This afternoon Dr. Laurel Hartley from the University of Colorado will share her research on student reasoning about ecological systems and change as part of the SNR Seminar Series. Please join us!
Understanding ecological systems and being able to reason about ecological disturbance is important for informed citizenship. This presentation will discuss several related research projects that explore student recognition of biodiversity and student reasoning about ecological systems and disturbance. Our work shows that, as students develop increasingly sophisticated understandings of ecological systems they 1) develop a recognition of the hierarchical structure of ecological systems, 2) reduce their reliance on inappropriate analogies, 3) move from describing biodiversity through the lens of essentialism to describing both central tendency and variability and 4) move from describing ecological communities as static to describing them as dynamic. An anlysis of ecological literacy of grades 6-12 students in five states indicates that only a small fraction of students are able to reason to the highest standards in our three level learning progression. Finally, our work shows that reasoning about ecological systems is correlated with familiarity with biodiversity. This research has implications for the teaching of ecology at the K-16 levels.
Dr. Hartley conducts research to assess and improve how students understand biological concepts and apply scientific principles, especially concepts and principles related to ecology. She co-founded the Learning Assistant Program at CU Denver and conducts research on the impact of LAs on student learning and inclusion. She also has active research in urban ecology, related to monitoring urban wildlife and exploring how factors of urbanization influence wildlife biodiversity. As part of this work, she studies how undergraduate students can contribute to authentic ecological research through Course Based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs). Finally, Dr. Hartley has studied the impact of introduced bubonic plague on both urban and rural black-tailed prairie dog (Cynomys ludovicianus) communities. Dr. Hartley completed a postdoctoral position at Michigan State University, a PhD in Ecology and MS in Biology at Colorado State University and a BS at Southwestern University. She also briefly worked at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History as the content researcher for an exhibition entitled Dig It! Secrets of Soil.
Time: Wednesday, Oct 6, from 3:30-4:30 pm
Zoom Link: https://unl.zoom.us/j/99555755934
Contact Jenny Dauer (jenny.dauer@unl.edu) or Joe Dauer (joseph.dauer@unl.edu) for additional information