Peg Steffen - Preparing Youth as Planet Caretakers

1. Preparing Youth as Planet Caretakers: Games Tackle Environmental Issues Peg.Steffen@noaa.gov

2. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration • National Weather Service • National Marine Fisheries Service • National Ocean Service • Oceanic and Atmospheric Research • Satellites and Data 2

3. NOAA includes…… *Real world issues *Full range of STEM *Monitoring and data *Systems thinking *Human interactions with Earth systems 3

4. Climate Change

5. Change in Precipitation Patterns Intense precipitation events (the heaviest 1%) in the continental U.S. increased by 20% over the past century while total precipitation increased by 7%. 5 Source: http://www.globalchange.gov/publications/reports/scientific-assessments/us-impacts

6. 2014 was Earth's warmest year on record

7. Heat and Heat Waves • Changes in trends of maximum and minimum temperatures • Changes in “normal” distribution of temperatures • Heat waves – stress on people, plants and animals • Shifts in plant and animal species

8. Biodiversity • Protecting Endangered Wildlife • Land Conservation • Coral Reefs and Rainforests

9. Protection of Natural Resources • Air-Water Pollution • Reviving World’s Ocean • Safe and Sufficient Water • Sustainable Communities

10. Environmental Literacy Understanding, Problem-solving, Citizenship, and Action

11. State Environmental Literacy Plans

12. State Environmental Literacy Standards MD “Each local school system shall provide a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary environmental education program…. – Environmental Issues – Interactions of Earth’s Systems – Flow of Matter and Energy – Populations, Communities and Ecosystems – Humans and Natural Resources – Environment and Health – Environment and Society – Sustainability.

14. Next Generation Science Standards •Scientific and engineering practices •Crosscutting concepts •Disciplinary core ideas Students should explore a core idea by engaging in the practices and making connections to crosscutting concepts.

15. Framework Assumptions: •Children are born investigators •Focus on deeper understanding of fewer ideas •Understanding develops over time •Science and Engineering require both knowledge and practice •Connecting to Students’ Interests and Experiences in the real world

16. Environmental Literacy and NGSS Environmental Literacy depends on science skills and understandings but includes social sciences and humanities…civic engagement. Next Generation Science Standards Environmental Literacy

17. Its Confirmed: Kids Play Games • 97% of ages 12-17 play video games • 48% of American parents play with their children weekly • 64% of parents believe games are a positive part of their children’s lives

18. Games have great potential to: • Engage students in investigations • Develop understanding in science concepts and practices • Maintain motivation • See and interact with representations of phenomena • Keep students engaged in science, especially girls and underserved groups.

19. Games.noaa.gov

20. Games.noaa.gov Visitors

21. For the Young

22. Older students

23. WaterLife: Serious Science Games Game Development Partnership between: Montgomery College Computer Simulation and Gaming Department – game design, animation, technical expertise Montgomery College Foundation – student funding support NOAA – content review and funding Development time for each game: one year

25. Where Rivers Meet the Sea • Ecosystem basics • Habitat importance • Threats to estuaries • Estuary restoration • What you can do

26. Technical Aspects • Flash-based • Fast forward option • Subtitles in 11 languages

27. Story of Environmental Action

28. Valerie meets Oscar A sea otter in trouble who enlists Valerie in a quest to save the estuary.

29. One Mission: Four Challenges 1. Trash Recycling 2. Water Flow

30. One Mission: Four Challenges 3. Fix the Food Web 4. Fight the Pollution Monster

31. Comprehensive Field Guide

32. Additional Resources • For Educators • For Kids • Careers • What We Do • You Can Help – Visit, volunteer – Beach and Waterway clean-up – Stop Marine Debris

33. Sea Turtles and the Quest to Nest

34. Why this Mission? Many sea turtle populations are declining sharply Loggerhead sea turtles face many dangers in the marine environment and on land. These dangers are mostly caused by human activities. Sea turtles are accidentally caught in fishing gear and their nesting beaches may be altered or destroyed by building resorts and beach-front homes. Since human actions are causing turtles to become threatened, we need to help save them!

35. Six Stakeholders Six Challenges Turtle Tourist Fisherman Whelk • Player Collects points • Can start and stop Environmentalist Politician

36. Field Guide

37. For Educators •Links to careers •What students can do to help •Tech specs, how to play •Educator suggestions •Resource links

38. Digital Projects

39. Gallery of Images

41. Digital Storytelling Use images, voice recording, video, music, and sounds to tell stories * Create new stories * Show what they have learned * Explain what people can do to help * Share their stories with peers and parents Use images provided in the gallery, combine with other artwork, or create new

42. Posters Students create the messages and use the gallery art.

43. Newsletter Creation • Sanctuary Sentinel • Estuary Examiner • Fish Eye View • Ocean Etiquette News • Career Chronicle http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/pdfs/education/kids_times_turtle_loggerhead.pdf

44. Bonus Features

46. More Multimedia Projects Use video cameras, computer images, posters and other props to tell a story, highlight an event, or create a newscast. •Give a tour of sea turtle habitats and life history. •Create a “moment in history” with interviews, eyewitness accounts •Research your local connections to the ocean •Create an documentary about a problem

47. Formal Research Study Completed in 2011 with middle school teachers using the games in the classroom. Research question is: Does playing a WaterLife game as part of instruction develop students’ understanding of the key concepts as well or better than instruction without the game? Additional questions: • Do the two learning conditions affect student attitudes and intentions differently? • Are there differences in the effects on students of prior high, medium and low achieving levels? • How do educators use the game in their instruction? • What do students think about the experience of playing the games and its affect on their understanding and attitudes?

48. Results • Students were equally knowledgeable about the problems in estuaries and with sea turtles. • The game group was more emotionally involved and passionate about the issue. One student said he was “frustrated trying to get the sea turtle to her nest and he realized that that was what it was like for the sea turtle”

49. Results Results were comparable for boys and girls, for different achievement levels, and different grade levels. Students reported significant learning gains about the core concepts. Teachers plan to use the games again and will recommend them to other teachers as a good way to learn. Both students and teachers reported that the games were •Educational •Interesting and engaging •Effective for learning the concepts •Helpful showing students that something can be done to protect estuaries and sea turtles and keep their habitats healthy.

50. The Future??? • 40 million tablets and 300 million smartphones • Textbooks will be replaced with a digital-rich curriculum • Trajectory is for game- infused resources.