Using “The Power of Story” to Overcome Ecological Misconceptions and Build Sophisticated Understanding

Abstract

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Ecological Misconceptions, Survey III: the Challenge of Identifying Sophisticated Understanding

“…We also hope that these results will help authors of ecology textbooks. In combination with other work (Stamp 2004, Stamp and Armstrong 2005, these results suggest that neither the "great ideas of ecology," nor the current sophisticated understanding that ecologists have, is presented in textbooks in a way that the "net generation" will assimilate readily. Concept: food webs 1) If a food chain occurs in a food web, species at each end of a trophic series do not interact directly but may indirectly benefit each other.…”

“…The third version was used as a pre-and postassessment in a sophomore lecture-only ecology course with an enrollment of 175. The first third of the course was designed specifically to address ecological misconceptions, using the 5E teaching cycle (Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, Evaluate [Bybee 1993, Ebert-May et al 1997]) and the "power of story" (Stamp and Armstrong 2005). For example, students drew concept maps of both web dynamics and population dynamics of focal organisms in Northeastern deciduous forest, and they re-drew the maps as they gained more information and understanding.…”

“…The greatest change in response between the preand postassessments was for conceptions that were directly addressed in class, in particular the food web conceptions. Part of the change was probably due to repeated exposure to concepts in interesting ways (Stamp and Armstrong 2005). For example, the idea of food webs was discussed beginning on the first day of class, but without formal introduction, and later, after the food web lecture, references to food web concepts were still made throughout the course.…”

“…Students of ecology need precisely these skills to tackle complex global issues, such as global warming, nitrogen saturation in soils, and invasive species. By combining two approaches, the power of story (Wilson 2002) and the 5E teaching cycle (Bybee 1993, Ebert-May et al 1997), we have tested with good results a unit on Northeastern deciduous forest in the United States that addresses those learning problems and many of the ecological misconceptions (Stamp and Armstrong 2005).…”

Creativity in Science: Tensions between Perception and Practice

“…Transcripts of conversations between, and interviews with, teachers and students who have developed and applied peer-scaffolding approaches however, suggest that rather than encouraging individuals to develop their own understanding, the net effect often reduces to a validation-by-consensus mentality (Capraro, Kulm, & Capraro, 2005;Chin & Chia, 2004;Demirci, 2008;Gautier, Deutsch, & Rebich, 2006;Hamza & Wickman, 2008;Mills et al, 2008;Nehm & Reilly, 2007;Newton & Newton, 2009;Psycharis & Babaroutsis, 2005;Salierno, Edelson, & Sherin, 2005;Settlage, 2007;Smith & Abell, 2008;Stamp, 2007;Stamp & Armstrong, 2005;Wali Abdi, 2006). This does not mean that deployment of peer-scaffolded learning cannot deliver substantial learning gains for individuals.…”