Something Very Fishy: An Informal STEAM Project Making a Case for Ocean Conservation and Climate Change

Figures & data

Table 1. Codebook measures – conceptual understanding.

Description (code)
Construct: Please enter one of the following numbers below in the column “construct” to indicate what elements are present in the drawing. [Note: Ocean here includes plant-life with it. Human-used products can include scuba gear, fishing, trash, boats, submarines. etc.]
• Ocean without sea animals, humans, or human-used products (1)
• Ocean with only sea animals (2)
• Ocean with only human beings (3)
• Ocean with only human-used products
• Ocean with sea animals and humans (5)
• Ocean with humans and human-used products for the ocean (6)
• Ocean with sea animals and human-used products (7)
• Ocean with sea animals, humans, and human-used products (8)
Centricity: Please indicate the number assigned for the code below to indicate if you notice that the drawing has any of the following centricity options
• SVF: You can identify if the drawing is centered around specific scenes of SVF. If you see a red boat or one/few of the animals with nothing about a specific scene from the show, then do not code it SVF. We want to measure if children learned the key messages from the show in this code for SVF. (1)
• Popular culture: You can identify if the drawing is centered around movies depicting underwater life such as Finding Nemo, Finding Dori, Spongebob, Shark Tales (maybe before that time), Jaws, Fish Hooks, Little Mermaid, Moana, Pirates of the Caribbean, Titanic, etc. (2)
• No centricity (3)
Scenarios: Please enter one of the following numbers below in the column “scenario” to indicate the overall message in the drawing being depicted
• Positive/neutral scenarios: A positive scenario could include (but not limited to) some of the following situations. The overall goal of a positive/neutral scenario is to indicate that the child’s drawing is showing a positive/neutral state of the oceans and/or how humans are interacting with each other or with animals in that environment. The analysis is from an ecological perspective. [Examples: No trash in the picture, and if there is trash then it appears that people are picking up trash or taking care of it, natural interactions of predator-prey, etc.] (1)
• Negative scenario: A negative scenario could include (but not limited to) some of the following situations. The overall goal of a negative scenario is to indicate that the child’s drawing is showing a negative state of the ocean and/or how humans are interacting with each other or with animals in that environment. [Examples: Trash or man-made materials injuring animals or entrapping them in some way, Humans killing animals with spears, guns, any other object that is not intended for fishing] (2)
Colors: Please use the assigned code below to indicate the color of the drawing
• One color only, with pencil only i.e. black and white (1)
• One color only, with a color other than the regular pencil i.e. not black and white (2)
• More than one color (3)

Table 2. Codebook measures – careers.

Career (code)	Career (code)
Coral scientist (1)	Marine biologist (13)
Doctor (2)	Robot designer (14)
Movie star (3)	Nurse (15)
Actor (4)	SCUBA diving instructor (16)
Boat captain (5)	Painter (17)
Police officer (6)	Fireman (18)
Musician (7)	Science teacher (19)
Audio engineer (8)	Park ranger (20)
Nature photographer (9)	Animal veterinarian (21)
Seafood market owner (10)	Singer (22)
Writer (11)	Fisherman (23)
Video game designer (12)	Playwright (24)

Note: Coder used assigned code below to indicate the careers selected.

Table 3. Codebook measures – think, feel, do.

Description (code)
How do you feel about going to see a play about the ocean and ocean creatures?
Saddest face (1)
Somewhat sad face (2)
Neutral face (3)
Somewhat happy face (4)
Happy face (5)
How do you feel about going to meet small creatures that live in the ocean?
Saddest face (1)
Somewhat sad face (2)
Neutral face (3)
Somewhat happy face (4)
Happy face (5)
How important do you think the ocean and ocean creatures are to you?
Smallest dot (1)
Second smallest dot (2)
Middle dot (3)
Second largest dot
Largest dot (5)
How much do you want to help the ocean and ocean creatures?
Smallest dot (1)
Second smallest dot (2)
Middle dot (3)
Second largest dot (4)
Largest dot (5)

Note: Figure 1 shows how the options for these items were shown in the workbook.

Table 4. Codebook measures: ocean conservation intentions and behaviors.

Description
Use a reusable water bottle
Take reusable shopping bags to the store
Recycle at home
Turn out lights when you leave a room
Don’t leave tap running when I brush my teeth
Don’t litter
Have a quick shower
Pick up other people’s trash
Other
Other – text response

Note: Same set of items were provided for questions: (a) What things do you do at home or school that helps the ocean and ocean creatures? (b) Which of these things would you want to do to help the ocean and ocean creatures? Code – 1 if they were marked, 0 if left empty.

Table 5. Undergraduate student survey measures.

Perceived knowledge (1 = nothing at all to 5 = a great deal)

How much do you know about marine science?

Efficacy (Scale: 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree)

I am confident that I can take more creative/research-based classes that involve marine sciences

I am confident that I can find resources to help me keep up with learning more about marine science

I am confident in my ability to communicate about marine science to my friends and family

I am confident in designing a VR experience on ocean literacy

Prior to enrolling in this class, I had learnt to design a VR experience

I am confident that I can engage in stewardship behaviors to help the oceans

I am confident in helping children use VR to learn about oceans

I am confident that I can take more such creative/research-based classes that involve science in general.

