Teaching HS Students to Make Systematic Decisions

About the Environment

Anna Switzer, University of

Michigan
Daniel Edelson, Northwestern
University
Meredith Bruozas, Northwestern
University

Developed by: GEODE Initiative

Northwestern University
Published by Its About Time
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Aspects of CASES

• Research-based Pedagogy:
Learning-for-Use Approach
• Case-based

• Evidence-based Decision Making

• Integrated Technology
Interactive Media
Interactive Models
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Pedagogy: Learning-for-Use

Motivate Create Demand or Elicit Curiosity

Reflect

Balance of direct experience,

Construct Knowledge
indirect experience, and explanation

Reflect

Organize Knowledge Apply

Reflect

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Research-Driven Development Process

• Informed by research on science learning

• Developed by inter-disciplinary teams, including

teachers

• Field tested three times and revised over 5-year period

• Rigorous scientific review

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Scope and Sequence

Each Unit is organized around a major environmental issue

The three major units:

– Land Use
(8 weeks)
– Energy Generation
(12 weeks)
– Water Resources
(12 weeks)

A fourth unit:
Teacher selected favorite or investigation of local issue

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Unit 1: Land Use
Case:
A school population is growing and in need of more space.
The community has designated land for the new school.
The land is home to a “species of special concern”.

Problem:
How can we build a school that satisfies the needs of the
community and also saves the ecosystem of the “species of
special concern”?
Key Content:
–Population
–Resources
–Ecosystems
Introduces major curriculum elements:
–Tension between populations and
resources
–Decision making of individuals and
groups
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Unit 1: Land Use Chapters

Chapter 1: A New School

Chapter 2: Populations

Chapter 3: Resources

Chapter 4: Ecosystems

Chapter 5: Case Studies

Chapter 6: Florida School Project

*Gopher Tortoise Reading Page 141

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Why Teach a Decision Making Process?

“While teaching students

science content and inquiry
practices is important, it is not
sufficient to prepare students to
make well-reasoned decisions.”

Arvai et al. 2004

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Goals of Teaching the Decision Making Process in CASES

•Provide students with a meaningful context for understanding

science and scientific practices.
•Help students learn to establish decision-making criteria and to
identify consequences of a decision.
•Provide students with a framework for applying personal values
in order to make a decision.
•Provide teachers with an opportunity to assess students’
understandings of science in the real world.

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Decision making in CASES:

• Identify the constraints and considerations of decision-makers

• Brainstorm possible options

• Identify consequences to each solution (via scientific evidence)

• Identify stakeholders

• Articulate the decision makers’ values (via making trade-offs)

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Constraints - are absolute requirements needed to make the
decision. Constraints cannot be violated.
Considerations - are things that would be nice to have but are not
absolutely necessary when making this decision.

Constraints
• At least 50 gopher
tortoises must survive.
• All three buildings
need to be built on this
land.
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Considerations
• It would be nice to
have a larger
extracurricular space.
The community can use
the extra space.
•It would be nice to have
some land put aside as a
forest preserve.
Determine at least three viable options:
Option 1 Option 3

Option 2

*Detail maps
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 “Cascading” Consequences

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 Stakeholder’s Charts
Is this
How important to you If the effect is
effect the Has the stakeholder
Who are the are the interests of negative, do
intended placed themselves in
stakeholders this stakeholder? you feel it is
In what way(s) will + or goal of this position
that will be 1=very important directly offset
they be affected? – the action voluntarily and with
affected by 2= somewhat by greater
or is it a understanding of the
this action? important good
side risks involved?
3=unimportant elsewhere?
effect?

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 My path to studying environmental decision making:

B.A. in Physics
Taught high school Physics and
Math
Instructed Outward Bound
courses in NC Mountains, FL
Everglades, and Mexico
M.S. in Marine Science
Taught on board oceanography
school-ship program
Taught 6th graders in museum
program focused on water quality
Taught college-level Earth
Science
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 Bounded
rationality

How do students
Biases and “rules” for
bring together simplifying decisions
Science and
Social
There
knowledge? More is is
better always
Bigger more
is better where
that
came
from
*Individual decisions
Please dohaving huge impact
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without environment
from the GEODE Initiative
My Research on high-schoolers’
Decision-Making (via CASES):

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 Scoring Consequences
# of tiers of consequences:
one Two or more

# of
one 1 3
options
discussed:
Two or
more 2 4

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Unit 2: Energy Generation
Case:
As human population grows, so does the
need for electricity. Different places in the
US can generate electricity in different
ways. Selecting an appropriate energy
source to meet the needs of a specific
location (Vermont, New Mexico, or
Wyoming)

Problem:
Given a specific US location,what type of
alternative energy would be best for the
resources in this area?

Key Content:
• Energy Transformation
• Emissions, acid rain, global climate change
• Energy sources
Please (fossil fuels
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Unit 2: Energy Generation Chapters

Chapter 1: Electricity
Chapter 2: Fossil Fuels
Chapter 3: Impacts (of fossil fuels)
Chapter 4: Plant Siting
Chapter 5: Global Climate Change
Chapter 6: Alternative Energy

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Unit 3: Water Management

Case:
A community has a limited supply of water that needs to satisfy
the needs of many people (farmers, industry and citizens).

Problem:
How to meet the growing demand for water to support agriculture
and domestic water use in California’s Central Valley?

Key Content:
• Human water use
• Agriculture, soils, and water budgets
• Dams and aquifers
• Environmental and ecosystem impacts
of water engineering

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Unit 3: Water Management Chapters

Chapter 1: Soil
Chapter 2: Agriculture
Chapter 3: Dams
Chapter 4: Salmon
Chapter 5: Aquifers
Chapter 6: Water Management

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Simulations of complex processes

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Role of Technology (GIS)

Visualize and Analyze real world data

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Aspects of CASES:

• Research-based Pedagogy:
the Learning-for-Use Approach
• Case-based

• Evidence-based Decision Making

• Integrated Technology
Interactive Media
Interactive Model
GIS

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Professional Development Opportunity
• NSF-funded research study on professional
development.
• Available to teachers implementing CASES for the first
time.
• Commitments:
– Teach at least Units 1 & 2
– Teach the course for two years
– Agree to random assignment to pure face-to-face or face-
to-face + online
– Participate in all PD workshops
– Participate in data collection
• Benefits
– No cost for PD
– 48 hours of PD conducted by course developers
– $1500 stipend for participation in study
– All travel
Please do notand accommodations
distribute paid
without permission for.
from the GEODE Initiative
 Investigations in Environmental
Science
A Case-Based Approach to the Study of Environmental Systems
(CASES)

For More Information:

http://www.geode.northwestern.edu/investigations/index.html

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