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Citizens show misunderstandigs about groundwater that hinder making informed decisions about problems like the deterioration of aquifers. Science education should address this, including modelling practices about the aquifer model. Physical models (PM) have been extensively used in geology teaching, but students rarely construct, evaluate or manipulate them. This study addressed how the revision and manipulation of PMs contributed to the construction of a complete aquifer model by 80 Preservice Elementary Teachers (PETs) of two cohorts (subsequent years) that participated in a modelling teaching sequence that included fieldwork and the construction of a PM The model representations (drawings, writings, oral expressions, PMs) were analysed, based on systems thinking framework, through a constant comparison method. In Year 2 PETs that constructed a complete model tripled those of Year 1. The conversations in groups and the model representations throughout the sequence show that the evaluation of the PM when comparing it with reality during the field trip, and their manipulation guided by teachers' scaffoldings to encourage PETs to make representations and predictions, led them to revise their models in Year 2. Therefore, we conclude that it is the manipulation and revision of PMs that facilitates the revision and improvement of the aquifer model.

Objective: Engaging in a healthy diet and positive lifestyle behaviors have been shown to improve cognitive functioning in children and older adults, however, few have examined these factors in college-aged students. Participants: A diverse sample of 115 college students were recruited on two university campuses. Method: Completed computerized cognitive testing and an online survey about diet and lifestyle behaviors. Results: All analyses were conducted with Pearson's correlations. Higher fruit consumption was correlated with better visual memory scores. Higher seafood consumption was correlated with better learning performance. Increased fast food consumption was correlated with poorer executive functioning in resident students and poorer visual memory performance in commuter students. Increased fluid intake on testing day was correlated with better visual memory and better verbal memory performance. Conclusions: Behavioral changes such as increasing hydration, eating more fruit and fish, and eating less fast food may improve cognitive performance in college students.

Agritourism is a type of ecological tourism that combines agricultural activities with tourism. There is a growing interest in this industry worldwide, which poses both opportunities and challenges for social and natural environments. Grounded on the theory of situated learning, we developed an augmented reality-based educational resource to promote eco-agritourism -- namely, to promote agritourism while encouraging tourists to be environmentally responsible. This study presents the results of an educational experiment that compared the scores of students who were instructed using a combination of the augmented reality-based educational resource and the professor's guidance with those of students who were instructed only by the professor. The study analyzed the learning outcomes and the degree of users' motivation to learn about aquaponics in an agritourism farm. The participants were 40 volunteers who had no previous knowledge about aquaponics. The results show that the resource has a medium effect size on learning gains and a large effect on knowledge retention. Likewise, the data indicates that the resource increased users' motivation to learn and practice responsible agritourism. These results seem to indicate that augmented reality-based resources are appropriate for promoting eco-agritourism and encourage tourists to develop a positive bond with nature.

Oftentimes, due to the involute nature of the issues involved, society leaves it up to the experts to tackle the environmental problems currently facing society. However, a more wholistic approach is needed to address these environmental issues in the timely fashion necessary. With a reductionist treatment of sustainable development issues, the concepts involved can be broken down to a level accessible by the public. WATERS: Watershed Awareness using Technology and Environmental Research for Sustainability, is a 10-lesson watershed sustainability curriculum directed at middle school students. Using online, classroom, and field-based components, WATERS seeks to make watershed sustainability and conservation an accessible topic for students around the United States, hoping to create a generation of Environmentally Literate citizens who have the knowledge and desire to tackle the pressing issues facing the natural world around them. While the complete WATERS curriculum consists of ten lessons, this article will describe a 5E sequence that consists of four of the ten lessons.

As environmental education and sustainability education play a fundamental role in training citizens who are more aware of global change and more environmentally responsible, organic learning is a recommended alternative learning experience for young children. This article describes how one kindergarten class in South Korea applied organic learning to their curriculum and illustrates its effectiveness and practicality via the example of cotton planting. Geographically, this school is surrounded by forests and rivers within walking distance. Therefore, nature, ecology, and the environment are well integrated into their curriculum. The kindergarten facilities include 15 small gardens where students and teachers plant a wide variety of flowers, trees, and plants. Students have unlimited access to the gardens for observation and exploration. As a result, children remain engaged in active interactions with nature throughout the year.

