THE ROLE OF RESEARCH IN ONLINE CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT: THE CASE OF THE EARTHLABS CLIMATE CHANGE CURRICULUM

Climate change is a complex phenomenon that involves multiple earth systems with processes, interactions and feedbacks between these systems, which exhibit temporal and spatial dynamics that can present cognitive challenges to learners. To address these learning challenges, many educational efforts have been initiated to better scaffold student understanding of this important topic, and recently on-line climate education resources have become increasingly available. EarthLabs is an example of an on-line curriculum for rigorous, quantitative lab science courses in Earth and environmental science, which aims to address student learning about a myriad of topics including climate change. EarthLabs engages teachers and students in the analysis of real world data about Earth systems, with the ultimate goal of providing easily accessible, inexpensive materials for use in high school classrooms. Through the NSF supported Confronting the Challenges of Climate Literacy (CCCL) and the NASA supported Earth System Science: A Key to Climate Literacy programs, four EarthLabs modules have been developed comprised of six to nine sequenced labs that focus on Earth system science, climate, weather and biomes, climate and carbon, and climate and the cryosphere. Student, teacher, and external user climate preconceptions, conceptual understandings, and engagement and use of the EarthLabs curriculum were measured in this study. Results of student pre-post conceptual knowledge assessments, classroom observations, and user eye movements as they engaged with the materials, along with post-implementation teacher interviews will be presented. Lessons learned from the research based evidence about student understanding as well as best practices for on-line curriculum development will be provided. Furthermore, insights as to how research efforts can be utilized to support the creation of effective on-line curriculum will be discussed.