This middle school STEM unit called Energy in Your Environment (EYE) was co-created by middle school science teachers, architectural studies, and science education faculty with the goal of improving students’ energy literacy and energy conservation knowledge. The unit fosters place-based education by using the school building to enhance systems thinking about energy consumption and flow between the building and surrounding environment. Within the unit, students explore the role of electrical, thermal, and light energy in their school building and consider how building features (such as windows, lighting, and insulation) impact energy flow and conservation. Students use their energy systems knowledge to design and build a desk-top one-room energy efficient building using simple materials to explain how and why their design impacts energy flow. Five teachers implemented the unit with over 200 students. The growth from pre- to post-measurements was statistically significant for students energy flow knowledge and tracing the path of energy (F(1, 209) = 3118.3, p = 0.001). In our presentation, we will provide an overview of the unit, our student learning data, and result summary.
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This content will become publicly available on April 13, 2025
Development of a Socio-Ecological Learning Performance for Middle School Students' Ideas about Energy Flow
Socio-ecological systems thinking (SEST), is an interdisciplinary science branch that views natural systems and societal systems as one overall system. To support students in building SEST, we designed a 10-week, place-based energy literacy unit where 6th-grade students investigated energy flow between natural systems and their school building. Students developed systems models throughout the unit that they used to propose energy flow relationships between large scale system components and to articulate causal mechanisms that lead to overall system behavior. We analyzed their pre/mid/post-systems models to elucidate their trajectories in discerning system behavior. Findings suggest that students improved in proposing energy flow relationships and causal mechanisms for either the social or natural systems but did not view them as one overall system.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2009127
- PAR ID:
- 10525048
- Publisher / Repository:
- AERA
- Date Published:
- Subject(s) / Keyword(s):
- systems thinking middle school systems model systems modeling learning performance
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Location:
- Philadelphia, PA, United States
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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