For this study, we designed, developed, and piloted a professional training program on measuring and monitoring OA chemistry for marine resource managers in the Pacific Northwest. A companion survey was also developed in conjunction to assess outcomes in learning and professional behavior. Our participants demonstrated learning gains in key OA chemistry concepts, as well as changes in factors that indicated behavioral change. We present a training framework and its associated resources that science educators can use to deliver comparable training programs or build educational products to aid informal adult audiences in understanding and interpreting OA chemistry.
Building the knowledge-to-action pipeline in North America: connecting ocean acidification research and actionable decision support
Published 3 July 2019 Science ClosedTags: education, policy, review, socio-economy
Ocean acidification (OA) describes the progressive decrease in the pH of seawater and other cascading chemical changes resulting from oceanic uptake of atmospheric carbon. These changes can have important implications for marine ecosystems, creating risk for commercial industries, subsistence communities, cultural practices, and recreation. Characterizing the extent of acidification and predicting the ramifications for marine and freshwater resources and ecosystem services are critical to national and international climate mitigation discussions and to local communities that rely on these resources. Based on critical grassroots connections between scientists, stakeholders and decision makers, “Knowledge-to-Action” networks for ocean acidification issues have formed at local, regional and international scales to take action. Here, we review three examples of North American groups elevating the issue of ocean acidification at these three levels. They each focus on developing practicable, implementable steps to mitigate causes, to adapt to unavoidable change, and to build resilience to changing ocean conditions in the marine environment and coastal communities. While these first steps represent critical efforts in protecting ecosystems and economies from the risks posed by ocean acidification, some challenges remain. Sensitivity and risk to OA varies by region, species and ecosystems; priorities for action can vary between multiple and conflicting partners; evidence-based strategies for OA risk mitigation are still in the early stages; and gaps remain between scientific research and actionable decision-maker support products. However, the scaled networks profiled here have proven to be adept at identifying and addressing these barriers to action. In the future, it will be critical to expand funding for food web impact studies and development of decision support tools, and to maintain the connections between scientists and marine resource users to build resilience to ocean acidification impacts.
Aprender a interpretar la acidificación oceánica con recursos on-line y experimentación contextualizada
Published 28 June 2019 Science ClosedTags: education, review
In this paper we present an introductory experience of the process of Ocean Acidification –decrease in the pH of sea water–, as part of the Experimental Sciences course of the Bachelor’s Degree in Primary Education. The experience involved the use of on-line resources and contextualized experimentation, in order to promote student’s development of scientific competences and to formulate proposals of improvement within the framework of education for sustainability. Satisfactory results are shown in terms of knowledge acquisition, interpretation of the process analyzed here and awareness of environmental problems. We suggest improvements in the educational curriculum and formulate questions which can generate new research. Finally, limitations of the experience regarding its novelty and the lack of adequate educational resources are discussed.
En este artículo se presenta una experiencia de introducción al proceso de acidificación oceánica –disminución del pH del agua del mar– en aulas de Ciencias Experimentales del Grado en Educación Primaria, utilizando recursos on-line y experimentación contextualizada, para contribuir al desarrollo de competencias científicas y formular propuestas de mejora del currículo en el marco de la educación para la sustentabilidad. Se ha contribuido a la adquisición de conocimientos, a la interpretación del proceso estudiado y a la concienciación ambiental. Se han hecho propuestas de mejora del currículo y se han formulado preguntas que darán origen a nuevas investigaciones. Finalmente, se señalan limitaciones de la experiencia relativas a su novedad y a la escasez de recursos didácticos adecuados.
Citizen science observations reveal rapid, multi-decadal ecosystem changes in eastern Long Island Sound
Published 3 June 2019 Science ClosedTags: abundance, biological response, BRcommunity, education, field, North Atlantic, otherprocess
Highlights
• Citizen-science observations revealed rapid warming, acidification, and dissolved oxygen loss over the past 40 years in eastern Long Island Sound.
• Otter trawl catches showed significant decreases in overall species diversity and richness.
• Cold-water adapted species (American lobster, winter flounder) decreased, but warm-water adapted species (spider crabs) increased since 1997.
