Evolving Scientific Vocabulary and Language in Middle School Classrooms: Babbling and Gargling on the way to Scientific Understanding

While scientific vocabulary is important, it can often become problematic for students. Sometimes, those words can become a barrier to participation or act as a gatekeeper to success in the science classroom. Under the Next Generation Science Standards, middle school students are expected to model Earth-Moon-Sun motions to explain Moon phases, eclipses, and seasons (NGSS Lead States, 2013). Using a phenomenography lens, we investigated the ways in which students seeing the Moon in nature and related classroom experiences translate into a mental model of lunar phases and how vocabulary is used to communicate these models. Eighth-grade students from three urban middle school classrooms were assessed for spatial ability and understanding of lunar phases. Girls and boys of both high and low spatial ability were interviewed to explore their Moon phase understanding and causal thinking before and after an astronomy unit. One school employed the school district\u27s astronomy curriculum while the other used the REAL Curriculum. Students engaged in babbling (i.e., inarticulate but somewhat correct descriptions) and gargling (i.e., using many technical terms without evidence of understanding) with much greater frequency in pre-interviews. Students who developed correct vocabulary and used it comfortably in interviews were more likely to also display correct Moon phase conceptions. REAL Curriculum’s project-based approach to teaching astronomy and related vocabulary through hands-on, contextualized projects and activities (e.g., Moon observation journals) produced greater vocabulary gains

Academic integrity and oral examination: an Arabian Gulf perspective

Academic dishonesty is a major challenge facing educational institutions worldwide. Within the context of undergraduate education in the Arabian Gulf, oral assessment can help validate the originality of student work, whilst simultaneously facilitating assessment in a mode highly resonant with the region\u27s own educational traditions and collectivist cultural norms. The present study aims to examine student perceptions of a group-based oral examination. This was introduced as an alternative to written examinations, and as an adjunctive assessment of a course essay. Three undergraduate sections (N = 75) of an introductory psychology course at Zayed University in the United Arab Emirates sat the oral examination. Participants were later surveyed about their experience immediately after the exam (prior to knowing their grade). The dominant themes to emerge from the analysis were relief, satisfaction with the process and ecological relevance. Another theme was a perception of fairness and promotion of academic integrity. The group oral exam appears to provide a well-tolerated, culturally resonant means of assessment, which also promotes academic integrity within the present Arabian Gulf context. © 2013 Taylor & Francis

Shale development in the US and Canada : a review of engagement practice

Public and stakeholder engagement with shale development is difficult, but essential. We review 26 engagement processes carried out by US and Canadian companies, alliances, government agencies, academics and activists; systematically exploring who participates, the stage at which engagements take place, aims and methods, provision for multiway engagement, and issues of credibility. We find a multitude of actors carrying out engagement using a variety of formats, ranging from barbeque events and town hall meetings to citizen science and in-depth qualitative research. Whilst we find many strengths, we also highlight a number of weaknesses. Much of this engagement does not occur at the earliest stages of development, and rarely asks the most fundamental question -whether shale development should proceed at all- instead commonly focusing on questions of impact minimisation, regulation and gaining support. Furthermore, the majority of activities tend to elicit the responses of interested and affected parties, with much less attention to views of the wider public. We reflect on what may be limiting engagement practice, and discuss how engagement might be improved

When unlocking rivers results in building more infrastructure: A group mental model shares lessons from weir remediation in the United Kingdom

The last several decades have seen a rise in efforts to remove weirs, but there is little research investigating how projects are carried out, potential areas for improvement, or sharing of lessons to facilitate reconnection of more rivers. The aim of the study presented here was to explore how people involved in weir remediation perceive project processes, factors that facilitate or hinder action implementation, and possible ways processes could be improved to reconnect more rivers. We carried out semi-structured interviews with people (n = 11) who had been actively involved in weir remediation processes in the Severn River Catchment, United Kingdom, and used their responses to create a group mental model. The group mental model was created to support learning and communication about weir remediation projects between individuals and groups. We found broad agreement from those involved in creating the group mental model about weir remediation project processes and potential areas for improvement. One of the only points of divergence within the group mental model was associated with the impact of different weir remediation actions, particularly weir removal. Based on the group mental model, we set out three calls to action to reconnect more rivers in the UK. First, move beyond opportunistic projects and establish national goals and catchment-scale plans for weir remediation. Second, reform fish passage legislation and legislate weir ownership. Doing so would support more effective remediation solutions by recognizing the diversity of fish species that reside in UK rivers and help mitigate risks from hazardous weirs through owner accountability. Third, build cross-sector and public partnerships to encourage removal or improved fish pass designs. We direct the three calls to action to policy makers and anyone already engaged in or envisioning weir remediation projects in the UK. The calls also have potential implications and relevance to people in other countries in Europe and beyond

Reflections from the team: Co‐creating visual media about ecological processes for young people

