Author(s):
National prosperity and the solving of complex problems requires educating two siloed populations of STEM learners: (1) those assimilating into the future STEM workforce and (2) those entering the non-STEM workforce with a need to understand science and how it operates to understand and engage in addressing societal challenges. Current approaches to undergraduate education are focused upon the completion of one or more isolated science or humanities courses for non-STEM and STEM majors to graduate, respectively. This siloed approach perpetuates student beliefs about their capacity for STEM, creates barriers to STEM careers (especially for underrepresented groups), stymies engagement with science in non-STEM professions, and limits civic applications of science. By teaching scientific inquiry in all disciplines through place-based experiential learning (PBEL), where knowledge is constructed within a value-laden social context, learners can make sense of their world through disciplinarily applications of scientific knowledge as opposed to the presentation of science as separate to their career interests and personal values.
To address this need, this project developed and implemented a cross-disciplinary program of PBEL course modules in four STEM and four non-STEM courses with integrated STEM content— using local farms as civically-engaged spaces. Program efficacy was assessed using the guiding question: How and, if so, to what extent does student civic mindedness, situated sustainability meaning making (SSMM), place attachment, and environmental science literacy increase because of participation in PBEL farm modules? For combined courses, statistically significant increases in civic mindedness [t(165)=-8.516, p<0.001], environmental science literacy [t(165)=-4.242, p<0.001], place attachment to the farm [t(165)=-4.760, p<0.001], and SSMM [t(165)=-7.123, p<0.001] were found using pre- and post-PBEL implementation surveys. Individually, all courses, but one non-STEM course (p=0.08, and high effect size: Cohen’s d = 0.984), showed significant increases in civic mindedness (p<0.05). Likewise, both STEM and non-STEM courses generally had significant increases in environmental science literacy (p<0.05), and in the cases of emerging significance (p<0.10), all courses had moderate to high effect sizes (STEM Cohen’s d > 0.941; non-STEM Cohen’s d > 0.421). STEM courses generally showed significant increases in SSMM (p<0.05), whereas all non-STEM courses, except one, did not show significant increases or large effect sizes for SSMM (Cohen’s d < 0.3).
These results suggest that the farm-situated PBEL pedagogical approach enhanced civic mindedness and environmental science literacy and, in some cases, attachment to the farm and situated sustainability meaning making. The lack of consistency across courses is likely due to implementation differences as well as small sample sizes for individual courses. Using PBEL to integrate inquiry, science content, and discipline-specific material situated within a real-world community-engaged location, transformed student perspectives of science from a once-off required course to understanding the value of science to personal civics and their own professional disciplines. Thus, this approach has the potential to train future STEM and non-STEM professionals to collaborate and apply critical thinking skills and STEM and discipline-specific knowledge to address the challenges of today’s world and improve all sectors of the workforce.
Coauthors
Grant Fore, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN; Brandon Sorge, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN; Francesca Williamson, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