Abstract
Long-term environmental records are among the most valuable assets for understanding the trajectory and consequences of climate change. Here we report on a newly recovered time-series from Project Oceanology, a non-profit ocean science organization serving New England schools (USA) since 1972. As part of its educational mission, Project Oceanology has routinely and consistently recorded water temperature, pH, and oxygen as well as invertebrate and fish abundance in nearshore waters of the Thames River estuary in eastern Long Island Sound (LIS). We digitized these long-term records to test for decadal trends in abiotic and biotic variables including shifts in species abundance, richness, and diversity. Consistent with previous studies, the data revealed an above-average warming rate of eastern LIS waters over the past four decades (+0.45 °C decade−1), a non-linear acidification trend twice the global average (−0.04 pH units decade−1), and a notable decline in whole water-column dissolved oxygen concentrations (−0.29 mg L−1 decade−1). Trawl catches between 1997 and 2016 suggested a significant decrease in overall species diversity and richness, declines in cold-water adapted species such as American lobster (Homarus americanus), rock crab (Cancer irroratus), and winter flounder (Pseudopleuronectes americanus), but concurrent increases in the warm-water decapod Libinia emarginata (spider crab). Our study confirmed that Long Island Sound is a rapidly changing urban estuary, while demonstrating the value of long-term observations made by citizen-scientists, educators, and other stakeholders.
Application and testing of a framework for characterizing the quality of scientific reasoning in chemistry students’ writing on ocean acidification
Published 8 April 2019 Science ClosedTags: education
Science educators recognize the need to teach scientific ways of knowing and reasoning in addition to scientific knowledge. However, characterizing and assessing scientific ways of knowing and reasoning is challenging. Writing-to-learn offers one way of eliciting and supporting students’ reasoning; further, writing serves to externalize and make traceable students’ reasoning. For this reason, it is a useful formative assessment of scientific reasoning. The utility hinges on researchers’ ability to understand what students can do and think from their writing. Given the challenges in assessing students’ writing, this research offers an adapted framework for assessing students’ scientific reasoning evident in writing. This work will introduce an adapted framework and show an application to general chemistry students’ argumentative writing about ocean acidification. We provide evidence that this framework can be used to validly estimate the quality of students’ reasoning. We argue that this framework offers some affordances that overcome challenges reported in the literature. It serves to define scientific reasoning in a domain-general way by breaking it down into its components, but in a way that can produce a composite score that tells us about how students reason using chemistry content. Further, the framework provides a way to characterize the scientific accuracy of students’ reasoning that can inform instructors’ treatment of alternative conceptions.
Citizen science observations reveal rapid, multi-decadal ecosystem changes in eastern Long Island Sound
Published 29 March 2019 Science ClosedTags: chemistry, education, field, North Atlantic
Highlights
- • Citizen-science observations revealed rapid warming, acidification, and dissolved oxygen loss over the past 40 years in eastern Long Island Sound.
- • Otter trawl catches showed significant decreases in overall species diversity and richness.
- • Cold-water adapted species (American lobster, winter flounder) decreased, but warm-water adapted species (spider crabs) increased since 1997.
Abstract
Long-term environmental records are among the most valuable assets for understanding the trajectory and consequences of climate change. Here we report on a newly recovered time-series from Project Oceanology, a non-profit ocean science organization serving New England schools (USA) since 1972. As part of its educational mission, Project Oceanology has routinely and consistently recorded water temperature, pH, and oxygen as well as invertebrate and fish abundance in nearshore waters of the Thames River estuary in eastern Long Island Sound (LIS). We digitized these long-term records to test for decadal trends in abiotic and biotic variables including shifts in species abundance, richness, and diversity. Consistent with previous studies, the data revealed an above-average warming rate of eastern LIS waters over the past four decades (+0.45 °C decade−1), a non-linear acidification trend twice the global average (−0.04 pH units decade−1), and a notable decline in whole water-column dissolved oxygenconcentrations (−0.29 mg L−1 decade−1). Trawl catches between 1997 and 2016 suggested a significant decrease in overall species diversity and richness, declines in cold-water adapted species such as American lobster (Homarus americanus), rock crab (Cancer irroratus), and winter flounder (Pseudopleuronectes americanus), but concurrent increases in the warm-water decapod Libinia emarginata (spider crab). Our study confirmed that Long Island Sound is a rapidly changing urban estuary, while demonstrating the value of long-term observations made by citizen-scientists, educators, and other stakeholders.
Exploring the “evil twin of global warming”: public understanding of ocean acidification in the United States
Published 4 January 2019 Science ClosedTags: education
Ocean acidification (OA) occurs when carbon dioxide (CO2) dissolves into oceans. OA and climate change are both caused by anthropogenic CO2 emissions, and many scientists consider them equally critical problems. We assess if preexisting beliefs, ideologies, value predispositions, and demographics affect OA perceptions among the U.S. public. Nearly 80% of respondents know little about OA, but concern increased following a message explaining OA and climate change, especially among females, liberals, and climate change believers. OA information seeking intentions and research support were also greater among females, liberals, and climate change believers. We discuss implications for efforts to increase OA public awareness.
