This study examines how middle school students develop an increasingly coherent understanding of aquatic ecosystems. As part of a broader design research study that used Structure-Behavior-Function (SBF) theory as an organizing conceptual representation, we created two instructional units that focused on pond and aquarium environments.We coded and analyzed 70 middle school students' drawings of aquatic environments collected before, during, and after a technology-rich instructional intervention. Coding considered several relations between multiple system levels: Macro-Micro (MM), Biotic-Abiotic (BA), and SBF.Hierarchical Linear Modeling analysis was used to examine the relationship within and between levels. This suggested that students followed multidimensional trajectories toward an increasingly coherent understanding of aquatic ecosystems (i.e., separately across the MM, BA, and SBF dimensions). Even so, the ability to observe phenomena at multiple MM and BA levels may be an underlying constraint to observing integrated SBF relations and the development of a more coherent understanding of ecosystems. We discuss implications for instruction and the design of learning environments.

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This paper describes the measurement and outcomes of a novel teacher environmental literacy assessment. The Teacher Environmental Literacy Assessment (TELA) uses a contextual view of environmental literacy, and includes measures of Knowledge, Self-efficacy, Environmental Identity, Behavior, Issue Identification, and Strategy Selection. A sample of formal and nonformal educators and experts were selected to take and be interviewed about TELA responses. We found demographic differences, particularly between nonformal and formal educators. In addition, experts chose different types of strategies to address environmental issues than educators. The TELA can identify gaps in educator environmental literacy, which is vital content knowledge for educators.

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