Exploring marine ecosystems with elementary school Portuguese children: inquiry-based project activities focused on ‘real-life’ contexts

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to investigate how young students engage in an inquirybased project driven by real-life contexts. Elementary school children were engaged in a small inquiry project centred on marine biodiversity and species adaptations. All activities included the exploration of an out-of-school setting as a learning context. A total of 49 students and 2 teachers were involved in the activities. The research methods included observation, document analysis and content analysis of the answers to a questionnaire and an interview. The results revealed that most of the students acquired scientific knowledge related to biological diversity and adaptations to habitat. Moreover, students progressively demonstrate greater autonomy, argumentative ability and decision-making. One implication of the present study is that elementary science curriculum could be better managed with inquiry projectbased activities that explore different types of resources and out-of-school settings.

Multiple dimensions of biodiversity drive human interest in tide pool communities

“…Natural coastal ecosystems around the world are under growing anthropogenic pressure 57 – 60 and are increasingly being replaced through artificial hard coastal defence or renewable energy structures 61 – 63 which themselves may host ecological communities 61 , 64 , 65 . These coastal areas are also popular destinations for tourism 10 , 66 , 67 and recreation 10 , 35 , 68 – 70 and provide learning opportunities 34 , 35 , 71 . Our study based on diverse marine animals suggests that managing and enhancing natural and human-made coastal habitats for biodiversity 72 – 75 may increase public interest and thus subsequently enhance educational, recreational and tourism value, strengthening the case for managing coastal structures to improve biodiversity 76 .…”

The Effect of Outdoor Lessons in Natural Sciences on Students’ Knowledge, Through Tablets and Experiential Learning

“…After examining the research of Jesus-Leibovitz et al 2017, it is clear that lessons at the seashore have a positive influence on the students' motivation, on bet-ISSN 1648-3898 /Print/ ISSN 2538-7138 /Online/ ter understanding of the concepts of natural sciences, and on understanding the importance of biodiversity. Guilherme et al (2016) have observed that after viewing the seashore and learning about marine organisms, students adopted natural sciences concepts and better understood how marine organisms are adapted to their living environment. The diversity of this ecosystem offers students and teachers a new learning experience where students learn about the sea and marine organisms through practical activities.…”

Problem-based learning model versus direct instruction in achieving critical thinking ability viewed from students’ social attitude in learning physics

“…This was accommodated by the PBL model. Practice with the PBL Model begins with complex real life (Ledesma, 2016), is unstructured, and involves interdisciplinary content (Loucky, 2017), engaging in collaborative learning to manage an increasingly diverse student population (Guilherme et al, 2016;Kang et al, 2015). The PBL model can improve independent learning skills and provide a more realistic picture of higher academic challenges, more confidence, better problem solving skills, critical thinking skills, and provide improved communication skills (Malan et al, 2014).…”