Category Archives: Research

Fall, 2016 teaching SCIL 101 Science and Decision-Making for a Complex World

Leave a reply

In the Fall, 2016 semester, I had the wonderful opportunity to teach one of four large sections a required course for all CASNR students – SCIL 101 Science and Decision-Making for a Complex World.  The class, re-conceptualized and redeveloped from a long-standing introductory course (AGRI/NRES 103 Introduction to Agricultural and Natural Resource Systems), involves students learning to make science-informed decisions about agriculture and natural resource issues.  Comprised of four modules designed around food, energy, and water issues, SCIL 101 offers students the opportunity explore these challenges issues from multiple perspectives, ultimately conducting independent research on a question of their choosing.  My section of the class this fall had 130 students, almost half of which were CASNR undergraduate students from Rwanda studying in IANR to become future agricultural leaders in their home country.  I am also very lucky to have had the opportunity to work with an amazing team of graduate and undergraduate teaching assistants, including WELL project graduate students Diane Lally and Destini Petitt, and Science Literacy graduate student McKenzie Peterson.

20160818_121856

Tina Vo 2016-17 CADRE Fellow

Leave a reply

MoHSES logo Congratulations to Tina Vo on being selected as a 2016-17 CADRE Fellow!  This wonderful experience, administered by the Community for Advancing Discovery Research in Education (CADRE) and open to graduate students funded on NSF DRK-12 projects, will afford many productive opportunities to network and develop skills that will enhance Tina’s preparation for early-career research and teaching.  Tina has worked on the MoHSES project for the past 4 years as a graduate assistant, first as a masters student at the University of Iowa and now as a Ph.D. student at UNL.  She is currently involved in a significant number of research studies investigating both student and teacher dimensions of MoHSES work focused on model-based teaching and learning about water systems at the elementary level.  She has also contributed to other externally-funded water education projects, including NE WETS and WELS2.

2017 UNL STEM Education Research Retreat

Leave a reply

In October, the 2017 STEM Education Research Retreat was held on East Campus in Hardin Hall in partnership between the Center for Science, Mathematics, and Computer Education, IANR Science Literacy, and the Nebraska Collaborative for Food, Energy, & Water Education.  Over 75 UNL faculty, postdocs, and graduate students representing nearly all of UNL’s academic Colleges and Extension participated in this year’s event.  Over 30 posters were presented in two consecutive poster sessions, showcasing the high-quality and innovative STEM education research being conducted at the university and across the state.  Participants also participated in an interactive webinar with NSF Program Officers to learn more about the NSF Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE) funding program.  It was a pleasure to co-plan and host this event in conjunction with colleagues from across campuses.  Kudos to Devarati Bhattacharya, Erin Ingram, Tina Vo, Diane Lally, Kari Nelson, Destini Petitt, and McKenzie Peterson for presenting their research, including work from the MoHSES, WELL, and UnICORN projects.    IMG_0799 IMG_0800 IMG_0807 IMG_0808IMG_08112016-10-18 13.03.51

Collaboration w/ ReSTEM Institute at University of Missouri

Leave a reply

Thanks to Troy Sadler, Laura Zangori, and the rest of the team with the ReSTEM Institute in the University of Missouri College of Education for a engaging and productive couple of days of collaboration with Jenny Dauer and myself.  It was a great conversation around socio-scientific issues, science-informed decision-making, and science literacy in a range of K-16 contexts and across an array of unique projects.  I look forward to working with ReSTEM as the external evaluation team on the Fostering Undergraduate Students’ Disciplinary Learning and Water Literacy (WELL) project, funded by an NSF IUSE grant (DUE-1609598), and the SCIL/AECN/NRES 109: Water in Society course over the next 3 years.
ctkdw_ousaausnu-jpg-cropped

New article published in Science Education and Civic Engagement: An International Journal

Leave a reply

A new article co-authored by Jenny Dauer and I has been published in the Summer, 2016 issue of Science Education and Civic Engagement: An International Journal.  The paper, entitled Making Decisions about Complex Socioscientific Issues: A Multidisciplinary Science Course, reports on the initial iteration of a revised version of SCIL 101, a large-enrollment, interdisciplinary, introductory undergraduate course required of all students in the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources (CASNR).  The course represents a core element of programmatic efforts associated with the IANR Science Literacy Initiative to cultivate science literacy among undergraduate students at UNL.

Dauer, J. & Forbes, C. T. (2016). Making decisions about complex socioscientific issues: A multidisciplinary science course. Science Education & Civic Engagement: An International Journal, 8(2), 5-12.

WELL project press

Leave a reply

Some nice press from the UNL news on our newly-funded, 3-year NSF IUSE project – Fostering Undergraduate Students’ Disciplinary Learning and Water Literacy (WELL; DUE-1609598) – which focuses on design-based research around the new SCIL/AECN/NRES 109: Water in Society course at UNL.