Cronbach’s alpha = 0.74

Attitude towards science (Scale: 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree)

I feel discovering something new in science is thrilling

I think science can solve many of today’s world’s challenges

I think discussing new theories and ideas about science is important

I think it is valuable to conduct research that builds the world’s scientific knowledge

Cronbach’s alpha = 0.92

Science identity (Scale: 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree)

The work of a science student is appealing to me

I have a duty as a student to take part in science communication activities targeting the general public including children

I have come to think of myself as a science student

I feel like I belong in the field of science

I derive great personal satisfaction from working on a team that is doing important scientific work such as SVF

I have a strong sense of belonging to the science community

Cronbach’s alpha = 0.91

Career Interests (Scale: 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree)

I am interested in a career that involves using technology such as VR to communicate marine science

I am interested in a career that involves science communication

Table 6. Elementary school teacher survey measures.

Perceived knowledge: (1 = nothing at all to 5 = a great deal) Rate your level of understanding of the following …

Marine science

Climate change

Connection between climate change and marine science

Attitude towards science (Scale: 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree)

Because of science and technology, there will be more opportunities for the next generation

Science makes our way of life change too fast

Even if it brings no immediate benefits, scientific research that advances the frontiers of knowledge is necessary and should be supported by the federal government

Scientific researchers are dedicated people who work for the good of humanity

Most scientists want to work on things that will make life better for the average person

Scientists are helping to solve challenging problems

Scientists are apt to be odd and peculiar people

Cronbach’s alpha = 0.73

Descriptive norms (Scale: 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree) (similar items were asked to measure descriptive norms for teaching climate change)

The teachers I work with, who are important to me, would care about teaching ocean conservation

The teachers I work with, who are important to me, would teach ocean conservation

Cronbach’s alpha (ocean conservation) = 0.72; Cronbach’s alpha (climate change) = 0.96

Injunctive norms (Scale: 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree) (similar items were asked to measure injunctive norms for teaching climate change)

The teachers I work with, whose opinions I value, would expect me to teach ocean conservation

It is expected of me to teach ocean conservation,

The people I work with, whose opinions matter to me, would approve of me teaching ocean conservation

Cronbach’s alpha (ocean conservation) = 0.75; Cronbach’s alpha (climate change) = 0.63

Intentions to teach (Scale: 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree) In the future, I plan to teach …

Marine science

Climate change

Intention to participate in (Scale: 1 = extremely likely to 5 = extremely unlikely)- recoded

A teacher training workshop to prepare teaching climate change using marine science

Figure 1. Scales related to Table 3.

Figure 2. Percent of children’s drawings scored for three measures of content centricity before (pre) and after (post) attending SVF for students in kindergarten (N = 10), second grade (N = 24), and fourth grade (N = 15).

Figure 3. Percent of children’s drawings scored for four measures of content construct before (pre) and after (post) attending SVF for students in kindergarten (N = 10), second grade (N = 24), and fourth grade (N = 15).

Figure 4. Percent of children’s drawings scored for three measures of content color before (pre) and after (post) attending SVF for students in kindergarten (N = 10), second grade (N = 24), and fourth grade (N = 15).

Figure 5. Percent of children’s drawings scored for two measures of content scenario before (pre) and after (post) attending SVF for students in kindergarten (N = 10), second grade (N = 24), and fourth grade (N = 15).

Table 7. Linear regressions for undergraduates addressing RQ1 and RQ2.

	Career in marine science communication involving technology		Career in science communication (in general)
Predictor	B	S.E	B	S.E.
Intercept	−4.92	18.58	−0.17	18.08
Gender (female)	−0.66	0.66	0.53	0.64
Age	0.04	0.19	−0.04	0.18
Returned to SVF	0.01	0.40	0.03	0.39
Perceived knowledge	−0.45	0.28	−0.31	0.27
Perceived efficacy	0.87*	0.40	0.37	0.39
Attitude towards science	0.60	0.40	0.35	0.37
Science identity	0.01	0.38	1.05**	0.37
R^2	0.41	–	0.63
$R_{\mathrm{a}\mathrm{d}\mathrm{j}\mathrm{u}\mathrm{s}\mathrm{t}\mathrm{e}\mathrm{d}}^2$	0.26	–	0.54

***p < 0.001; **p < 0.01; *p < 0.05.

Table 8. Linear regressions for elementary school teachers addressing RQ3, RQ4 and RQ5.

	Intention to teach marine science		Intention to teach climate change		Intention to participate in teacher training
Predictor	B	S.E.	B	S.E.	B	S.E.
Intercept	4.37	2.13	0.59	1.81	−0.23	2.12
Age	−0.01	0.02	−0.00	0.02	−0.02	0.02
Ideology (liberal)	0.12	0.21	0.26	0.19	0.40	0.21
Religiosity	−0.14	0.12	0.08	0.11	0.13	0.13
Attitude towards science	−0.28	0.51	−0.10	0.47	0.59	0.53
Perceived marine science knowledge	−0.24	0.26	–	–	−0.34	0.32
Perceived climate change knowledge	–	–	−0.08	0.26	−0.20	0.33
Descriptive norm: ocean conservation	−0.10	0.30	–	–	−0.61	0.46
Injunctive norm: ocean conservation	0.67*	0.26	–	–	0.90*	0.36
Descriptive norm: climate change	–	–	0.29	0.23	1.16**	0.34
Injunctive norm: climate change	–	–	0.61*	0.27	−0.82	0.40
R^2	0.37	–	0.58	–	0.69	–
$R_{\mathrm{a}\mathrm{d}\mathrm{j}\mathrm{u}\mathrm{s}\mathrm{t}\mathrm{e}\mathrm{d}}^2$	0.14	–	0.43	–	0.50	–

***p < 0.001; **p < 0.01; *p < 0.05.

Figure A1. Pre and post drawings of student A (top) and student B (down).