When NOAA/NERRS launched Estuaries 101, it also decided to conduct a national study to see how estuaries can meet state and national standards. TERC, an educational non-profit, was contracted to conduct this study, the results of which are published in this site. This study relates broadly to the concepts and skills that can be embedded in estuaries learning activities, and specifically to Estuaries 101, NOAA’s newly released high school curriculum materials. This study and the curriculum were developed in collaboration with NOAA’s National Estuarine Research Reserve System.
For this study, we compared the Estuaries learning goals with the National Science Education Standards as a common framework, and sample state standards to illustrate the diversity among states. While the National Science Education Standards (NRC, 1996) provides a common framework on which many states base their standards, each state defines and vets its own standards. In some cases, differences among states reflect issues of local relevance (e.g. coastal states might have a greater emphasis on oceans and coastal processes), or policy priorities (e.g. the balance between content and process standards). For the sample states, TERC selected California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Virginia and Washington, as (relatively populous) representatives of the nation, including coastal and inland states. TERC looked at high school standards in biology, Earth science, chemistry and physics (combined into Physical sciences, below), as the context in which these modules will be used. While Estuaries ultimately will become a full K-12 program, the first released modules are for high school. They are designed as supplemental modules, for inclusion in Earth science, biology and physical science courses, although they may also be used by other educators.
TERC conducted the analysis at four levels of concepts and skills:
- estuaries – TERC began with a narrow focus, searching for the term “estuaries” and directly related terms in these standards. This is often the first level that people consider when deciding to use curriculum materials – if their state standards include “estuaries” per se.
- big ideas in science – TERC next broadened the scope, to explore how the estuaries activities support the learning goals of the three major subject domains of the modules: Earth science, biology and physical science – looking especially at the “big ideas” in each field.
- developing science thinking skills – TERC focused on how estuaries modules meet standards for science thinking skills, such as inquiry, experimental design and data analysis. These fundamental skills permeate science, and are well supported by the Estuaries 101 activities.
- ocean and climate essential principles – As an effort to develop a common framework for ocean and climate literacy, NOAA and other agencies have developed a set of essential principles for each of these fields. TERC cross-referenced the estuaries modules with these important documents.
The full report, How Learning about Estuaries meets State and National Science Education Standards, details the findings in each of these levels. In brief, the study found that estuaries per se are inadequately represented in the state standards. Remarkably, only four states refer to estuaries by name. While other states used comparable terms like marine and salt water environments, freshwater habitats, tidal environments, wetlands, brackish, bay, salt marsh, coastal swamp, etc., the study concluded that there is not a strong enough explicit need for covering estuaries per se to drive large scale use. On the other hand, estuaries can be an exceptional vehicle for conveying the “big ideas” of science – such as “habitat adaptation” in biology, and “water as solvent” in chemistry and “interacting systems” in Earth science. These concepts are included in ALL state standards we reviewed, in one form or another. The study also found strong correlations between the inquiry-based approaches used in the modules and the scientific thinking skills, such as experimental design and data analysis, called for in all state science standards. Finally, the study found a strong alignment between the proposed modules and the essential principles of ocean and climate literacy.
Summary - Conclusions of the Study
Conclusion #1 – The specific word “estuaries” does not have a prominent role in most state standards, but estuaries-related terms do. If we use related terms, like tidal environments and fresh and saltwater habitats, the concept of estuaries is included in the standards of nearly a quarter of the states, Hence, we should use such terms in describing the learning goals and activities.
Conclusion #2 – To make a more compelling case for the estuary curricula, we should emphasize the big ideas that are covered in each module. Most of the topics in the modules align well with the big ideas in life, physical and Earth science, as well as the over-arching “unifying concepts and processes”. This is true at the national level and in the individual state standards.
Conclusion #3 – The estuaries modules align well with standards for science process and thinking skills. This is true in the national standards, and in our five representative states. Estuaries are an especially good domain for developing and applying these skills. We recommend making this point clearly when trying to establish the value of the estuaries modules.
Conclusion #4 – The estuaries modules strongly support ocean and climate literacy. The appeal and value of the estuaries models to help students learn about and apply these principles will increase as the Ocean Literacy and Climate Literacy documents become more visible and increase their impact on state and national standards.
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next - Monitoring and Evaluation
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