Students’ Scientific Evaluations of Water Resources

Abstract

Socially-relevant and controversial topics, such as water issues, are subject to differences in the explanations that scientists and the public (herein, students) find plausible. Students need to be more evaluative of the validity of explanations (e.g., explanatory models) based on evidence when addressing such topics. We compared two activities where students weighed connections between lines of evidence and explanations. In one activity, students were given four evidence statements and two models (one scientific and one non-scientific alternative); in the other, students chose four out of eight evidence statements and three models (two scientific and one non-scientific). Repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that both activities engaged students’ evaluations and differentially shifted students’ plausibility judgments and knowledge. A structural equation model suggested that students’ evaluation may influence post-instructional plausibility and knowledge; when students chose their lines of evidence and explanatory models, their evaluations were deeper, with stronger shifts toward a scientific stance and greater levels of post-instructional knowledge. The activities may help to develop students’ critical evaluation skills, a scientific practice that is key to understanding both scientific content and science as a process. Although effect sizes were modest, the results provided critical information for the final development and testing stage of these water resource instructional activities.

Perceptions of Teachers in Training on Water Issues and Their Relationship to the SDGs

“…Water sustainability is related to various problems derived from human behaviour, such as the quantity [3,[10][11][12][13][14] and quality of water [6,[11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18], waste [4,5,[19][20][21][22], climate change [11,19,[23][24][25][26][27], population growth [6,23,28,29] or marine and coastal ecosystems pollution [4,9,30].…”

“…Therefore, there is a need for society to be aware and act responsibly through pro-environmental behaviours. Several studies highlight the importance of raising awareness among the population, with education being a relevant factor in the demand management and proper use of water [10,23,[32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39]. In fact, it seems that the higher the educational level of people, the greater their awareness about the quality of water and the damages caused by pollution [10], although it has no correlation with conservation behaviours [6].…”

Optimizing Nitrogen and Phosphorus Removal from Wastewater in the Context of a Sustainable Economy

“…The search for efficient solutions for recycling and reuse of resources, as well as the development of more sustainable and efficient technologies, can lead to significant improvements in wastewater treatment processes [11][12][13][14][15]. In this regard, the literature presents various opportunities that can contribute to significant improvements in wastewater treatment processes [12,[16][17][18][19][20]. Life cycle analysis, sewage sludge recovery, reuse of treated water, or optimization of treatment processes are just a few examples of good practices that are currently successfully applied in wastewater treatment plants [21,22].…”

“…Domestic wastewater also contains more phosphorus than is necessary for the nutrient balance of the water, which can contribute substantially to eutrophication and therefore needs to be removed by physical-chemical treatment [16].…”