Focus on a STEM, Based in Place, Watershed Curriculum: A confluence of stormwater, humans, knowledge, attitudes, and skills

Abstract

This case study investigated the potential of a place-based watershed curriculum, using STEM principles, to increase watershed literacy and knowledge of human impacts on stormwater in the environment. A secondary goal was to examine whether the placebased connection and increased exposure to issues within their local watershed impacted the students' environmental attitudes and sense of place. Over 500 sixth graders participated in this localized curriculum, where they learned the science behind watershed issues on their own school campuses. They focused on ways humans can monitor and mitigate their impacts on stormwater, through engineering investigations. The mixedmethod research study investigated the effectiveness of the OLWEDU curriculum, to address these key questions: 1) To what degree did the OLWEDU increase the students' combined watershed literacy? 2) To what extent did the OLWEDU affect their environmental attitudes? 3) How did using a STEM oriented and place-based curriculum make the learning more relevant? In order to provide a solid triangulation of data, this study used a quasi-experimental design format with multiple measures: a) A Pre-Posttest (PPT), was given to all of the students to gather quantitative changes in knowledge of watershed concepts, stormwater issues related to human impacts on the environment, and engineering techniques; b) A constructed-knowledge questionnaire (CKQ) was used with forty four of the participants, to gather additional quantitative data on the students' local watershed knowledge; c) an environmental attitudes survey (EAS) was included in this sub-sample group; d) interviews were conducted with ten of the students to examine their opinions on the STEM aspects of the curriculum in addition to the place-based ii connections between the unit and their community. The statistically significant results showed increases in overall watershed literacy, knowledge of human impacts on stormwater, engineering principles, and environmental attitudes. These findings will be used to improve the current curriculum, and have broader implications concerning the benefits of using a formalized middle-school 21 st century standards-based curriculum to teach watershed literacy and promote pro-environmental attitudes by using a combination of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math in a local, place-based context. The Lake O School District administrators, teachers, and students; Portland State University's Center for Science Education faculty and graduate students. I look forward to sharing my enhanced skills and understanding with the next generation of youth.In addition, I dedicate the completion of this thesis to my family, whose lives had to be put on the back burner for many months. Thank you all for allowing me to pursue the advancement of my own education. You all know how important education is to me.iv Acknowledgements

What We Know about Water: A Water Literacy Review

“…While less prominent within student surveys, local knowledge is by far the most commonly surveyed knowledge category among adult populations. The literature frequently emphasizes the importance of adults knowing facts like the source of one's water [41] and the structure of one's local water system [85]. Interestingly, it is a common finding that adults believe they know where their water comes from [7,81,86].…”

“…This is only possible because many do not understand that all land drains to somewhere, and thus inherently must be included within a watershed. Even those who know that they live within a watershed are generally unable to provide the name of that watershed [7,81,85].…”

Engineering a Healthier Watershed: Middle School Students Use Engineering Design to Lessen the Impact of Their Campus' Impervious Surfaces on Their Local Watershed

“…See pages 42-44 for an explanation of the final number of students used in the analysis. Schall continued the study, looking specifically at student motivation and the relevance of using a STEM format in a place-based setting (Schall, 2015).…”