Environmental education is a decisive tool in the promotion of a citizenry committed to environmental sustainability. Among the current challenges, the management of water shortage is one of the main issues, thus addressing it from childhood is crucial to enhance the connection with nature. Few studies report on the impact of educational programmes about water on minors; therefore, this exploratory study values whether participating in environmental education programmes improves the environmental knowledge, attitudes and perception about water. The study sample was constituted by 607 students (8-16 years of age), from primary and secondary education. The results show evidence about the effectiveness of environmental education programmes about water. Particularly, the changes were greater when the environmental knowledge and perception were evaluated. There was an increase in the willing to learn and know more about environmental education and water. Educational strategies are provided for the future development of environmental education programmes.

From 2017-2021, Mississippi State University's Department of Chemistry has hosted a 10-week summer Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program, focused on research related to food, energy, and water security topics. The goals of this program were to train students by providing an intensive research experience, recruit minority and underrepresented students, and provide advising for future career goals. The program hosted a growing cohort of undergraduate students each summer, 113 in total, recruited from a pool of underrepresented students and those with limited research opportunities. The pre- and post-program survey results covering three summers showed consistent self-reported growth among the student cohort in the program's focused skill sets. This manuscript presents three years of the program's success, from initial planning stages and recruitment to final results including a description of the value of each program component.

The need for shifting the expository laboratory instruction style to inquiry-based approaches is widely acknowledged. Problem-based learning (PBL), one of the inquiry-based approaches, advocates students' self-directed learning. The literature indicates that scaffolding students' independent learning is necessary for a PBL environment. In our study, we provided scaffolds such as a precursor task, reading material, and structured group discussion to facilitate the planning of a PBL task on indigo dyeing wastewater treatment. In this paper, we describe how these three scaffolds integrated within the PBL style contributed to students' learning as per the stages of Kolb's Experiential Learning Cycle (ELC). We analyzed the level of the abstract conceptualization stage of ELC through students' experimental designs (EDs) of the PBL task. The results of the qualitative analysis of the scaffolded and un-scaffolded groups suggest that scaffolded students' experimental design scores are higher. The qualitative results indicate that the structured group discussion influences the EDs planned by students more than the precursor task and the reading material. All three scaffolds help in the reflective learning and planning of executable EDs for a PBL task. The study indicates that students transitioning into the inquiry laboratory benefit from the inclusion of scaffolding.

In 2021, more than 80 million people worldwide will have been forced to flee their homes. Upon arrival in their new country, families may endure numerous hardships, yet succumbing to these challenges is not their single story. To understand how migrant-background and refugee-background children imagine more liveable futures beyond social and education barriers, financial stress and unresolved emotional issues, our study focuses on the stories that 8- to 10-year-old learners created while playing with building toys and stacking blocks in a Canadian elementary school. Drawing on the interconnected frameworks of story-telling, identity, creative citizenship and play-based pedagogies, our case study of 11 students illustrates that, in response to an invitation to support their real or imagined communities, learners engaged in literacy practices, built on their lived experiences and imagined strong identities to create stories of social responsibility and awareness, emphasising the human needs of securing food and fresh water, ensuring safety, and connecting and caring for the community. Our findings may encourage teachers to consider play-based storytelling to address out-of-school social factors in their classrooms and to capitalise on students' inquiries to design interdisciplinary projects that can develop students' literacies and promote social activism.

The urgency of the current climate crisis emphasizes the need for university graduates equipped with relevant knowledge and skills to tackle environmental and social problems such as material consumption, environmental degradation and inequality at all spatial scales. Geographic and spatially sensitive concepts and approaches to sustainability and greening are particularly relevant as best practices and success models are not easily transferable across different contexts. But how can students learn the necessary skills to connect theory with practice? Based on a third-year geography module at a British university that teaches green economy concepts, this paper presents insights from a problem- and project-based group learning exercise designed to help students translate conceptual approaches into practice highlighting the strength of geographic thinking. As part of the exercise, students work in groups to develop a green project that they present in a green dragons' den-style ideas pitch to an expert panel for evaluation. Students are tasked to develop innovative, feasible and applicable proposals that address specific sustainability challenges. Findings from five consecutive years of teaching illustrate the value of project- and problem-based learning to students through the diversity of practical applications, the need for critical thinking and context-dependent assessments and enhanced transferable skills.

