Model eliciting activities, or MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary lessons in which students work in groups to solve real-world science problems that require creating mathematical models while clearly documenting their thought process. Therefore, MEAs are potentially effective ways to integrate mathematics and language arts into science classrooms and to give students experience analyzing and interpreting data sets. Despite this, MEAs are rarely designed for or used in biology classrooms. To better understand how biology teachers approach implementing MEAs in their life science classrooms, and whether MEAs centered on biology content are effective at teaching science and mathematics concepts, I performed a case study in which I designed and piloted an MEA in which students are asked to develop a management plan for the Northern Rocky Mountain gray wolf population using actual ecological, economic, and sociological data. I then piloted this MEA by observing two high school biology teachers deliver the lesson to their students. I surveyed the teachers before and after implementation and observed the students in each class carry out the activity.
Results/Conclusions
I found that the teachers came up with several effective strategies for implementing the novel MEA, including clearly defining learning objectives for their students, giving thorough background information, scaffolding the lesson, and challenging the students’ use of data. I also found that the MEA invoked a variety of student responses and mathematical models that tended to be shaped by the teacher’s emphasis on particular science topics. I also found that the teachers found the lesson to be effective at promoting group work, providing an engaging context, exposing students’ thinking, and giving the students experience with writing and applying science content. However, the teachers found the lesson to be less effective at uncovering the students’ modeling process, providing the students experience with scientific modeling, and teaching science and mathematics content.