Integrated Outdoor and Classroom Science Experiences to Support Civic Engagement Among Middle and High School Students

Abstract

Read about a collaborative project that leverages the outside environment to develop civic connections related to local socioscientific issues.

Keywords:

• Middle School
• High School
• Informal Education
• Environmental Science
• Lesson Plans
• STEM

Conclusions

We envision that the design of this project, and the experiences implementing it, could inform partnership work across sectors of the K–12 educational system to help students purposefully get outdoors and gain field experience. The benefits of these experiences for students are both abstract and tangible. Students demonstrated key takeaways across both lesson sequences in their understanding that (1) human activities can contribute to global issues; (2) multifaceted solutions are an effective way to meet goals; and (3) relevant scientific connections between home, school, and community are essential to address SSIs. Additionally, students shared their increased comfort level and understanding of how to communicate effective solutions based on evidence-supported arguments with professionals in the field, community, and school district. The joy, motivation, and excitement of being in the field enhanced student experiences in the classroom; however, it is challenging to capture this in tangible ways.

The success of collaboratively developing an in-classroom and out-of-classroom experience depended on the characteristics each project member possessed throughout the project: commitment, vision, respect, and trust. The components of our work that we think were critical to the success of this project include efforts at the start of the project to develop an understanding of individual goals so we could align as many as possible to define the project; regular communications; and one person to coordinate the work, keep track of progress, and facilitate when challenges arise. These steps, we think, helped establish a mutual respect and trust between each member of the team. We hope the benefits of this project will provide an example for ways teachers can explore local partnerships to enhance their students’ experience both in and out of the classroom!

Supplemental Material

Acknowledgments

Please note that each author made substantive intellectual and writing contributions to this article. Therefore, the author order is random, with the submitting author identified first.

Funding for this project was provided through a sub-award from The Institute of Museum and Library Services awarded to the National Center for Science & Civic Engagement (NCSCE) working with the Research Foundation for the State University of New York, Stony Brook (MG-10-15-0071-15A). The grant title: Partnership Champions: SENCER-ISE and Professional Development Through Mentoring to Enhance Learning Environments. The authors would like to thank SENCER-ISE for support, and the ePartnership grant staff and SENCER members for their guidance. We also thank the watershed organizations, Great Swamp Watershed Association (Morristown, New Jersey) and the Watershed Institute (Pennington, New Jersey), for their commitment to and involvement in the project as well as contributing supplemental resources. Finally, we thank the SENCER organization for its longstanding support of instructors to strengthen student learning and interest in STEM topics by connecting course science and math topics to issues of critical local, national, and global importance.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Missy Holzer

Missy Holzer, PhD, was the high school teacher in this project and is now a Curriculum Designer at Great Minds PBC in Washington, DC.

Jessica Monaghan

Jessica Monaghan, EdD, was the middle school teacher in this project and is currently the Assistant Director of STEM in the Program in Teacher Preparation at Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey.

Kathleen M. Browne

Kathleen M. Browne, PhD, was the higher education partner in this project as an Associate Professor in the Department of Earth & Chemical Sciences and is now emeritus professor at Rider University in Lawrenceville, New Jersey.