Many migratory fish populations are declining, threatened by human-induced pressures such as habitat loss and fragmentation caused by dams, roads, land use change, climate change and pollution. However, public awareness of fish migration and associated human pressures remains limited.It is important to communicate about hard-to-see and complex environmental topics and issues, such as fish migration, with young people, who stand to be the most affected by ongoing global changes. Young people are also at a critical stage in their attitude formation and may be particularly receptive to learning enrichment and engagement for behaviour change about environmental issues.Arts-based methods can be particularly effective in fostering broad personal connections with nature, especially for complex topics like fish migration. The collaborative and creative processes involved in developing such media often lack critique, which limits learning from previous experiences.In this article, we reflect on the co-creation of the Shout Trout Workout (STW), a lyric poem, comic and music video for 8- to 14-year-olds, designed to entertain, engage and enrich learning about migratory fishes and aquatic environments. We chart the process of creation, including conception of ideas, writing the poem, fact-checking and developing the storyline with scientists and creating a comic and music video with visual artists and musicians.We explore some of the challenges and merits of collaborative working, consider the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the creative and initial engagement process and share what we learned about creative input, communication and respect. We also discuss how the experience shaped our thoughts about the nature of co-creation itself, and how in creating STW, collaborators contributed to the process in multiple, nuanced and unanticipated ways (e.g. artistic input, ideas, science, dissemination), representing a spectrum of co-creative practice.We hope that sharing our experiences and reflections is useful and inspiring for other cross-disciplinary collaborations, and for those who aim to create learning enrichment and engagement material about ecological processes and environmental issues for young people

Public and expert perceptions of sea-level change on the Severn Estuary

As coastal communities become increasingly exposed to the risks posed by sea-level change, understanding their beliefs and responses becomes more important. While studies have identified differences in lay and expert understandings of climate change, little research has investigated how these groups understand sea-level change. This thesis uses a mental models approach to explore and compare expert and public perceptions of sea-level change on the Severn Estuary, a threatened coastal environment in the southwest of the United Kingdom. A three-phase methodology is adopted. First, expert perceptions are investigated through semi-structured interviews, probability elicitations and cognitive mapping with experts in the field of sea-level change on the Severn Estuary (N=11). Second, public perceptions are investigated through mental models interviews that include a semi-structured discussion, a picture sorting task, and a cognitive mapping session (N=20). Third, perceptions raised during public interviews are explored by way of a wider survey of members of the public living around the Severn Estuary (N=359). These perceptions are then compared and contrasted. A grounded approach is utilised to explore themes emerging from expert and public qualitative interviews, while regression analyses explore the relationships between themes explored in the quantitative public survey. Results show areas of public understanding consistent with expert understandings: most public respondents think that sea levels will rise, leading to increased flooding and property damage. However, the Severn Estuary public does not feel well informed about sea-level change, and there are a number of key differences between expert and public perceptions. For example, there is low public salience of some of the key drivers of sea-level change and its indirect impacts. Perceptions are influenced by many factors including information sources, the ways in which individuals think about the future, and the biases that they hold. Many findings are consistent with climate change research more generally. For example, respondents tend to express low concern about sea-level change in relation to other matters such as the economy; they feel detached from the issue, seeing it as something that will happen in the future to other people; and they perceive that neither the causes of nor responses to sea-level change are their responsibility. From an applied perspective, the study fills a research gap in how the Severn Estuary public perceives sea-level change in their region, and provides insights into how it might best be communicated. From a methodological perspective, the study illustrates the utility of using mixed methods, interdisciplinary approaches for investigating public and expert perceptions of specific climate change risks

A European eel (Anguilla anguilla) case study using structured elicitation to estimate instream infrastructure passability for freshwater fishes

Conservation efforts are hampered by limited understanding about how different types of instream infrastructure impact migration patterns and fish survival. We used a rapid, fully online IDEA protocol to elicit expert judgments for the passability of seven different in-stream infrastructures to elver European eels (Anguilla anguilla) in Great Britain. Nine experts provided judgments via our online survey, followed by a second elicitation via email for reflection and adjustment of initial estimates. We found that on average, bridges were judged the most passable (95% passability), followed by fords, nonperched culverts, weirs, sluices, dams, and perched culverts (7%). Results showed a high degree of agreement about how passable bridges and perched culverts are for elver eels, but less certainty about other infrastructure. Thirty-four distinct factors were identified that experts believed influence infrastructure passability for elver eels, including: the structure itself, hydraulics, elver characteristics, obstructions (e.g., debris accumulation), and vegetation (e.g., to aid climbing). We discuss how our rapid, online-only variation on the IDEA protocol compares with the more traditional protocol, and how the expert estimates generated in this study can be used in future scenario building and connectivity modeling, with a view to improving conservation to support species persistence

'This funny place': uncovering the ambiguity of saltmarshes using a multimodal approach

Saltmarshes are increasingly recognised for the range of benefits they offer, including coastal protection, flood regulation and carbon sequestration. However, much less is known about how people perceive these environments and their importance for non-material aspects of human well-being. As climate change and sea-level rise render these environments increasingly vulnerable, there is a need to better understand how saltmarshes are valued. This is because these values influence—and are influenced by—the ways in which people interact with places and therefore gain well-being benefits from them. These values also shape management decisions, which in turn affect the well-being of people and environment. To address this need, we use a multimodal qualitative approach (mobile interviews, photo elicitations, mapping and word association) to explore the values held in connection to saltmarshes at two Welsh case study sites: the Taf Estuary in Carmarthenshire and the Mawddach Estuary in Gwynedd. We find that saltmarshes are ambiguous places, not having one obvious meaning, and being open to more than one interpretation. They are both known and unknown; valued and (literally) overlooked. We suggest that this ambiguousness is related to both the physical characteristics of saltmarshes, which change and shift on short and long time-scales, as well as to the ways in which people (can) relate with them. We discuss how ambiguity renders saltmarshes as places of exclusive, privileged human–nature relationships, and reflect on the implications of our findings for human well-being and the management of threatened environments. We also consider how multimodal, in-depth and place-based methods such as ours provide ways in which to explore the more intangible and changeable values associated with particular habitats