Students’ engagement with real-time graphs in CSCL settings: scrutinizing the role of teacher support
Published 20 December 2018 Science ClosedTags: education
This paper reports on a study of teacher support in experimental computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) settings where students engage with graphs in real-time labs within the context of school science. Real-time labs are digital devices and software connected to student-controlled sensors or probes that can measure and visualize data graphically. The empirical setting was a science project about ocean acidification (OA) where lower secondary school students conducted measurements of the pH value of water with increased concentrations of CO2. The analytical focus is on student–teacher interaction during group-work activities where the students carried out, reviewed and reported on the real-time lab experiment. The analyses show that students needed additional support from the teacher in interpreting the real-time graphs and in making connections between the graphic representation, the practical undertakings of the experiment and the underlying scientific phenomena. Most importantly, the study demonstrates the complexity of teacher support in CSCL settings and how this type of support intersects with the support provided by digital resources, peer collaboration and applied instructional design.
Immersive virtual reality field trips facilitate learning about climate change
Published 3 December 2018 Science ClosedTags: education
Across four studies, two controlled lab experiments and two field studies, we tested the efficacy of immersive Virtual Reality (VR) as an education medium for teaching the consequences of climate change, particularly ocean acidification. Over 270 participants from four different learning settings experienced an immersive underwater world designed to show the process and effects of rising sea water acidity. In all of our investigations, after experiencing immersive VR people demonstrated knowledge gains or inquisitiveness about climate science and in some cases, displayed more positive attitudes toward the environment after comparing pre- and post-test assessments. The analyses also revealed a potential post-hoc mechanism for the learning effects, as the more that people explored the spatial learning environment, the more they demonstrated a change in knowledge about ocean acidification. This work is unique by showing distinct learning gains or an interest in learning across a variety of participants (high school, college students, adults), measures (learning gain scores, tracking data about movement in the virtual world, qualitative responses from classroom teachers), and content (multiple versions varying in length and content about climate change were tested). Our findings explicate the opportunity to use immersive VR for environmental education and to drive information-seeking about important social issues such as climate change.
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Shifting the balance: engaging students in using a modeling tool to learn about ocean acidification
Published 16 November 2018 Science ClosedTags: education, modeling
Modeling is one of the core scientific and engineering practices described in A Framework for K-12 Science Education. Students are expected to construct, use, evaluate, and revise their models to make sense of phenomena or to find solutions to problems. Technology tools can support the development of students’ modeling practice when learning about environmental issues. This study investigates the incorporation of an online computational modeling tool in a middle school curricular unit focusing on ocean acidification. We present the advantages and challenges experienced by students and teachers while engaging in the unit and using the modeling tool. Our results indicate that integrating the modeling tool in the ocean acidification curricular unit facilitates students’ interest and engagement in environmental responsibility and focused students’ attention toward human involvement and impact on the environment. Students perceived the tool and the curricular unit to be relevant to their lives and important in promoting their content learning and modeling practice. However, students and teachers reported several challenges, mostly related to the complexity of using the modeling tool and working with the resulting graphs and charts. We discuss these advantages and challenges and suggest recommendations for supporting students’ modeling practice when learning about environmental issues.
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Tactile approaches to help learners visualize key processes in environmental health sciences
Published 24 September 2018 Science ClosedTags: education
This chapter describes how hands-on models, or manipulatives, can be employed to improve the environmental health literacy of a variety of people, from science teachers and students in classrooms, to global audiences in large festival gatherings. Environmental health concepts can be quite abstract. For example, the effect of wood smoke on human lungs. People are concerned about the exposure to toxic molecules from the smoke, but find an explanation of the chemical process by which wood smoke harms human health too difficult to fully understand. Hands-on activities and models are a visual and tactile way of communicating essential molecular environmental health concepts in an inviting way without requiring a technical background.
The MIT Edgerton Center Molecule Set (hereafter referred to as the Molecule Set) is one example of an engaging model set that employs a simple design of differently colored LEGO® bricks to represent atoms. The set was designed to teach chemical principles to middle school students, and has evolved to include new topics with a more environmental health emphasis such as climate change and air pollution. The success of the Molecule Set and corresponding lessons stems from a unique collaboration between MIT scientists and the MIT Edgerton Center. This chapter highlights the Molecule Set and other relevant examples where hands-on models have been used to communicate abstract science concepts and improve environmental health literacy.
