Sustaining interest in sustainability: High school students use inquiry and service learning to connect education, community and the environment

Background/Question/Methods

Inquiry and the 5E method are major components of both modern scientific education and evolving state standards. They also allow the potential to develop better problem solving, increased student engagement, and improved self-confidence and ownership in learning. One issue that arises with inquiry is in its ability to be a meaningful part of curriculum. Here, students from a charter high school in Santa Fe, New Mexico addressed that concern by conducting yearlong inquiry projects to actively engage themselves in the importance of sustainability. In a dual-enrollment Environmental Science class, students were encouraged to investigate environmental topics at the intersection of their personal interests and the needs of the Santa Fe community. Students connected these topics with community service by forming inquiry groups based on common interest and then meeting weekly to share out progress and plan service components. These weekly meetings focused on peer discussion and collaboration. Service learning, which is a major component of our school, was fully incorporated into the projects through required service hours and reflections.  Emphasis was placed on the ability of service to connect students both to their community and to their passions. The projects had clear expectations and objectives with rubrics given at the beginning of the year detailing the end results.  Projects culminated in an informal poster session and formal proposals judged by community members.

Results/Conclusions

In using this inquiry approach, teachers became facilitators instead of instructors as students were allowed to engage, explore, elaborate, explain, and evaluate themselves. On post-project assessments, students cited meaningful and interactive student group work, freedom of choice, applications that were meaningful, and the ability to learn autonomously as benefits of the projects. Through evaluations, it was clear that the students achieved the ability to create and carry out successful research experiments, while learning to evaluate themselves through collaborative peer-review.  There was a straightforward connection made between inquiry-based teaching strategies and the ability to introduce students to the real processes of scientists, to think critically and creatively in solving global problems, and to recognize the importance of serving their community.