This exploratory study examines how a team of three seventh grade teachers from a rural/suburban middle school in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States adapted the WATERS curriculum for asynchronous online delivery. The study shows that many hurdles can be mitigated with intentional planning, dedicated resources, and professional development. Students who engaged with the WATERS curriculum made statistically significant gains in their watershed content knowledge. This study highlights both the barriers to transitioning instruction online and the resources that support this transition. The study also illuminates factors that decision-makers must consider as they craft policies related to continuing education remotely during times of crisis and school closures.

Archimedes' principle is one of the foundation subjects in physics. Normally the principle is exemplified by reference to floating boats. However, Archimedes' principle also applies to objects embedded in waterlogged ground, which can lead to the surprising result of an object weighing several tons being lifted. A practical example is presented of a 22 ton concrete water tank being lifted out of waterlogged ground. Fuel tanks embedded in the ground can be crushed by groundwater. Ground water buoyancy can be a serious problem when a large excavation for the foundation of a high-rise building is left empty before building commences. A qualitative classroom demonstration of groundwater buoyancy is described that involves immersing plastic cups in sand and adding water to observe the cups rising out of the sand. Additionally, a quantitative demonstration is described in which an empty beaker is floated on a water-filled container placed on an electronic balance placed on a scissor table. A plank of wood placed across the top of the beaker holds it in place while the scissor table is used to raise the water level around the beaker simulating rising groundwater. In view of the challenges of climate change and increasing frequency and severity of flooding, knowledge of groundwater buoyancy is useful for students.

This pilot study was conducted to identify the effects of an 8-week aquatics program with peer-led learning on the functional fitness, postural stability, self-efficacy, and quality of life in older adults. Twenty older adults with a mean age of 65.5 were assigned to either a non-peer-led group or a peer-led-group. Both groups received 60-min aquatics classes twice per week. Variables were measured by the Senior Fitness Test, postural stability tests, the Activity-Specific Balance Confidence scale, the Falls Efficacy Scale--International, the Exercise Self-efficacy scale, and a quality of life question. The results showed a significant main effect of time on all dependent measures of functional fitness and quality of life question. There was no significant interaction between time and group for any dependent measure. This study demonstrated that peer-led learning in aquatics for older adults brought equal effects to classes taught by young instructors.

Groundwater is a critical component of the global water cycle and standards-based topic within science education. However, students articulate an array of ideas about groundwater systems, including their natural and human elements. One way to support students' learning about groundwater systems is through the use of data-driven, computer-based modeling tools in technology-enabled science learning environments. To use models to reason productively about groundwater, students must be able to interpret the relationship between the model and the phenomena it represents. Here, we report findings from a study conducted in 7th-grade classrooms (n = 209) during implementation of a 3-week curriculum module designed around a data-driven, computer-based groundwater modeling tool -- the Hydrogeology Challenge. Students completed a series of tasks using the model to reason about and engage in problem-solving about a real-world, scenario-based water challenge. Here, we focus on how students relate -- or map -- elements of the model to the components of the authentic water-related phenomena they represent. We conducted quantitative and qualitative analyses of student artifacts and interviews. Findings suggest that students could more easily interpret and understand model elements which represent human dimensions of groundwater systems, such as wells, than they could elements that represent natural dimensions and processes, such as contour lines or groundwater flow direction. These findings provide important insights into students' model-based reasoning about groundwater and teaching and learning about coupled human-hydrological systems.

Water sciences education is paramount to sustainable groundwater resource management, especially of drinking water, but misunderstandings about groundwater among non-experts remain widespread. Groundwater residence is an especially challenging concept to learn because it is not directly visible in typical circumstances. The present study uses a quasi-experimental research design to compare the impacts that two instructional sequences have on improving students' conceptual understanding of groundwater residence and aquifers. Both instructional sequences are designed to use active learning, but only one solicits and engages students' preconceptions. The theoretical framework for this study is the knowledge integration perspective of conceptual change. As such, this study considers cognitive, temporal, and social dimensions of learning. To assess students' learning, concept sketches were analyzed using diagrammatic and textual content analyses, normalized learning gains were calculated, multiple-choice items were scored dichotomously (i.e., scored as either correct or incorrect), free-response items were scored for partial credit, and classroom observations tracked social interactions. We found significantly larger learning gains when students' preconceptions were explicitly incorporated into the instructional sequence compared to when they were not taken into account. We also found the prior-knowledge instructional sequence (PKIS) positively impacted both Caucasian and non-Caucasian students as well as male and female students. Our findings indicate that actively engaging students' prior knowledge in the ways that were researched herein can be a high impact teaching practice and is worthy of future research in other specific domains beyond groundwater residence and aquifers.

