Use of a project-based aquaponics curriculum in rural Kentucky school districts increases secondary students’ understanding of ecosystems

Authors: THOMPSON, KENNETH - Kentucky State University; Webster, Carl; POMPER, KIRK - Kentucky State University; KRALL, REBECCA - University Of Kentucky

Submitted to: Interdisciplinary Journal of Environmental and Science Education
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/4/2023
Publication Date: 9/14/2023
Citation: Thompson, K.R., Webster, C.D., Pomper, K.W., Krall, R.M. 2023. Use of a project-based aquaponics curriculum in rural Kentucky school districts increases secondary students’ understanding of ecosystems. Interdisciplinary Journal of Environmental and Science Education. 19(3). Article e2313. https://doi.org/10.29333/ijese/13687.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.29333/ijese/13687

Interpretive Summary: There is a need for secondary schools to provide more authentic, hands-on experiences in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and, specifically, project-based investigation (PBI) environments in the classroom that focus on real-world problems relevant to students’ experiences, interest, and lives. Science curricula in high schools could use "hands-on" projects to teach concepts to students in a meaningful way that could boost student's learning and retention of the course material. This study investigated how, and to what extent, an aquaponics module affected high school students’ understanding of standard-based ecological relationships and concepts. As aquaponics uses a blend of aquaculture (fish culture) and hydroponics (growing plants without soil), it seems the perfect tool to serve as a hands-on learning experience to teach students about the natural world. Currently, there is no research literature on how a hands-on aquaponics project can engage students in learning science. The results from this study showed that using an actual aquaponics project was an effective method to provide meaningful learning and content understanding of ecological concepts and relationships to high school students. Further, the students retained the information better than simply teaching the concepts via traditional teaching methods. The evidence from this study suggests that authentic instructional experiences can help a student's understanding of ecological processes and that students learned the material and retained information better when a "hands-on" project was used. The implications of this study suggest that aquaponics can create authentic science learning environments that promote student learning of scientific concepts.

Technical Abstract: There is a need for secondary schools to provide more authentic, hands-on experiences in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and, specifically, project-based investigation (PBI) environments in the classroom that focus on real-world problems relevant to students’ experiences, interest, and lives that manifest the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) following practices they prescribe. This study investigated how and to what extent a contextualized aquaponics PBI (APBI) 10-week model unit affected high school students’ understanding of standard-based ecological relationships and concepts concerning interactions in ecosystems and, specifically, the phenomena carrying capacity and bacterial nitrification process. Currently, there is very little research literature on how APBI may engage students in learning science. Using a quantitative method, quasi-experimental research design, three different student groups who participated in the authentic, hands-on APBI intervention (i.e., treatment groups) and a control group were given a pre- and post-content-aligned test (N=88), which measured changes in students’ ecological knowledge. The results in this study revealed that the intervention, utilizing a real-life aquaculture/aquaponics context, was an effective method to provide meaningful learning and content understanding of standard-based ecological concepts and relationships. The evidence from this study suggests that authentic instructional experiences can facilitate students’ understanding of standard-based ecological concepts and knowledge of ecosystems, as the three treatment group students showed statistically significantly higher mean difference (improvement) sum scores after taking the pre- and post-content-aligned assessment when compared to the control group. Overall, the gain in understanding can be attributed to the project-enhanced unit implemented in this study. The implications of this study suggest APBI models may create authentic science learning environments that promote student learning of scientific concepts. In addition, APBI can offer engaging curricula that articulates NGSS.