Effects of teaching household actions to address ocean acidification on student knowledge and attitudes
Published 17 July 2018 Science ClosedTags: education
Ocean acidification (OA), the change in ocean chemistry due to increasing concentrations of anthropogenic carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, is an environmental problem that is an active area of scientific research yet remains largely outside of the public’s awareness. It is often assumed that if we raise OA awareness, then the public will support and take action to help mitigate the problem. This research project examines this assumption through the lens of educating high school students about OA. The research included three phases: (i) review of existing teaching resources on OA, (ii) development and refinement of a new OA curriculum based on strengths and gaps identified during the review process, and (iii) a longitudinal experiment testing the impacts to knowledge and attitudes of two approaches to teaching about OA. This study has implications for those engaging in OA outreach and education efforts specifically, and for environmental education campaigns in general. During this study, we found that at least 90 teaching resources focused on OA are already available. These resources provide teachers with multiple approaches to teaching about OA, yet do not adequately address the multiple impacts of OA nor teach students about ways to help address the problem. We developed our own curriculum that underwent four rounds of revisions before appearing in the form presented here. Our experiment found that our teaching intervention increased knowledge but that attitudinal changes, when present, did not persist over time. Despite this lack of attitude change, student attitudes were generally sufficient to support mitigation actions.
UK public perceptions of ocean acidification – the importance of place and environmental identity
Published 13 April 2018 Science ClosedTags: education
Ocean under global change: from science to school
Published 22 March 2018 Science ClosedTags: education
This article includes a methodological proposal in which students collaborate with scientists in order to establish a significative series of data to know the impacts of Climate Change on a shellfish bank which represents the main socio-economic motor in a costal population of more than 14000 habitants live. This proposal explains the theoretical background of the experience as well as the teaching strategy through laboratory practices which allows the students to act as efficient scholar scientists on this type of collaborations with research teams. Also described is the practical application of this knowledge on an investigation allowing for the beginning of a temporal series of data about the situation regarding the collection of cockles (Cerastordema edule) to understand how Climate Change can affect this valuable economic resource in Galicia – Spain. This applied scholar science is described ending with the analysis of data through our accumulation of graphs and the creation of our conclusions. Through our conclusions we have found the necessity of carrying on the kind of studies in the following years remarkable both, before and after, the recruitment campaign in order to obtain conclusions about possible adaptations of the duration of the recruitment period to Climate Change. Via our pedagogically obtained conclusions, we have found interest in this type of proposal to be valuable for the acceleration of the incorporation of these contents to the syllabus due to the urgency of the arrival of this knowledge to society.
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Digital technologies as support for learning about the marine environment: steps toward ocean literacy
Published 8 December 2017 Science ClosedTags: education
Over the last century the ocean has been negatively impacted by human activities. In order to continue benefitting from marine services and goods, and the qualities afforded to human life through the ocean, citizens need to be informed about their relationship to the ocean and their own impact on it, that is they need to be ocean literate. Marine education is challenging, as most of the ocean is invisible to the human eye and marine processes are spread over large temporal and spatial scales. Digital technologies have the potential to support learning about the ocean as, virtually, they can take learners into the depths of the ocean and help them visualise complex interactions between different factors over time and space. This thesis consists of four studies scrutinising the role of different digital technologies for learning about marine environmental issues with an emphasis on communicative aspects, with two of the studies having a specific focus on ocean literacy. Study I is a literature review of the use of digital technologies in environmental education. Study II investigates the use of a marine research institute’s Facebook page aimed at supporting communication and learning about marine topics. Study III addresses the use of a carbon footprint calculator as an opportunity for students to reason about their greenhouse gas emissions. Finally, Study IV analyses the questions asked by students on an online platform where they engage in an asynchronous discussion with a scientist around the issues of ocean acidification. The four studies show how the use of digital technologies in environmental education can make the invisible visible, allowing engagement with and manipulation of the abstract features of the ocean. As demonstrated in my studies and as is evident from previous research in the multidisciplinary field of environmental science, digital technologies offer new means to make sense of and engage with global environmental issues. These technologies provide a field of action where users can experiment, make mistakes, get feedback and try again in ways that are different from paper-based learning activities. The findings from Studies II, III and IV also illustrate the challenges associated with these technologies, and it becomes obvious that the technical features of a tool do not determine the kind of interactions that will evolve from its use. The contexts in which a tool is used, and what the features mean to the users in situ, are key, and demonstrate the importance of studying not only the outcome of a learning practice but also the ongoing interaction between the users and the tool in a specific context. In conclusion, this thesis offers an overview of the range of impacts that digital technologies can have on the development of ocean literacy, as well as illustrating how technologies open up new ways of learning about marine environmental issues both inside and outside of school. It also provides an account of why ocean literacy is such an important skill for 21st-century citizens living in a rapidly changing world with significant challenges to the environment and our own habitats.
