Josephine Zesaguli, Blakely K. Tsurusaki, Brook Wilke, Edna Tan, Laurel Hartley

1. Human Actions • Habitat fragmentation • Agricultural practices • Development • Environmental Systems • Phylogenetic Interactions • Reproduction • Life Cycles • Pedigrees • Ecological Interactions • Adaptation • Competition • Create • Sustain • Reduce • Biodiversity • Socio-economic Systems • Sustainable Development • Access to food, shelter, water • Endangered Species Protection • Domestication • Ecosystem Services • Materials (e.g., food, fiber, medicine) • Aesthetics (e.g., nature) • Habitat The Development of an Environmental Literacy Learning Progression: Biological Diversity in Environmental Systems Josephine Zesaguli, Blakely K. Tsurusaki, Brook Wilke, Edna Tan, Laurel Hartley and Charles W. Anderson Methodology Environmental Science Literacy Environmental Science Literacy is the capacity of people, in their different citizenship roles to understand and participate in evidence-based discussions of the effects of human actions on environmental systems, and the feedback from those systems on human societies. Domain: The focus is on phylogenetic and ecological connections at both smaller (mechanism) and larger (context) scales. Assessment Tests. Items were formulated for each of the four cells in the framework (Table 1) based on three socio-ecological scenarios (a Farm, a Park and a Forest). Three test were made by combining different scenario pairs to form the Park and Farm, Farm and Forest, and Park and Forest Tests (See Website: http://edr1.educ.msu.edu/EnvironmentalLit/index.htm). Sample. Samples of students at urban, sub-urban and rural elementary, middle and high schools, in Michigan participated in the study. All three tests were administered by the teachers in each class. Analysis. For each assessment item, we sampled student responses until a range of proficiency was thought to have been obtained (the data were revisited if we later found this to not be the case); transcribed these responses into a spreadsheet; ranked the responses from the most to least sophisticated; identified patterns in responses with respect to the various frameworks; grouped responses in accordance with these patterns; and identified levels of mastery reflected in these patterns. Results. Very few students are giving the Level 5 responses. Table 1. Types of Connections at Large and Small Scales Learning Progression: Exemplars of Students’ Reasoning at Each Level UPPER ANCHOR: The Biodiversity Loop The upper anchor for the Biodiversity Strand: Goals for environmentally literate high school graduates. One way that we represent our upper anchor is with a loop diagram that shows the relationships between environmental systems and human social and economic systems.