Background: The free water protocol (FWP) is an alternate management strategy for patients with dysphagia, who would otherwise be nil by mouth or prescribed thickened fluids, allowing them to drink and potentially aspirate water under strict guidelines to minimize the risk of adverse consequences. The FWP is not widely implemented in acute settings, and it is unclear whether this is due to the complexity of patient presentations, clinician decision-making or barriers related to the setting. Aims: To explore the perceptions and decision-making process of clinicians about using FWPs to manage dysphagia for patients admitted to acute stroke and general medicine. Methods & Procedures: A qualitative, critical realist approach was adopted to allow for in-depth exploration of the perspectives of four dietitians, seven medical officers, eight registered nurses and 17 speech and language pathologists (SLPs) from three hospitals in a capital city of Australia. Data from semi-structured interviews were analysed using the Situated Clinical Decision-Making Framework (CDF). Outcomes & Results: Participants were cautious about FWP for patients with neurological conditions, head and neck cancer, dementia, poor immunity, chronic or recurrent respiratory illness, and certain types of stroke. Medical status and the implications for aspiration were paramount, particularly respiratory status, oxygen supplementation, cognitive status, fatigue and mobility. Participants considered patient quality of life, preferences and choices for care, but indicated that factors influencing safety often outweighed patient preference for water. Indirect factors affecting decision-making included the roles of the multidisciplinary team, individual clinical experience and attitude to risk, and availability of supervision. Conclusions & Implications: Despite the benefits of FWPs in other settings, in acute stroke and general medicine, clinicians erred on the side of safety and, in most cases, would not implement an FWP. Future clinical research is needed to systematically design high-quality and feasible clinical trials to determine the benefits and safety of FWPs for patients with dysphagia in these settings. This would lay the foundations for guidelines to support the complex clinical decision-making regarding patient suitability for FWPs.

This study aims to cement the link between systems thinking (ST) and education for sustainability by presenting an example of systems education for young children. A systems education guidebook focused on water and a learning framework based on the guidebook were developed, together with two ST assessment instruments (a shared reading and a concept mapping activity with interview protocols). The learning framework was implemented over the course of four-weeks with 32 children aged 5-6 in a pre-school in Turkey. To measure the outcomes, the children were pre-tested and post-tested with the assessment instruments using a mixed method approach. The results revealed a significant development in the ST skills of the children. Children defined system elements related to water more, came to see invisible elements as parts of the system and established high-quality causal relations between system elements related to water.

Frenetic digital timescapes reduce academic life to the endless achievement of metrics. These forces produce unsustainable work practices that disconnect us from ourselves, from ideas, from the natural world and from each other. While there is a substantial body of literature critiquing this, the use of arts-based inquiry into academic work is less common. In this article, we use slow 'thinking-in-movement' practices and arts-based methodologies to argue that beach walking enables us to resist the academic machine. We suggest that beaches act as liminal spaces where we may engage in post-feminist, new materialist c/a/r/tographies. Beach walking enables us to defamiliarize our bodies and interrupt the academic machine so that we might enact more embodied, contemplative ways of working. Written as a performative piece, this article intersperses citations of towards a valuable academic life. Come, join us as we walk ...

In a series of 12 project-based learning lessons, a group of seven fifth-grade students who live 200 miles from the coast explored their personal connections to the ocean. After completing a unit on the role of water in Earth's surface processes, the students investigated ocean acidification and how this pervasive ocean problem impacts their local community. The use of project- and place-based learning allows students to experience the impact of our actions on the environment; discover a link between their communities and the ocean; and form a meaningful emotional relationship with the ocean that empowers them to take action on sustainability.

Throughout the country, there are many bodies of fresh water affected by algal blooms. By focusing on a water source near their school, students can become scientists, too. Situating science content in real and meaningful learning experiences encourages students to be invested in their own learning, construct deeper understandings, and apply those understandings to make the world a better place. This article describes a two-week problem-based unit for third-grade students. The unit was organized as a 5E learning cycle (Bybee 2014) around locally relevant, authentic, inquiry. This structure supported students' understanding of science as a creative and inquisitive process (Crawford 2012). Although it was taught at a third-grade level to meet Ohio's state standards, this unit aligns with the grade 5 "Next Generation Science Standards." Although there are many interdisciplinary connections, English language arts standards are emphasized here. The unit was taught for ~45 minutes daily over two weeks. By taking on the role of research assistants, the elementary students transformed into scientists.

