CAN’T SEE THE WATER FOR THE DROPS? ASSESSING AND REDESIGNING AN INQUIRY-ORIENTED INTRODUCTORY ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE LABORATORY

Nearly 20 years ago, our institution’s Introduction to Environmental Science lab course was redesigned with the intent to engage students in the scientific process and “foster understanding of the complex relationships between humans, their behavior, and the supporting environment.” In this lab sequence, student collect weekly samples from ponds on campus and conduct a prescribed suite of assays and analyses over 12 weeks. At the end of the semester, they synthesize their findings into a lab report and accept or reject their initial hypothesis that the pond is minimally, moderately, or overwhelmingly impacted by human activity. Using the rubric developed by Buck et al. (2008), the course as a whole falls between confirmation and structured inquiry, since only the conclusions are open for students to determine.

In this study, we ask, “What characteristics of this lab in its current form support or undermine the development of student interest, learning, and science identity? For students from which demographic groups?” We will present analysis of survey results from 59 student enrolled in the course in Spring 2022, including descriptive statistics for scales related to interest, skill-based learning (Liu et al., 2017), and science identity (Skinner et al., 2017), as well qualitative coding analysis of open-ended questions about the lab design. Initial findings include that students struggled to make conceptual sense of the analyses they performed, were frustrated by the singular focus on water and the disconnect between lab and lecture content, and students of all identity characteristics were often uncertain or negative about their own science identity. Based on these findings, we share initial plans for redesigning the course to better support interest and science identity development in the future, including diversifying topics and methods, increasing the inquiry level of student activities to provide more ownership and agency across the semester, and integrating conceptual and societal context with hands-on investigation.