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Peruvian Food Chain Jenga: Learning Ecosystems with an Interactive Model
Author(s) -
Hartweg Beau,
Biffi Daniella,
de la Fuente Yohanis,
Malkoc Ummuhan,
Patterson Melissa E.,
Pearce Erin,
Stewart Morgan A.,
Weinburgh Molly
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
school science and mathematics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.135
H-Index - 2
eISSN - 1949-8594
pISSN - 0036-6803
DOI - 10.1111/ssm.12230
Subject(s) - charter school , social connectedness , significant difference , mathematics education , psychology , data collection , presentation (obstetrics) , charter , medical education , mathematics , medicine , social psychology , geography , statistics , archaeology , radiology
A pilot study was conducted on a multimodal educational tool, Peruvian Food Chain Jenga (PFCJ), with 5th‐grade students (N = 54) at a public charter school. The goal was to compare the effectiveness of the multimodal tool to a more traditional presentation of the same materials (food chain) using an experimental/control design. Data collection included a pretest/posttest and a “What I Did/What I Learned” response sheet. Quantitative analysis of pretest/posttest results showed both groups improved from pretest to posttest; however, there was no statistically significant difference between posttest results of experimental and control groups. Qualitative analysis of student open‐ended responses indicated a difference between students who used the PFCJ and students in the control. The most striking difference occurred in how the students perceived the connectedness of species and the awareness of human impact. Our findings suggest that using a model such as PFCJ as a means of teaching and connecting scientific content with practices related to ecosystems is an effective method of engaging students in intelligent discussions about these topics.