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DBER Speaker Series Discipline-Based Education Research Group

10-6-2016

Teaching and research in SCIL 101: Science andDecision-making for a Complex WorldJenny DauerUniversity of Nebraska-Lincoln, jenny.dauer@unl.edu

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Dauer, Jenny, "Teaching and research in SCIL 101: Science and Decision-making for a Complex World" (2016). DBER Speaker Series.103.http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dberspeakers/103

Abstract for DBER Group Discussion on 2016-10-06

Authors and Affiliations:

Jenny Dauer

Assistant Professor

School of Natural Resources

University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Title

Teaching and research in SCIL 101: Science and Decision-making for a Complex World

Abstract

SCIL 101 “Science and decision-making for a complex world” is the new introductory core class for all of

the students in CASNR. The learning objectives are targeted toward developing students’ science literacy

skills. The course will be described, as well as findings from on-going science literacy research that

investigates indicators of formal and informal decision-making in the course.

Teaching and research in SCIL 101: Science and Decision-making for a

Complex World JennyDauer

AssistantProfessorinScienceLiteracySchoolofNaturalResources

Science Literacy is…

• Morethatjustbasicknowledgeofsciencefacts.• UnderstandingscienAficprocessesandpracAces.•  Familiaritywithhowscienceandscien2stswork.• Acapacitytoweighandevaluateproductsofscience.• Anabilitytoengageincivicdecisions.

NRC(2016)ScienceLiteracyConcepts,Contexts&Consequences

Science-informed decision-making

Theneedtoemphasizedecision-makingaspartofscienceeducaAonhaslongbeennotedbythescienAficcommunity,aswellasbyscienceeducatorsthemselves

Aikenhead,1985;Kolstø,2006;Millar&Osborne,1998;Zeidler,Sadler,Simmons,&Howes,2005

Role of Science EducaEon

• Whatdoes“scienceeducaAontoimprovestudentdecision-making”looklike?

•  TradiAonalview–teachstudentsciencecontentknowledgeandtheywillmakebeberdecisions

Lack of relaEonship between science knowledge and decision-making

Kollmus&Agyeman,2002

How do people form aItudes and opinions that drive decision-making? • PrivilegingknowledgeintheopinionformingprocessisoverlysimplisAc.•  IndividualfactorsotherthanknowledgecanhaveasignificantinfluenceonaetudestowardsSSIs

NRC(2016)ScienceLiteracyConcepts,Contexts&Consequences…theygoontohighlightthreethings:Mediause,valuepredisposiAon,trust

CreaEng a course around decision-making as a pracEce

Scienceliteracy

SocioscienAficissuesineducaAon

Decisionsciences

Drawingontheory&literaturefrom:

Challenges for students and decision-making •  ValuessomeAmesdominatestudents’thinkingattheexpenseofseekingaddiAonalscienAficinformaAonthatwouldclarifydifferentchoices(Grace&Ratcliffe2002,Sadler2004,Hong&Change2004)

•  Theabilitytoexplicitlyweightradeoffsseemstobedifficultforstudentsingeneral,andmaybeduetothedifficultyofprioriAzingconflicAngvalues(Grace2009,Eggert&Bogeholz2009,Jimenez-Aleixandre2002,Kolsto2006,Seethaler&Linn2004)

•  Studentsstruggletointegrateknowledgegainedinsciencewithreal-worldproblems.(Kolsto2006,2001)

Two types of decision-making Informaldecision-making•  Usedtomakethousandsofdecisionsonadailybasis

•  UsesemoAve,intuiAveandcogniAvereasoning

•  DoesnotnoAceuncertainty•  SubjecttocogniAvebiases•  Basedon“valuejudgments”

Formaldecision-making•  Mostimportanttousewithchallenging,ill-structuredproblems

•  Usesdeliberate,raAonalandefforpulreasoning

•  NoAcesuncertainty•  ToolsareusedtoreducecogniAvebiases

•  BasedonopAmizingasuiteofvalues

Arvaietal2004;Hammondetal1999;Kahneman,2011;Gregoryetal2012;Covibetal2013

Dauer,Lute,Strakainpress

What is a GOOD decision?