Water is critical to our health and well-being, yet one in three people do not have access to safe drinking water. Earth's water is threatened by pollution, deforestation, urban growth, and climate changes. This article describes a unit for kindergarten children called The Water We Drink.

Citizen science is increasingly popular for educating and engaging the public, but few studies test how to achieve individual outcomes including knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors, particularly in the Global South. We operationalize the citizen science participation-behavior model for a hydrologic monitoring program in Mexico to evaluate how citizen science participation influences these outcomes. Volunteers were surveyed before, two weeks, and six months after the training, and semi-structured interviews were conducted six months post-training with volunteers and dropouts. While surveys showed that participation had limited impacts on knowledge, retrospective interviews revealed self-described differences in volunteer and dropout environmental identity, self-efficacy, and view of citizen science as a conservation activity. Results show participation spurred volunteers to engage in some activist behaviors. The study provides important evidence concerning the influence of citizen science participation in the Global South on behavioral outcomes and helps inform how to design and implement future citizen science programs.

Understanding the global water cycle is fundamental to Earth systems literacy and fostering an informed citizenry; however, students often struggle with terminology, the role of key processes, and estimating the physical and temporal scales, leaving knowledge gaps that impair comprehension. The Hydrologic Cycle Game is a pedagogical tool for teaching students about the global water cycle through game-based learning. It familiarizes students with terminology related to transport, fluxes, and storage, using box models to understand complex cycles and visualize invisible processes, and introduces students to the concept of residence time. It was developed for university undergraduates but could be used in other educational settings. When deploying this activity in-class, it is helpful to introduce students to the vocabulary and the concept of box models prior to game play; a short lecture or prerecorded video was sufficient. One game typically takes 5-10 min to play, and, in the author's experience, engagement increases when students have the opportunity to play multiple times. Student comprehension of terminology, connections, and directions of flow was assessed using pre and posttests. Scores increased significantly (p < 0.05) after gameplay with a large effect size (d > 0.8), and learning gains persisted through mid-semester evaluations. The data collected indicate that the Hydrologic Cycle Game is an effective tool for teaching the global water cycle.

Water is a special substance. Not only do humans rely on water for survival, but it is also fascinating to play with and makes a great topic to investigate. Many simple investigations can be done with water, at home or at school, to guide children's science learning. This article describes a sequence of online learning experiences that were set for Foundation-level children in Sydney NSW, during the recent school lockdown due to COVID-19. The lessons were communicated to 5-6-year-old children via the Seesaw digital app and were part of a unit on weather and water designed for children in their first year of school. Examples of student responses to these water-based learning tasks are provided.

This paper explains and analyses a virtual gamification experience developed by a teaching group from the University of Catania (Italy) and the University of Cordoba (Spain). A competition based on professional tasks about hydrological planning was implemented in two subjects on Hydrological Sciences. The teaching experience was designed to improve the acquisition of technical knowledge and skills needed for hydrological studies, promote the management of ICT and increase international cooperation between different universities; all aimed at making students more employable. The experience is transferable to different academic levels. Following the philosophy of soccer leagues, the students solved and presented the exercise by teams of two students. Through videoconference, the presentation and the explanation were done so the fans in each country supported their teams. The students found it a very challenging experience but at the same time, some of them were aware of their needs of improving technical knowledge, particularly Geographical Information Systems, and English language skills. Updating of tools and the schedule within the different academic calendar were their main organization handicaps. The main outcome of the presented experience is that social energy and enthusiasm associated to popular activities such as soccer led to improve the interest and the motivation of the students in challenging technical contents as well as teamwork and language transversal competences.

When the road is wet (there is a water layer on the road surface), the road marks become blurred and drivers are distracted. We discuss the contributing processes and identify which processes are dominant to the occurrence of this phenomenon. Modelling and a simple experiment demonstrate that the dominant processes are: (a) refraction of light by the water layer that reduces the beam angle of the light that enters the driver's eyes, (b) reflection of light in the water layer, and (c) the glare.

