PARENT SESSION
Poster Session #47: Education: K-12.
Wednesday, August 7. Presentation from 5:00 PM to 6:30 PM. Exhibit Hall B & C, TCC
163
A qualitative assessment of elementary students' learning about ecological restoration .
MANZO, AMANDA*,1, 1 Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ
ABSTRACT- The Kaibab Ecological Education Network (KEEN), a collaborative project between the Kaibab Paiute Tribal Council, the Fredonia-Moccasin School District, and selected NAU Ecological Restoration Institute and NAU Center for Excellence in Education students, gives these diverse communities voice in ecological restoration and education on the Arizona Strip. The goals of KEEN include: 1) implementing protocols for community-based ecological restoration on the Kaibab Paiute Reservation; 2) implementing science curricula about ecological restoration that is culturally sensitive; 3) training forestry students to educate communities about restoration; and 4) training education students to develop ecological restoration knowledge for science curricula. Ten students from NAU implemented these goals during five trips to the Kaibab Paiute Reservation. I analyzed student artifacts, transcript data and photographic evidence collected during two trips that provided the pilot study for research I will conduct during the 2002-2003 academic year. I use a criterion-referenced rubric to assess student artifacts and inductive, qualitative analysis of interview data and photographs to identify emerging themes that describe the content and learning experiences of participating fourth and fifth graders. The data analysis and conclusions for this pilot study are set in the theoretical context of critical environmental education standards.
KEY WORDS: education, assessment, qualitative, authentic