1.  Demonstratesunderstandingoftechnical&scienAficinformaAon

2.  EffecAvelyusesadecisionsupporttooltoreducecogniAvebiases

3.  Thedecision-makermakeschoicesthataddresstheirprioriAzedvalues,objecAvesandconcerns

Wilson&Arvai2006;NRC,2005

Flagship course required by all majors in the College of Ag Sci & Natural Resources

~550studentsperyear

Mostcommonmajors:Hospitality,Restaurant&TourismManagement17%AnimalScience12%Pre-VeterinaryMedicine12%AgriculturalBusiness7%ForensicScience7%Fisheries&Wildlife5%

(theremaining40%comprises28othermajors)

SCIL101:ScienceandDecision-makingfora

ComplexWorld

Science Literacy Learning Goals

Dauer&Forbes,2016SECEIJ

Formaldecision-making

MediaLiteracy

Systemsthinking

Socioscien2ficissues

Structure of SCIL 101 Eachacademicyear:•  600students•  5lecturesecAons(acAvelearningstrategies,peerlearning)•  5otherfacultyinstructors•  10-14GraduatestudentLearningAssistants

Fast and Slow Thinking Frame in SCIL 101

Fastthinkinghasitsplace&importance,butwhenit’sreallyimportantthatwedon’tmakeamistake–slowthinkingisbeGer.

Framework for Decision-Making 1.   Definetheissue

2.   Criteria:WhatareyouobjecAves/values?HowwillyouevaluatepotenAalsoluAons?

3.   Op2ons:WhataretheopAons?

4.   Informa2on:WhataddiAonalinformaAondoyouneedtohelpyoumakethedecision?WhatisthescienAficevidenceinvolved?

5.   Analysis:DiscusseachopAonweighedagainstthecriteria.

6.   Choice:WhichopAondoyouchoose?

7.   Review:Whatdoyouthinkofthedecisionyouhavemade?Howcouldyouimprovethewayyoumadethedecision?

Ratcliffe,1997;Grace,2009;Hammondetal.1999

Step 4: InformaEon & Step 5: Analysis of opEons and value trade-offs

Learning Tasks in SCIL 101 Summa2veAssessments•  EvaluaAngrelevancy,accuracy,reliabilityandbiasinpopularnewsarAcles&dissecAngpeer-reviewedarAcles.

•  IngroupsseekingscienAficinformaAontoevaluatetheconsequencesofeachopAon.

•  Asindividuals,weighingthecriteriatorepresentpersonalvalues,thenworkingthroughall7decision-makingstepsandcomingtoafinaldecision.

Finalgroupproject

Fore

achofth

e4SSIs

Research in SCIL 101

1.  Howdoesthecourseimpactstudents’abilitytoseek,evaluateandapplyscienAficinformaAontodecision-making?

2.  DostudentseffecAvelyuseadecision-makingtool(thesevensteps)?

3.  Whatarebarriersforstudentsinexaminingvalue-tradeoffsamongopAonsforsolvingtheproblem?

4.  Whatistheimpactofthecourseingeneral?(socioscienAficreasoning,civicengagement,aetudesofcollaboraAvelearning,medialiteracyetc.)

Some findings to report…

BiofuelsasaSocioscien2ficIssueTounderstandbiofuelsdecisions:StudentsneedspecificscienAficknowledgeaboutmaberandenergyinprocesseslikephotosynthesis,cellularrespiraAonandcombusAonthatareowenchallenging.Studentsneedtoweighandleverageeconomic,environmentalandsocialvaluesalongwithscienAficinformaAontonavigatedecisionaboutbiofueltechnology

Biofuels Research QuesEons/Goals

1.   Howdostudents’valuesplayaroleintheirthinkingaboutbiofuels?

2.   Describestudentthinkingaboutbiofuels3.  DocumenthowSCIL101influencedthequalityof

students’personalreasoningabouttheirposiAononbiofuels

Daueretal.inpress

Transfer task

Unstructuredpre-testdecision

Fall2015

Unstructuredpost-testdecision

Structureddecision-

makingusing7steps

Data CollecEon & Analysis UnstructuredPreandPostopinionsonbiofuels

“Ourcultureisenergyhungry!Arela4velynewwaytosolveourenergyneedsistousebiofuels.Biofuelsarefuelsmadefromlivingorrecentlylivingorganisms.Therearemanysourcesofbiofuelsthatcreateethanolordiesel.Acommonlyusedbiofueliscornethanol.Currently,approximately40%ofthecorngrownintheU.S.isusedtocreateethanolfuel.Cornethanolisaboosttoruralfarmers,isadomes4csourceofenergyandsomeevidencesuggestsitmayreducecarbondioxideemissionsintotheatmosphere.Somepeoplepointtoproblemswithcornethanolincluding“foodvs.fuel,”sustainability,deforesta4on,andwaterresources.