This paper presents a thorough method for studying the interference of water waves. The study aimed: (a) to demonstrate the interaction of two coherent waves, which creates interference patterns, and (b) to analyse the interference patterns. Three main tools were employed: a simplified ripple tank to experiment, a smartphone camera to record the experiment, and Tracker to quantify the experiment video. The quantification was designed to investigate experimental measurement, asymptotic approximation and linear approximation of the interference patterns. The results showed that the demonstration was impressive in that the interference patterns were appealingly depicted in the video recording. The quantification was highly accurate, with an error of about 3%. The investigation indicated that the measured values agreed with the asymptotic prediction throughout the entire range, with errors of about 3%. Errors between the measured values and linear approximation dramatically increased from the fourth pattern. The findings caution teaching and learning against using the linear approximation for predicting interference patterns of water waves. In conclusion, this study exposes implications for teaching and learning interference phenomena comprehensively.

There is a growing need for public understanding about groundwater resources. Knowing what groundwater and aquifers are is fundamental to understanding more complex issues such as groundwater quality and availability. However, groundwater and related concepts are among the topics that instructors most struggle to teach. Although constructivist theories suggest that students' preconceptions or misconceptions can be used as teaching tools, the question about exactly how remains. A resource perspective on this question states the first step involves understanding students' preconceptions. To gain a deeper understanding of college students' pre-instructional mental models about groundwater residence, 215 students enrolled in introductory-level environmental geoscience courses taught at two large US state universities were surveyed. An open-ended questionnaire asked participants to draw and label a concept sketch. Follow-up interviews asked participants to elaborate upon their concept sketches. Eight categories of mental models emerged from the analysis of the collected data. These results were interpreted through the lens of cognitive schema theory, which generated to four patterns of mental models. These patterns emphasize key aspects of students' pre-instructional mental models about groundwater residence. Instructors can use this information to design instructional activities about groundwater and aquifers using a resource perspective.

In recent studies, between 50% to 75% of residential water was used for outdoor irrigation (Milesi et al., 2012). Turfgrass lawns are widely used in outdoor landscapes and are the largest irrigated crop by total area in the United States (Milesi et al., 2005). Consequently, as more American homes utilize turfgrass lawns, outdoor irrigation is expected to increase (Devitt, Carstensen, & Morris, 2008). Increases in outdoor water usage coupled with urbanization pressures water resources and intensifies the need for conservation. This study utilized hierarchical multiple regression to determine factors affecting urban residents' intent to engage in water conservation. It also evaluated the effect of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) variables on intent to conserve water, then included perceived cost of water and personal norms as additional factors affecting intent to conserve. A total of 1,809 urban residents in the U.S. were surveyed via a researcher-developed questionnaire using non-probability purposive sampling. Findings revealed both social and personal norms had strong effects on intent to conserve water. Recommendations follow that social and personal norms be made known to target audiences and used collectively in extension water conservation programs to promote behavior change.

Water is a scarce resource in Florida. There is an immediate need to reduce the stress on water resources and make the availability of water more sustainable by encouraging engagement in water conservation among the residents of Florida. This study examined how the future intentions of high water users in Florida to conserve water outdoors were influenced by cognitively dissonant attitudes and behaviors. The independent variables used in the study were: government trust, current water conservation practices, political beliefs, and homeowners' associations (HOA) membership. The results to study indicated that higher trust in government and current engagement in water conservation behaviors promotes water conservation, while conservative political belief and HOA membership restrict water conservation. The independent variables (government trust, current water conservation practices, political beliefs, and HOA membership) also significantly predicted 30% of the variation in water conservation behavioral intentions. Level of engagement in current water conservation behaviors had the highest effect on future intent to conserve water. Extension educators, managers at water utility companies, and other agricultural educators are encouraged to consider cognitive dissonance among their target audiences as it can be used to promote water conservation.

Undergraduate students should be able to identify relationships between agricultural and natural resources (ANR) issues to be prepared for ANR sector jobs. The purpose of this study was to determine if communication courses focused on teaching about ANR issues influenced students' understanding of the relational nature of these issues. A pre/posttest research design was given to undergraduate students enrolled in communication courses at three universities that addressed communicating about nine ANR issues. After descriptive analysis, the data was visualized and density was calculated using social network analysis software. Prior to the course, the strongest perceived relationship was between food safety and food security, followed by water and animal health. After the course, the strongest perceived relationship was between water and food security, followed closely by water and conservation. Visually, water was central to the network of issues, followed by food security, and conservation. The density of the perceived interconnectedness of the issues indicated the respondents did perceive the nine ANR issues were more closely related after taking the course than before. In this case, courses focused on communicating about ANR issues assisted students in being able to convey how these issues are interdependent, preparing them for the workforce.

