Place-Based Learning with Out-of-Place Species & Students: Teaching International Students about Biological Invasions

Abstract

Place-based instruction allows students to explore learned concepts while building emotional connections with the location in which they are studying. Furthermore, the case for experiential science education continues to grow, and such pedagogy may be particularly beneficial to learning in ecology and environmental science. We present an experiential, place-based pedagogy aimed at introducing international high school or undergraduate students to the concept of biological invasions. Our lesson began by introducing our class, a group of Chinese high school students in a summer program in the United States, with examples of invasive species that had previously been introduced from China into the United States or vice versa. Guided discussion then focused on plant and animal species with which the students had some familiarity and covered concepts of biological invasions more generally. Next, students participated in a field activity exploring the ecology of the invasive tumbleweed Salsola tragus, a Eurasian (including much of China) species that has invaded the United States. Through classroom and field activity, students gained understanding of biological invasions, and we believe that internalization was enhanced by connecting the lesson with students' own experiences and participation in basic scientific methods and ecological fieldwork.

Online but not remote: Adapting field‐based ecology laboratories for online learning

“…The type and intensity of learning changes based on the space in which it happens (Kirkby, 2014; Warkentin, 2011). By taking students out of their traditional learning spaces, and encouraging them to explore and collaborate with their peers in a range of on‐campus open‐air settings (Figure 1), we hoped the dynamic nature of their surroundings would inspire their curiosity and interest in the larger region in which they live, and to begin making connections with their own lives, backgrounds, and experiences (Barnes et al., 2019). While our laboratories do not specifically focus on natural history, the second goal was to gently introduce students to basic identification skills, providing a foundation for the development of basic natural history expertise and knowledge.…”