PLACE-BASED INQUIRY SCIENCE & URBAN STUDENT EFFICACY

Year long inquiry research investigations were implemented through a collaboration of Brooklyn College and underprivileged high schools in Brooklyn funded by the NSF GK12 program. Brooklyn College’s GK12 initiative, City-as-Lab, utilizes the city’s parks and other outdoor spaces to serve as a laboratory and source of relevant scientific investigations for New York City’s underprivileged participating minority youth. This study involves one of the five participating Brooklyn College GK12 schools. Research focused on the effect of place-based inquiry learning on student efficacy in science, student attitudes toward science, and student environmental attitudes. We hypothesized that providing an extended place-based and inquiry-based research opportunity for 11th grade science students in an ecology classroom would cause a change in three primary variables: 1) student self-efficacy in science, 2) student commitment to science as a career possibility, and 3) student environmental awareness. Further, given that the content of the project focused on students researching environmental issues found in their local urban environment, we also tested the corollary hypothesis that inquiry-based learning in environmental science would increase concern for the environment and cause positive change in self-reported environmental conscientiousness.