Theses and Dissertations at Montana State University (MSU)
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Item Connectedness with nature and implications for science learning(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2022) Carter, Scott Andrew; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: C. John GravesConnectedness with nature is described as the subjective sense of relatedness one has with the natural environment. Individuals with high self-perceived connectedness with nature see themselves as part of, not separate from the natural world. Classroom observations and anecdotal evidence contributed to the hypothesis that connectedness with nature may impact science learning. The purpose of this study was to investigate connectedness with nature and its implications for science education. Identifying factors that influence connectedness with nature and investigating teaching strategies to enhance this characteristic in students were secondary goals of the study. The Nature Relatedness Scale (NRS) was employed in measuring the human-nature relationship through the course of the investigation. Other data sources included student interview, student achievement records, and student work samples. Satellite imagery was utilized in conducting greenspace assessments at sites surrounding each subject's home. A negative correlation between nature relatedness scores and science achievement was discovered, indicating a lack of association between the two variables in the sample (N=61). A relationship between tree canopy in the at-home environment and nature relatedness scores emerged, suggesting exposure to high-quality greenspace during childhood and adolescence may influence one's perception of nature. Finally, place-based learning strategies were shown to be successful in enhancing connectedness with nature in the study group of 12th grade environmental science students. Evidence compiled from the sample suggests students with high nature relatedness scores may differ from peers with lower values, particularly in what they bring to and take from science instruction.Item Standards-based single-point rubrics in advanced placement environmental science(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2023) Beckman, John Bradley; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: C. John GravesRubrics that link specific standards to assessment items offer educators a way to communicate with students about understandings and abilities and how to improve them. Single-point rubrics list a single, target performance expectation and leave open spaces for targeted feedback to encourage growth and creativity. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of standards-based single-point rubric use on learning attitudes and student perception of meaning from grades among students in Advanced Placement Environmental Science classes. Before the intervention, surveys were administered to two sections of Advanced Placement Environmental Science classes to gather information about students' initial learning attitudes and perceptions of grades. For two units of study, standards-based single-point rubrics were implemented for feedback and assessment of student learning. During these units, rubric scores and student re-assessment attempts were recorded as evidence of student motivation. Traditional, percentage grades were calculated from standards-based single-point rubric scores for the units of study during intervention. After the two units of study, student learning attitudes and grades surveys were administered again, along with student interviews to determine if students' views about learning and grades had changed. Student learning attitudes and perceptions of grades generally agreed with 'expert' responses leading into the intervention. Quantitative and qualitative data suggested overall notable gains in students' problem-solving strategies learning attitudes and in students' perceptions of grade validity.Item Assessing the use of citizen science projects to improve high school student data literacy skills and engagement(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2022) Roeder, Grace Elizabeth; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: C. John GravesStudents are exposed to various interdisciplinary concepts in a science classroom including how to work with and understand data. Data literacy is becoming an ever more important skill employers look for. However, most high school students are lacking proficient data literacy skills. Data literacy involves basic statistical calculations such as mean, median, and mode as well as cleaning and organizing data into graphs and tables for analysis. The purpose of this action research project was to try to address the lack of data literacy skills in high school students by integrating a year-long citizen science project. Citizen science is an opportunity for ordinary people to contribute to the world of science through collecting data or observations for practicing scientists. Thirty-four environmental students at MHSS in Middletown NJ took a pre survey to assess student confidence levels in data skills, science activities, and citizen science. They also took a data skills pretest to assess actual student skill levels. Next, students took part in a yearlong citizen science project where they took photos and IDed observations using the iNaturalist citizen science platform. At the end of the year, students cleaned, organized, and manipulated their data into graphs for analysis. After completing the project, students took post tests and surveys to assess any changes in skill or confidence levels. The teacher recorded student progress in personal notes as well as conducted exit interviews to obtain qualitative results. It was found that in the beginning, most students had high confidence in their skills, but performed poorly on the pretest. After the duration of the project, all but four students out of 34 improved in their post test scores. The number of poor skill level individuals dropped from 60% to 29%. Data confidence levels increased slightly and student confidence in science activities improved. Exposure to raw and messy data through citizen science projects is a valuable tool that science teachers can and should be using to improve data literacy skill in high school students.Item The use of authentic messy data and case studies to improve data literacy skills in high school students(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2022) Ekhoff, Julie Kathryn; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: C. John GravesThe purpose of the is study was to examine if analyzing and interpreting authentic messy data had any effect on my students' data literacy skills. Additionally, the study examined if case studies were an effective means of communicating authentic data. For this project students were given case studies that presented data using various graphs. Students were then asked to describe, analyze and reach conclusions about the data in the case study. The non-treatment group received case studies with clean data, while the treatment group received case studies with messy data. The two groups were compared using pre- and post-assessment, surveys and student interviews. The results showed that the use of messy data did not impact student data literacy skills, but using messy may increase student ability to think of data critically. Using case studies allowed the students to incorporate information on the subject and data collection methods into their data-based conclusions.Item The effects of using learning progressions for student mastery(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2021) Hill, Michael Frederick; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Greg FrancisIn order for students to achieve a high level of knowledge, teachers and students should be able to identify areas of understanding and areas that need improvement. Designing a progression that identifies concepts help guide teachers and students through the learning process. Students have the opportunity to show mastery in a concept before progressing to the next level. This action research provided students with a progression to guide their learning. Students reflected on each concept before moving to the next. As a result, students were able to show significant