Changing Student Conceptions of Arid, Urban Watershed Management

Abstract

Despite the central importance of water, few students have the opportunity to study water resources management in secondary education. Even in tertiary education—unless they major in water resources or a closely related field—they are likely to receive only a week or two of instruction about water resources in introductory science courses. Typical instruction in such courses is textbook‐based, with the course instructor lecturing on a broad range of topics. Complicating this, little is known about student preconceptions, which may interfere with—or be used to support—learning. We sought to identify preconceptions in an introductory environmental science course at an urban, research (R1) university in the arid Southwest of the United States. We used a pre/post design to assess student preconceptions about their urban campus watershed and designed a brief, experiential learning exercise. While experiential learning is common in water resources management programs, it is less common in introductory courses. We developed a coding scheme to analyze the pre‐ and post‐test responses; results showed students held normative and non‐normative preconceptions. There was significant growth in students’ conceptual understanding between the pre‐test and post‐test, (t(33) = −2.25, p < .05), with a small to medium effect size, d = −0.393. This finding supports the use of experiential learning as a means to teach students about water resources, even in an introductory course. Understanding students’ preconceptions of arid, urban watersheds can assist in how to better design curriculum. Such improvements in curricular design can empower students to make better decisions about urban watersheds.

Empowering the Next Generation of Watershed Decision-Makers: A Pedagogical Design

“…The practice of collective management is supported by a wide range of capacity development efforts from local to international, that suggest management based on hydrologic boundaries rather than geopolitical ones provides greater transparency and accountability [5]. An example of the increasing breadth required with this new perspective is the new US Environmental Protection Agency requirement that cities and towns offer educational programs to help residents collaborative education, each bringing individual strengths, group learning is optimized [31]. A variety of water-resource graduate programs have emerged recently to advance this need.…”

“…Effective instruction occurs when student preconceptions are challenged to either grow or diminish in accordance with disciplinary knowledge [8,31]. However, traditional classroom environments often lack the reciprocal communication required to obtain and utilize student preconceptions [31], leaving conceptions unchanged [35]. Solutions can be found in constructivist approaches [36] in which students collectively engage in the formation of their knowledge, using the instructor as a resource.…”

“…Solutions can be found in constructivist approaches [36] in which students collectively engage in the formation of their knowledge, using the instructor as a resource. Constructivist learning approaches knowledge as a malleable concept formed by experience [31]. Although experiential learning in water-resource programs is widely accepted and practiced at the graduate level [37], curriculum designs that meet the interdisciplinary demands of natural-resource management have yet to take hold [27].…”