Ninth grade students’ mental models of the marine environment and their implications for environmental science education in Taiwan

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate students’ mental models of the marine environment and to further examine how these models are related to their perceptions of marine problems. One hundred twenty-eight ninth grade students from a large harbor city in southern Taiwan completed a survey including a drawing activity and a set of two-tier questions. Using a four-factor rubric to analyze student drawings, we found that students’ mental models of the marine environment are generally partial and unconnected. In particular, the human component was often missing in the drawing. Students showed a strong awareness of marine problems; however, their awareness is focused on waste pollution. Moreover, correlation analysis showed that students’ mental models are associated with the scope of the perceived problems.

Keywords:

• Drawings
• mental models
• school science
• the marine environment

Additional information

Funding

The authors thankfully acknowledge the financial support from the Taiwan Ministry of Science and Technology under grant MOST 104-2511-S-110-013-MY3.