Summary of Student Outcomes

The Hydroville curricula were developed to increase students’ awareness and understanding of science concepts and inquiry skills. A second goal was to increase students’ ability to employ scientific knowledge as part of the process by which science is used to make decisions, both in their personal life as well as in society in general. During the four implementation years, the curricula were piloted by 135 teachers in 35 schools with more than 4800 students. (Pilot School Data Summary) The evaluation of student outcomes involved multiple strategies including content-based quizzes, pre/post test items around seven key concepts, an open-ended inquiry prompt, and teacher debrief interviews. (See 4b. Evaluation Instruments)

Evaluation of student change showed that students gained significantly on a number of important dimensions relevant to attaining environmental science principles. These included the perception of environmental science risks, the importance of self-protective behaviors in the home, and the importance of environmental science information in problem solving. One of the strongest effects observed was that due to changes in students’ perceived ability to participate in group problem solving and to use environmental science concepts as part of their writing and speaking with others. Students tended to be more confident taking on a personal role in group activities relating to identifying and solving a problem relating to an environmental issue. These activities involved information seeking, interviewing community members and environmental experts, as well as preparing written and oral reports. The scenario aspect of the curriculum directly exposed students to the complexities of solving environmental problems through work with others and gave them an opportunity to learn and implement written and oral presentation skills.

In addition, students gained significant conceptual richness in how they view environmental science concepts that relate to the meaning of exposure and dose-response relationships. Students were also more responsive to the need for self-protection with regard to environmental health and safety risks, and gained an additional appreciation for the value of science, both in general and in their personal lives. The gains achieved in self-efficacy provide a valuable adjunct to the attainment of concepts from the curriculum and provide a base from which students have the potential for greater engagement with science in society. Self-efficacy refers to a student’s belief in their ability to act to bring about desired outcomes or goals in their life. Students’ increased sensitivity to environmental risk issues coupled with their increased ability to recognize how to use environmental science principles as part of everyday problem solving contributes to their overall skill set as effective decision makers.
(Summary of Quantitative Results)

The qualitative data confirms the quantitative data that demonstrated students’ increased scientific disposition toward environmental health issues but falls short of confirming students’ learning inquiry skills. Although many students characterized the curriculum as problem-solving oriented or investigation oriented they rarely mentioned their inquiry skills as learning outcomes. Considering that students need to engage in a metacognitive process to become aware of their learning of inquiry skills while doing inquiry, the findings suggest that the curriculum needs to provide students with opportunities to explicitly discuss the inquiry processes that they practice.
(Summary of Qualitative Results)

Taken across the entire four years of curriculum implementations, it is evident that the objectives of the HCP with respect to student outcomes have been affirmed in many key areas that promote environmental science as a basis for learning problem-solving skills that have direct application to students’ lives, both as life-long learners and as part of a science-literate society.