ScholarWorks

ScholarWorks is an open access repository for the capture of the intellectual work of Montana State University (MSU) in support of its teaching, research and service missions. MSU ScholarWorks is a central point of discovery for accessing, collecting, sharing, preserving, and distributing knowledge to the Montana State University community and the world.

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Scholarship & Research

Recent Submissions

Trip Report. New Paradigm for Discovery-Based Learning: Implementing Bottom-up Development by Listening to Farmers' Needs Using Participatory Processes and Holistic Thinking
(Montana State University, 2011)
Coulibaly, Keriba
I spent 30 days in the USA mentoring and advising students with their specific projects, which are initiated to help and assist people in need in Mali and in other parts of the world using participatory processes and holistic ways of thinking. To fulfill this mission, I worked intensively with many people such as Dr Florence Dunkel, the Principal Investigator of Mali projects affiliated with Montana State University (MSU), Dr Ada Giusti, French professor at MSU, Dr Cliff Montagne, MSU soil scientist and specialist in Holistic Management. I worked on peer-refereed manuscripts with these faculty and a graduate student. I mentored students in Dr Florence Dunkel’s PSPP 465 R class, a University Research Core course in Health, Agriculture, and Poverty: Concepts and Action Research. Dr. Dunkel is being assisted in teaching this class by Dr. Ada Giusti. I gave a presentation to Dr Giusti’s French Language class. I met with students of Dr. Dunkel’s BIOO 162 CS Insects and Human Societies course, each large group meeting, each laboratory, and conducted many individual interviews. At Belgrade Middle School, I also made a presentation and answered questions from 60 students in Denise Dahl’s Social Studies class. Denise Dahl is a former USDA Mali exchange teacher. I also interacted with elders, current faculty and students at Chief Dull Knife College, and former Mali externs on the Northern Cheyenne reservation in Lame Deer, MT. I made a presentation on Mali in an MSU International Studies class that covered the geography, population, economy, and the cultural identity of Mali. I worked intensively in all cultural aspects of the typical Malian village and Bambara language training with an undergraduate student who is going to Mali this June to help with a project that contributes to overcoming the ravages of kwashiorkor in children in Sanambele, a subsistence farming village in Mali of about 1,200 Bambara-speaking people. I contributed to individual students, and to students in small and large groups, in general mentoring of the PSPP 465 students working on projects concerning Mali, and I will continue mentoring in a continuing, ongoing process via e-mail and Skype. Various discussions took place with these students who are willing to put in practice the participatory processes and holistic thinking for the solutions to problems of the materially-poor but culturally-rich subsistence farmers throughout the world.
Towards Culturally Responsive & Decolonized Place-Based Environmental Science Education
(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2026-06)
Sellars, Mary Riley
;
Walter Woolbaugh
This paper examines how place-based environmental science education can be made more culturally responsive and inclusive of different relationships to land and community. It draws on research about place-based education, culturally responsive teaching, Traditional Ecological Knowledge, and decolonizing science education. This research is used to identify practical strategies for connecting environmental science with students’ lived experiences, cultural knowledge, and local environments while maintaining alignment with the Next Generation Science Standards.The paper presents five adaptable lesson frameworks centered on community mapping, environmental language, interviews about environmental change, environmental case studies, and environmental policy. These frameworks encourage students to investigate local phenomena, consider multiple perspectives, use scientific evidence, and reflect on how history and power influence environmental issues. They also demonstrate ways to include community and Indigenous knowledge alongside Western science without treating these perspectives as supplemental. This paper suggests that environmental science instruction can be both scientifically rigorous and responsive to the communities in which learning occurs. The proposed frameworks offer educators starting points for helping students connect science to their own lives, participate in environmental decision-making, and recognize themselves and their communities as sources of meaningful environmental knowledge.
Leveled Assessments in High School Biology and their Effects on Student Well Being
(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2026-08)
Lakin, Beth Leigh
;
Jessica Anderson
Traditional summative assessments often fail to accurately measure student understanding, limiting meaningful feedback and negatively impacting student confidence, performance, and perceptions of learning. To determine how leveled assessments impact student performance, confidence and perceptions of fairness, students in high school biology were administered a unit test in three leveled versions. Students selected their test version in consultation with the teacher and could opt into a lower-level assessment if they found their selection to be too difficult. Student performance on the leveled assessment led to modest, statistically insignificant student performance compared to a prior traditional assessment. Student confidence increased slightly although students indicated a strong preference for leveled assessments citing agency and appropriate difficulty as positives. This initial study indicates that leveled assessments are a possible way to more accurately measure student performance and give better feedback.
Biomimicry for Authentic Learning: The Effect on High School Students' Science and Engineering Skills
(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2026-07)
Gustafson, Annie Celine
;
Walter Woolbaugh
Critical thinking, collaboration, and innovative problem-solving skills are increasingly critical to teach in order to address the unprecedented global challenges our world is facing. The United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) define these challenges and represent a global commitment to addressing them. For progress towards a sustainable future, science education needs authentic learning experiences to provide the platform that mirrors the processes, uncertainties, and creative demands of real scientific work. This study (N=106) evaluated the effects of using biomimicry as an authentic learning experience in a high school science classroom. The treatment involved all students participating in model-based inquiry and engineering design through a biomimicry project aligned with one of the SDGs of their interest. Using a mixed methods approach, academic performance of students’ ability to develop and use models, analyze data, and design solutions was analyzed. The results indicated that the biomimicry project can be used as an authentic learning experience for students. It had positive results on developing students’ science and engineering skills and students showed measurable improvements with identifying correct science and engineering skills for specific science tasks. These findings can inform effective strategies for implementing meaningful, real-world learning experiences in the science classroom.
Positively Influencing Understanding and Attitudes of Water Use in Colorado Through Raising Trout in the Classroom
(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2026-08)
Oksness, Garret Michael
;
Walter Woolbaugh
This Action Research Project studies the impact of a hands-on unit, which teaches about freshwater ecosystems through raising trout in the classroom, on high school students’ understanding of, and attitudes toward real world issues related to nature, conservation, and natural resource management. The project took place in a high school environmental science class at Wellington Middle High School, in Wellington, Colorado. Twenty-two students in grades 11 and 12 participated in the study. The project occurred over a 4-week period. Students filled out pre- and post-surveys with Likert Scale responses. Ten students also participated in individual pre- and post-interviews. Field observations of examples of engagement were made by me, the instructor. The results of my investigation showed that there was a positive effect on students’ attitude and understanding of real-world issues relating to stream ecology, water quality, nature and conservation, and natural resource management through raising trout in the classroom. When comparing pre- and post-interviews, students moved from general descriptions of environmental issues, such as littering, to more complex answers involving population growth, water use, and human impacts. Students demonstrated increased understanding of identifying local species and ecological conditions those species indicate. Attitudes toward nature and conservation remained consistently positive. Students felt they had a better understanding of nature and conservation. I also observed that experiential, hands-on activities increased students’ engagement and attitudes toward topics covered in this unit. These hands-on, experiential learning activities helped to reinforce key concepts covered throughout the Trout in the Classroom unit. In conclusion, teaching freshwater ecosystems through raising trout in the classroom was an effective strategy for increasing students’ understanding of, and attitudes toward real-world issues related to nature, conservation, and natural resource management.