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Conservation Conversation An Arts-Based Approach to examine impacts of a live video webcast on youth viewers' conceptualizations of forest ecosystems

Images provided by Streaming Science

INTRODUCTION

Changes in technology have made online learning easier to access and more engaging than ever before. For example, electronic field trips (EFTs) are a form of live video that can be broadcasted across many different audiences at little to no cost (Cassady et al., 2008; Ullrich et al., 2010).

Farland-Smith et al. (2014) found that children often hold stereotypical views regarding the work that scientists do and what they look like. Children in this study frequently describes scientists and older men who work in labs and wear white lab coats. Even though scientists are often female and work in a variety of locations, the stereotypical images of scientists and science repeatedly prevail.

The EFT conducted for this research was titled Conservation Conversation. It was hosted in a 2,080 acre forest and hosted three ten-minute segments with five-minute question and answer sessions between each session. Each segment covered a different topic related to forests and their ecosystems.

Before and after the EFT, students were asked to fill in the following prompt: “When I am in the forest, I like to [blank](activity),” and “When I am in the forest, I feel [blank] (feeling).”

The students were also asked to draw a scientists before and after the field trip. Five classes of fifth grade students participated in the study for a total of 53 participants.

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Results

Three objectives were evaluated in the results of this research as shown below:

RO1: Describe how a forestry focused EFT impacted youths' visual representations of a forest ecosystem.

Three main parent codes were evaluated for this study: environment, animal, and fire. Animal had the least amount of change in the pre- and post-drawings. There was an increase in the amount of fires drawn between pre-and post-drawings. There was also a difference in the forest landscape, animals, and the presence of both male and female scientists between the pre- and post-drawings.

Image provided by Jamie Loizzo
Image provided by Jamie Loizzo

RO2: Describe how a forestry focused EFT impacted youths' visual representations of animals that live in a forest.

Items with the highest average percent change from pre to post drawings within the forest ecosystem included students playing in the forest and the presence of scientists. Male scientists, female scientist, and scientists holding equipment all saw a 10% increase in post-program drawings.

Table provided by Jaime Loizzo

RO3: Describe how a forestry focused EFT impacted youths' visual representations of their relationship with forests.

Students were asked to fill in the blank on two statements before and after participating in the EFTs. Words such as explore, climb, play, run, trees, walk, wildlife, and animals were listed most frequently. After the EFT, look and animal were seen more frequently.

Wordle images provided by Jaime Loizzo
Wordle images provided by Jaime Loizzo

Conclusion

After participating in the Conservation Conversation EFT, students were able to include new words and images in their pre- and post-EFT drawings and wording. Before participating in the EFT, students included images of mountains, rivers, and tigers in their representations of the forest. After the program, students’ drawings depicted snakes, fire, and a more accurate representation of the live webcast location. The study also indicated that a live EFT can have an impact on a student's view of forests and their ecosystems, a view that is shown in the minor shifts of wording and drawings by the participants

References

Barman, C. (1996). How do students really view science and scientists? Science and Children, 34(1), 30–33. https://www-jstor-org.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/stable/43170494

Cassady, J.C., Kozlowski, A. & Kornmann, M. (2008). Electronic field trips as interactive learning events: Promoting student learning at a distance. Journal of Interactive Learning Research, 19(3), 439-454. Waynesville, NC: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). https://www.learntechlib.org/primary/p/24187/.

Chambers, D. (1983). Stereotypic images of the scientist: The draw-a-scientist test. Science Education, 67(2), 255–265. https://doi.org/10.1002/sce.3730670213

Farland-Smith, D., Finson, K., Boone, W. J., & Yale, M. (2014). An investigation of media influences on elementary students' representations of scientists. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 25(3), 355-366. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10972-012-9322-z

Kyle, G., & Chick, G. (2007). The social construction of sense of place. Leisure Sciences, 29(3), 209 – 225. https://doi.org/10.1080/01490400701257922

Kudryavtsev, A., Stedman, R. C., & Krasny, M. E. (2012). Sense of place in environmental education. Environmental Education Research, 18(2), 229 – 250. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2011.609.615

León, B., & Bourke, M. (Eds.). (2018). Communicating science and technology through online video: Researching a new media phenomenon. Routledge.

Lim, M., & Barton, A. C. (2010). Exploring insideness in urban children’s sense of place. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 30(3), 328-337. doi:1016/j.jenvp.2010.03.002

Tuthill, G., & Klemm, B. E. (2002). Virtual field trips: Alternatives to actual field trips. International Journal of Instructional Media, 29(4), 453-468. https://search.proquest.com/docview/204317859?pq-origsite=gscholar&fromopenview=true

Ullrich, C., Shen, R., Tong, R., & Tan, X. (2010). A mobile live video learning system for large-scale learning—system design and evaluation. IEEE, 3(1). doi:10.1109/TLT.2009.54

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Photos provided by Jaime Loizzo and Streaming Science