Metacognitive learning in the ecology classroom: A tool for preparing problem solvers in a time of rapid change?

Abstract

Abstract. Building communities that are resilient and adaptive to climate change requires the development of education strategies that train community members in higher order thinking skills that can be used to solve complex environmental problems. This study provides an empirical test of hypotheses within social-ecological systems resilience theory that have suggested metacognitive learning strategies could increase resilience thinking skills such as scenarios thinking, systems thinking, and the ability to interpret and apply ecological data in complex problem solving. During a 6-week long ecology unit with 108 seventh-grade students, we taught half the students using standard inquiry teaching methods and the other half using the same method, with the addition of a daily metacognitive learning intervention. We investigated the short-term (after six weeks of intervention) and long-term (1 yr after the intervention ended) effects of the intervention on student's metacognitive ability and resilience thinking skills. Over the long term, we found a modest increase in the metacognitive ability of students who received the daily metacognitive journaling exercise. Interview data suggest that the structured metacognitive practice did most to improve the resilience thinking level of students who had low resilience thinking ability prior to the intervention period. However, the interaction between pre-treatment ability level and the treatment group was not detected in the written assessment data. These data suggest that the metacognitive learning intervention we used can benefit metacognitive ability over the long term, but has limited transferability to resilience thinking skills for most students. We suggest additional instructional practices for implementing metacognitive teaching approaches that could enhance the generalizability of their benefits across resilience thinking skills and student's ability levels.

Towards more inclusive and solution orientated community-based environmental monitoring

“…Knowledge documentation efforts that contribute to educational materials including maps, imagery and different knowledge based lesson plans can help facilitate knowledge transfer between elders and youth (Laidler et al 2008). Environmental research that utilizes cultural skills can increase youth researcher connections to the environment, raise education attainment (Spellman et al 2016, Wong et al 2020, and may help ensure the continued evolution of resilience to climate change impacts within the community.…”

Prevalence of discourse on public engagement with science in ecology literature

“…This small but regular presence may be because ecologists are gaining expertise with PES activities, and view engagement through a research lens to test approaches and impacts on stakeholders. For example, PES Research articles in ecology journals have investigated education campaign impacts on zoo and aquarium visitors' understanding of biodiversity (Moss et al 2015), metacognitive ability of 7thgrade students in the context of skills associated with social-ecological system-resilience thinking (Spellman et al 2016), scientists' policy-related activities and beliefs (Singh et al 2014), and factors affecting interactions between ecologists and rural Indigenous communities (Castillo et al 2018). Likewise, the persistent presence of PES Embedded in Ecology Research articles provides evidence that some ecologists are embracing public engagement as an essential component for developing, conducting, or disseminating their investigations.…”

“…2015), metacognitive ability of 7th‐grade students in the context of skills associated with social–ecological system‐resilience thinking (Spellman et al . 2016), scientists’ policy‐related activities and beliefs (Singh et al . 2014), and factors affecting interactions between ecologists and rural Indigenous communities (Castillo et al .…”

Connecting Community and Citizen Science to Stewardship Action Planning Through Scenarios Storytelling

“…Because some of the groups chose to do the activity as small groups of students rather than as individuals, the total number of work artifacts was 126. Each work sample was evaluated by two reviewers for resilience thinking skills [(1) application of citizen science data to the berry harvest problem, (2) systems thinking, (3) futures thinking, and (4) human agency to act or make change] demonstrated through the activity using a three-point rubric adapted from the validated instrument used in Spellman et al (2016). The rubric constructs consisted of the four resilience thinking skills listed in Table 1, and the rubric criteria spanned three rubric levels for a total of twelve possible points.…”

“…Both the social-ecological resilience and education for sustainability literatures agree on several thinking skills that are key to building the collective ability of communities to adapt to and shape change (reviewed in Wiek et al, 2011;Spellman et al, 2016). We refer to these skills as "resilience thinking skills, " which we define as higher order cognitive skills that support problem solving in a social-ecological system context.…”