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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. 

Development of innovative curriculum materials is a mainstay strategy in research-driven classroom interventions and teacher professional development. Yet even when curricular materials are co-developed by teachers planning to implement the materials, they still must navigate the unique needs and constraints of their classrooms. This study explores differentiated enactment of a co-developed place-based middle school energy literacy unit. The unit uses the school building as a place-based resource to increase student awareness and understanding of fundamental energy concepts, impacts and interactions of natural and human-made energy systems, and considerations for energy efficient building features through engineering design. This multiple-case explores how five teachers across four middle schools in the same school district enacted the unit. Each teacher’s enactment was characterized using Coburn’s (2004) five levels, which are: rejection (materials not enacted), symbolic (materials implemented superficially), parallel structures (materials are implemented with existing practices), assimilation (adopts the materials but transforms materials to fit internal and external factors), and accommodation (enacts the materials with minor changes). We observed symbolic, assimilation, accommodation, and rejection across the teachers, with enactment modes varying across different phases of unit implementation. We analyzed interview and observational data for internal and external factors that shaped their implementation. Internal factors included opportunities for novel teaching and making connections to existing curriculum, activities, and/or practical knowledge. External factors included the presence, or absence, of building supports, inadequate class time, non-core class status, and COVID-19 policies. Internal factors generally supported teachers’ enactment of the materials, whereas external factors that could not be negotiated caused barriers to enactment. Our implications for this work include the importance of teacher support for new curriculum implementation.