Assessing public awareness of marine environmental threats and conservation efforts
Published 14 November 2017 Science ClosedTags: education
- • Public engagement is key to conservation success.
- • A well informed public can increase support in conservation efforts.
- • Identified knowledge gaps within the public in marine conservation efforts.
- • Value-Action Gap present within the public in Cornwall, UK.
- • Improved, interdisciplinary science communication can increase public engagement.
To successfully integrate and engage the general public into marine conservation decisions it is important that individuals are well informed. This study surveyed two sample groups, marine environmental professionals working in the UK, n = 61, and members of the public surveyed in Truro, Cornwall, UK, n = 71. Public awareness of marine environmental threats and conservation efforts was assessed through comparison with the, assumed well informed, professional sample. Findings suggest that the public are generally well informed of threats to the marine environment, but are significantly less well informed about marine conservation and management strategies. Furthermore, despite indicating concern for the marine environment, members of the public display significantly fewer pro-environmental behaviours than marine conservation professionals. Public knowledge (and action) gaps are discussed as well as how these may be minimised, including a more interdisciplinary and active approach to science communication and public engagement.
Questions as indicators of ocean literacy: students’ online asynchronous discussion with a marine scientist
Published 18 August 2017 Media coverage ClosedTags: education
In this article, 61 high-school students learned about ocean acidification through a virtual laboratory followed by a virtual lecture and an asynchronous discussion with a marine scientist on an online platform: VoiceThread. This study focuses on the students’ development of ocean literacy when prompted to ask questions to the scientist. The students’ questions were thematically analysed to assess (1) the kind of reasoning that can be discerned as premises of the students’ questions and (2) what possibilities for enhancing ocean literacy emerge in this instructional activity. The results show how interacting with a scientist gives the students an entry point to the world of natural sciences with its complexity, uncertainty and choices that go beyond the idealised form in which natural sciences often are presented in school. This activity offers an affordable way of bringing marine science to school by providing extensive expertise from a marine scientist. Students get a chance to mobilise their pre-existing knowledge in the field of marine science. The holistic expertise of the marine scientist allows students to explore and reason around a very wide range of ideas and aspect of natural sciences that goes beyond the range offered by the school settings.
Embedding probeware technology in the context of ocean acidification in elementary science methods courses
Published 10 August 2017 Science ClosedTags: education
Research indicates that preservice teacher (PT) education programs can positively impact perceptions of scientific probeware use in K-8 environments. Despite the potential of probeware to improve science instruction and student engagement, its use in elementary education has been limited. Sixty-seven PT enrolled across three sections of an elementary science methods course participated in a mixed-methods study through which they utilized probeware in a thematic experience on ocean acidification. One-way repeated measures ANOVA of pre and post survey data measuring subscales of utility, ability, and intent to use probeware demonstrated a statistically significant increase with medium to large effect sizes for all subscales across all sections (p<0.01,η2p=0.384;p<0.001,η2p=0.517;p<0.001,η2p=0.214)p0.01ηp20.384p0.001ηp20.517p0.001ηp20.214. Analysis of reflective journals revealed over 60% felt the multiple capabilities (notably graphing) of probeware make it a useful classroom tool, and almost one-half believed that its use makes science more enjoyable and engaging. Mapping of the unitized data from the journals on the Next Generation Science Standards suggested that probeware use especially engages learners in planning and carrying out investigations and in analyzing and interpreting data. Journals also revealed that despite PT having prior experience with probeware in science courses, its use in their future elementary classroom is conditional on having a positive experience with probeware in a science methods course. Further, embedding a probeware experience in a unit on ocean acidification provides PT with strategies for addressing climate change and engaging in argument from evidence.
Developing and testing an ocean acidification case study
Published 7 June 2017 Science ClosedTags: education, methods
Case studies are used to supplement knowledge discussed in class by encouraging students to seek out further information on issues. I developed a case study on ocean acidification for general education environmental science classes and beginning science majors. Ocean chemistry is not typically discussed in detail in college courses, therefore my goal was to explain ocean acidification with relevant examples taken from news articles and primary literature. Phase one of the case study introduced the topic using a general overview of ocean chemistry and pH. Phase two included historical industrialization data of CO2 emissions and pH values for analysis. The final phase provided an article on ocean acidification effects on a marine snail, the sea butterfly (Limacina helicina), to help students understand the potential biological implications for organisms. We have piloted this case study in two classes. Anecdotally, the feedback indicated that the case study engaged students, while expanding their knowledge of ocean acidification.
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