Design and Implementation of a Research-Informed Water Conservation Education Program

Thompson, Ruthanne; Coe, Alice; Klaver, Irene J.; Dickson, Kenneth L.

doi:10.1080/1533015x.2011.575728

Cited by 8 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…That said, the actual treatment and distribution system is often misunderstood. Two surveys, one in Colorado, USA, and the second in Texas, USA, revealed a significant gap in knowledge concerning the fate of water sent down the drain [89,95]. Similar results emerged out of a nationwide survey in Australia, where 26% of participants believed that wastewater was discharged into waterways with little-to-no treatment [7].…”

Section: Adult Local Knowledgementioning

confidence: 79%

“…The overwhelming majority cannot correctly define watershed, even when choosing from a list of choices [7,88]. In fact, several surveys from both Canada and the USA have indicated that many adults do not even know that they live within a watershed [36,81,89]. This is only possible because many do not understand that all land drains to somewhere, and thus inherently must be included within a watershed.…”

Section: Adult Local Knowledgementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, a more reflective and iterative approach linking student and adult water literacy initiatives is proposed, such that knowledge gaps in one population inform educational initiatives for the other population and vice versa. One such example of this exists in a research study by Thompson et al [89], who surveyed 1000 adults in North Central Texas' Upper Trinity River Watershed, and then used the results to design a set of educational programs for each school year between kindergarten and 5th grade. Their results showed increased awareness and commitment by students to conserve water based on the new water programs.…”

Section: Approaches To Improving Water Literacymentioning

confidence: 99%

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What We Know about Water: A Water Literacy Review

McCarroll

Hamann

2020

Water

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Water literacy, or the culmination of water-related knowledge, attitudes and behaviors, is a relatively new field of study with growing importance for sustainable water management and social water equity. However, its definition and use across existing literature are varied and often inconsistent. This paper seeks to synthesize and streamline the conception of water literacy. We conducted a systematic review of literature that defines or describes in detail either “water literacy” or “watershed literacy”. From this, we suggest a new holistic framework for water literacy to guide a more inclusive, relevant use of the concept. We utilized the framework to examine existing surveys and studies of water knowledge, attitudes and behaviors in both student and adult populations, and summarized water literacy levels and knowledge gaps that exist around the world. To address knowledge gaps, we suggest using a suite of approaches drawn from the published literature, including enhanced visuals, place-based learning, interdisciplinary curricula, and reflective and iterative development of future water literacy initiatives.

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Section: Adult Local Knowledgementioning

confidence: 79%

Section: Adult Local Knowledgementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Approaches To Improving Water Literacymentioning

confidence: 99%

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What We Know about Water: A Water Literacy Review

McCarroll

Hamann

2020

Water

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“…Few previous studies of experiential learning in water‐related environmental science have assessed the impacts on learning (e.g., Thompson et al ), though some have assessed participants’ perceptions (Cockerill ). An exception is an evaluation of learning gains related to three Project WET lessons on the water cycle, which showed similar amounts of growth to our intervention (D'Agostino et al ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For instance, when drawing the hydrologic cycle, they did not depict groundwater. Adults tend to mirror these findings, as research has shown that they seldom know they live in a watershed or where their water comes from (Thompson et al ).…”

Section: Misconceptions Alternative Conceptions Preconceptions?mentioning

confidence: 98%

Changing Student Conceptions of Arid, Urban Watershed Management

Thomas¹,

Svihla

2017

Contemporary Water Research

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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.

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