1)Whatdoyouthinkshouldbedoneaboutthisproblem?Shouldweburncornethanolforenergy?

2)Whyshouldwedoit/notdoit?”

Daueretal.inpress

Data CollecEon Value-Belief-Norm(VBN)TheoryCausalchainthatmovesfromrelaAvelystable,centralelementsofvalues,tobeliefsandpersonalnormsandthentobehavior.

Stern,2000

Data CollecEon

ValueOrientaAonsurvey•  altruisAc,biospheric,egoisAc

•  12items•  8-pointscale(-1=“opposedtomyvalues,”1=“notimportant”to7=“extremelyimportant”)

•  tostatementssuchas“controloverothers,dominance”(egoisAc)“equalopportunityforall”(altruisAc)and“protecAngnaturalresources”(biospheric)

•  Students’likertscaleselecAonstothe12statementswereaveragedacrossallstatementswithineachofthe3valueorientaAons,“Bio-Ego”variablecreated

The“Bio-Ego”valueorientaAonscorethatwecalculatedpredictpre-surveyposiAon(p<0.001)butnotpost-surveyposiAon(p>0.05)

Circlesincludesamplesizeandmean“Bio-Ego”valueorientaAoninitalics.

OliviaStrakaUCAREstudent

Daueretal.inpress

Indicators of formal and informal decision-making? ValueorientaAonsaremorelikelytopredictstudents’stanceswhenstudentsareengagingininformalreasoning(i.e.whenstudentswereusinga“value-heurisAc”tomakeadecision)

Stern,2000

Indicators of formal and informal decision-making? •  StudentpracAceusingformaldecision-makingpracAceswasintendedtoreducecogniAvebiasesandaidrecogniAonofmulAplerelevantvalues,consequences,andtradeoffs.•  AporAonofstudentsinthecoursechangedtheirstanceonbiofuelsinadirecAonthatwaslesspredictablebasedonvalueorientaAon,whichmaybeanindicaAonthattheywerelesslikelytomakeaquick,heurisAc-basedjudgmentaboutwhatweshoulddoaboutcornethanolbytheendoftheclass.

QualitaEve analysis of student jusEficaEons for their posiEon Attheendofthecoursestudentsweremorelikelytodiscussseveralthemes:1)  usinganalternaAvetechnologyorbiofuel

feedstockbeyondcornethanol(5Amesmorelikely)

2)  thefoodversusfueldebate(3Amesmorelikely)3)  Concernaboutnaturalresources(water,soil)

depleAon(2Amesmorelikely)

The“Bio-Ego”valueorientaAonscorethatwecalculatedpredictpre-surveychoice(p<0.05)butnotpost-surveyposiAon(p>0.05)

Circlesincludesamplesizeandmean“Bio-Ego”valueorientaAoninitalics.

AshleyAlredMSstudent

Indicators of formal decision-making in mountain lion issue • Again,valueorientaAonswerepredicAveofstudentdecisionsatthebeginningoftheclass,butnotattheendoftheclass•  Studentsmayhavebeendoingmorenuanced,logicalformaldecision-makingattheendofthecoursethatrepresentedmulAplevalues

Research Conclusions

• WefindsomeindicaAonsthatstudentsmaybeexaminingvalue-tradeoffs(formaldecision-making)bytheendofthecourse.• Moreworkisneedtounderstandtheefficacyofathesevenstepsfordecision-makinginstudentsscienceliteracyskills,andhowtobebersupportstudents’applicaAonofscienAficinfotoproblemsolving.• Moreworkisneededontheimpactofthecourseingeneral.

SCIL 101 • WehopethecoursecanbeamodelforanewapproachtotheroleofscienceeducaAoninscienceliteracy• OverallposiAveresponsefromthestudents• Openforyourfeedback–Tu/Thin107HardinHall

Acknowledgements •  CollegeofAgriculturalSciencesandNaturalResources•  InsAtuteforAgricultureandNaturalResourcesScienceLiteracyIniAaAvehbp://casnr.unl.edu/grow-eat-learn•  UndergraduateCreaAveAcAvityandResearchProgramatUNLResearchCoryForbesAshleyAlredMcKinziePetersonDianeLallyCitlallyJiminezOliviaStrakaMichelleLuteJaimeSabelTinaVo

InstructorsCoryForbesDennisFerarroThomasPowersLizVanWormerBrandiSigmon

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