growth as well a sense of confidence in learning.Item Designing, teaching, and assessing an innovative online science curriculum for effective student learning(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2021) Sussberg, David Alexander; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Greg FrancisMany educational institutions have transitioned to online learning, opening opportunities and demand for creative, innovative, effective, and engaging online environmental science curricula. Therefore, I designed and taught an online Brightspace (D2L) science course. Student and staff study population were affiliated with Blackfeet Community College in Browning, Montana. A mixed methods research design assessed the curriculum's effectiveness for student learning; results indicated that students were positively impacted, gaining a greater understanding of scientific theory and praxis. This study significantly empowered me as an educator and can serve as a resource to construct online science curricula.Item The effect of place-based experiences on science identity, attitude, and achievement in a remote learning advanced placement environmental science classroom(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2021) Faxon, Briana Leigh; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Greg FrancisStudents in science courses are routinely consumers of science and are less often producers of scientific work. In this action research project, Advanced Placement Environmental Science students engaged in place-based lessons remotely while asynchronously developing authentic research projects that impacted their local ecosystems. This work was delivered to stakeholders within the community. Scientific questioning, graphing, and explanations, as well as surveys and interviews were used as data collection instruments throughout remote learning. The results suggested that place-based learning experiences helped students increase their skills in scientific questioning and explanations, their science identity, and their attitudes towards science. Students' sense of place was minimally changed. Results indicate the need for place-based and hands-on learning to increase students' attitude, aptitude, and identity, especially during stressful pandemic remote learning situations.Item Supporting data-intensive environmental science research: data science skills for scientific practitioners of statistics(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2020) Theobold, Allison Shay; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Stacey Hancock; Stacey Hancock was a co-author of the article, 'How environmental science graduate students acquire statistical computing skills' in the journal 'Statistics education research journal' which is contained within this dissertation.; Stacey Hancock and Sara Mannheimer were co-authors of the article, 'Designing data science workshops for data-intensive environmental science research' submitted to the journal 'Journal of statistics education ' which is contained within this dissertation.; Stacey Hancock was a co-author of the article, 'Data science skills in data-intensive environmental science research: the case of Alicia and Ellie' submitted to the journal 'Harvard data science review' which is contained within this dissertation.The importance of data science skills for modern environmental science research cannot be understated, but graduate students in these fields typically lack these integral skills. Yet, over the last 20 years statistics preparation in these fields has grown to be considered vital, and statistics coursework has been readily incorporated into graduate programs. As 'data science' is the study of extracting value from data, the field shares a great deal of conceptual overlap with the field of Statistics. Thus, many environmental science degree programs expect students to acquire these data science skills in an applied statistics course. A gap exists, however, between the data science skills required for students' participation in the entire data analysis cycle as applied to independent research, and those taught in statistics service courses. Over the last ten years, environmental science and statistics educators have outlined the shape of the data science skills specific to research in their respective disciplines. Disappointingly, however, both sides of these conversations have ignored the area at the intersection of these fields, specifically the data science skills necessary for environmental science practitioners of statistics. This research focuses on describing the nature of environmental science graduate students' need for data science skills when engaging in the data analysis cycle, through the voice of the students. In this work, we present three qualitative studies, each investigating a different aspect of this need. First, we present a study describing environmental science students' experiences acquiring the computing skills necessary to implement statistics in their research. In-depth interviews revealed three themes in these students' paths toward computational knowledge acquisition: use of peer support, seeking out a 'singular consultant,' and learning through independent research. Motivated by the need for extracurricular opportunities for acquiring data science skills, next we describe research investigating the design and implementation of a suite of data science workshops for environmental science graduate students. These workshops fill a critical hole in the environmental science and statistics curricula, providing students with the skills necessary to retrieve, view, wrangle, visualize, and analyze their data. Finally, we conclude with research that works toward identifying key data science skills necessary for environmental science graduate students as they engage in the data analysis cycle.Item Assessing the effects of expeditionary field science courses on student's environmental literacy(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2020) Bavier, Adam Geoffrey; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Greg FrancisThis action research project studied how student's environmental literacy responded to an immersive field biology experience. Treatment was a 5-day expeditionary field course designed to connect students to wildlife research in Yellowstone. While on course, students participated in science education modules structured around the natural and cultural history of bison and the modern practices used to manage their population. Pre/post environmental literacy assessments were administered and a progressive Draw-an-Ecosystem model was delivered and scored. Results showed moderate content knowledge learning as well as increases in students empowerment and intention to act relative to environmental issues and their confidence with science competencies.Item Implementing a citizen science project in a 9-12 high school science classroom(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2019) Langager, Paula Marie; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Walter WoolbaughThis classroom action research (AR) project explored the impacts of project-based learning on high school students critical thinking, decision-making, data collection and data analysis skills through the implementation of a citizen science project. AP® Environmental Science (APES) students co-developed a citizen science project that explored their local schoolyard biodiversity by designing and researching their own scientific investigative question. An evaluation of students changes in science self-efficacy, and attitudes toward science research and specific science tasks was tracked throughout the project. Pre- and post-Likert surveys, open-ended questions, field journals, focus group interviews, and a biological solutions science poster were employed as data collection tools. A mixed methodology (qualitative and quantitative) was used to analyze the data. These results showed that students made reasonable gains in data collection and analysis skills, critical thinking and decision-making abilities. Noticeable improvements were detected in student attitudes toward science and science self-efficacy. A discernable change was observed in the student's overall data and data analysis skills related to a field study.
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