The funding will support the development of a new “Water in Society” undergraduate course. Water in Society will be an interdisciplinary course, drawing from the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, hydrological sciences and social and decision sciences.
[…}
“Our hope is that all UNL students, whether they’re studying to be a scientist, teacher or lawyer will have the background to make educated decisions when it comes to their food, and the Water in Society course can support that goal,” said Forbes.

 

NSF IUSE project funded

Leave a reply

I am very excited to lead a newly-funded, 3-year NSF IUSE Engaged Student Learning: Exploration project (DUE-1609598) focused on the iterative design,  nsf_logoimplementation, and study of a new, interdisciplinary course for non-majors – SCIL/AECN/NRES 109: Water in Society – at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL). The Fostering Undergraduate Students’ Disciplinary Learning and Water Literacy (WELL) project presents an outstanding opportunity to iteratively develop and study an innovative undergraduate STEM learning experience through design- and discipline-based education research.  We are lucky to have an amazing, interdisciplinary team on board for this project, including faculty associated with UNL’s Water for Food Global Institute and two graduate students.  The new course will be an integral part of a newly-established undergraduate minor – Food, Energy, & Water in Society – in CASNR, as well as a key component of a growing suite of undergraduate experiences associated with the IANR Science Literacy Initiative.

Middle school wind energy project press

Leave a reply

573ce1883f27d.imageOver the past year, our team has had the opportunity to work with teachers from Beatrice Middle School and Lourdes Central Catholic School in Nebraska City on a new pilot project using wind energy systems as a vehicle for teaching core, NGSS-based STEM concepts and decision-making about socio-scientific issues.  The project involves development of a 2-week mini-unit grounded in ongoing, real-world discussions about the recently-proposed Hallam Wind farm in SE Nebraska.  The mini-unit involves investigations of wind turbine design and power production, as well as analysis of stakeholder perspectives and policy issues.  The curriculum was implemented in three 6th-grade classrooms this month, including those highlighted in this week’s story by the Beatrice Daily Sun.  Research associated with this project, led up by SNR masters student McKinzie Peterson and conducted in collaboration with Prof. Dr. Jan Christoph Schubert from the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, will investigate students’ problem-framing and science-informed decision-making about wind energy production in Nebraska.  Thanks also to Chad Johnson at Nebraska Public Power District for collaborating on this project. 

Graduation 2016 Jaime Sabel and Molly Brandt

Leave a reply

Congrats again to Jaime Sabel and Molly Brandt for successfully completing their doctoral and masters studies.  Jaime graduates with her Ph.D. from the Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education in the UNL College of Education and Human Sciences.  She begins her position as an Assistant Professor of Biology Education at the University of Memphis in August.  Molly graduates with a Master of Applied Science degree from the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources.   What a wonderful accomplishment.  Good luck to both of you!img_2737

Forbes Group presentations @ NARST, 2016

Leave a reply

The Forbes team attended the 2016 annual meeting of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST), held April 14-17 in Baltimore, MD.  We had the opportunity to present a variety of empirical work from the RAES, MoHSES, NCAL, and WELL projects.  We look forward to the 2017 meeting in San Antonio!NARST 2016 Group 2

Brandt, M., Forbes, C., & Keshwani, J. (2016). Operationalizing science in applied contexts: Developing measures for elementary students’ understanding of STEM dimensions of food systems. Paper presented at the 2016 annual meeting of the National Association of Research in Science Teaching (NARST), Baltimore, MD

Sabel, J., Vo, T., Alred, A., Dauer, J., & Forbes, C. (2016). Undergraduate students’ scientifically-informed decision-making about water-based socioscientific issues. Poster presented at the 2016 annual meeting of the National Association of Research in Science Teaching (NARST), Baltimore, MD.

Sabel, J., Forbes, C., & Zangori, L. (2016). Use of structured formative assessment assignments to engage preservice teachers with life science concepts. Paper presented at the 2016 annual meeting of the National Association of Research in Science Teaching (NARST), Baltimore, MD.

Vo, T., Forbes, C. T. (2016). Learning to support students’ model-based learning about the water cycle: A three-year longitudinal case study of two 3rd-grade teachers. Paper presented at the 2016 annual meeting of the National Association of Research in Science Teaching (NARST), Baltimore, MD.

Zangori, L. & Forbes, C. T. (2016). Development of an empirically-based learning performances framework for 3rd-grade students’ model-based explanations about plant processes. Poster presented at the 2016 annual meeting of the National Association of Research in Science Teaching (NARST), Baltimore, MD.

Zangori, L., Vo, T., Forbes, C.T., Schwarz, C.V. (2016).  Exploring links between 3rd-grade students’ model-based explanations and teachers’ model-based science instruction about groundwater. Paper presented at the 2016 annual meeting of the National Association of Research in Science Teaching (NARST), Baltimore, MD.