Tourism is important because it can revive economically a community around tourist attractions. North Sumatra Province, which includes Medan, shows great potential for the development of marine tourism. However, it is not run optimally. Moreover, poor quality infrastructure and human resources are also a threat to marine tourism in Indonesia. This study's methodology involved a qualitative method and used focus group discussions (FGDs) to obtain data from 25 informant travel agent in North Sumatra Province. This study's results found that marketing strategies need consistent support from government and travel agents. The rapid development of communication and information technology has become one of the most important elements in the development of marketing strategies.

The study sought to investigate the role of the community in inhibiting girls' access and participation in formal education in Marsabit County-Kenya. As one of the marginalized counties in Kenya, the county had among the highest rate of illiteracy in Kenya with 68 per cent of residents with no formal education. The study involved a total of 128 informants, including school girls, boys, parents, and local leaders. The study utilized three main tools in data collection; interviews, focused group discussions and whole community mapping. The study found out that the selected four communities did not have adequate number of role models for girls; there were cases of teenage pregnancy, early marriages and practiced 'girl booking' that affected girls' participation in formal education. The study recommends tripartite efforts by the national government, county government of Marsabit County, and civil societies involved in advocacy of girls' education to particularly involve boys in their interventions to ensure that all girls access schools.

In recent years Bournemouth University (BU) has witnessed a growth in undergraduate projects aimed at resolving problems in low-resource communities, with an emphasis on sustainability through the use of locally-available resources and production methods. BU academics have also been involved in helping the Royal National Lifeboat Institute (RNLI) to develop product solutions to help prevent global drowning, with an initial focus on the Bangladeshi context. Alongside the potential to enrich or even save lives in the target communities, such projects can offer considerable benefits to a range of domestic stakeholders: from the students and staff themselves to local businesses and non-government organisations (NGO's). But they can also offer considerable challenges--educationally, ethically and practically--including issues with design validation, the reliability and availability of information, and the barriers of differing cultures and languages. How can educators support low-resource projects successfully? Can students truly gain sufficient understanding of all the relevant issues to design products for an unfamiliar culture, no matter how diverse? And why are low-resource communities looking to designers from the other side of the world to provide low-tech solutions to local problems? Bournemouth University's low-resource projects have achieved varying degrees of success. By examining some of these--including the RNLI's Bottle Buoy, which has recently gained international acclaim--the authors explore the complex issues relating to the use of such projects in an educational context, and present a proposal for future success using jugaad strategies and greater collaboration.

We have developed and verified laboratory work as guided inquiry for upper secondary level students, focusing on conceptual understanding of the physical principle that forms the basis of temperature measurement, and on improvement of selected skills. Conceptual pre-test questions initiate the students' interest and help identify input misconceptions. Using the method of interactive lecture demonstration, the students are introduced to the measurement principles of the Galileo thermometer. The students are then set the problem of how to repair a broken thermometer when tap water is used instead of ethanol. Since the density of water is greater than that of ethanol, the buoys must be adjusted by the students to achieve correct temperature measurement. The next steps of the activity have a hands-on orientation. The students work in pairs, guided by worksheet instructions. At the end of the activity, they complete self-assessment rubrics focused on skill improvement and final conceptual understanding. The results of the conceptual pretest questions and of the self-assessment rubrics from 461 participants are analysed and recommendations are made for teachers.

Discussions on how to conserve and provide enough water has become one of the most highly debated issues in modern society. Although many Extension efforts have engaged the public in understanding behavior and attitudes toward water conservation, limited research has focused on understanding how agriculturalists respond to water conservation messages. The goal of this study was to employ the use of a psychophysiological measure to determine what message components elicited increased information processing during exposure to two water conservation videos. When the two videos were compared in total, no significant difference in heart rate was observed. However, a more granular analysis of phasic or short-term periods of heart rate deceleration revealed five segments of increased cognitive resource allocation while viewing the scientific video and three segments during the testimonial evidence video. Finally, self-report data approached statistical significance, with the subjects reporting greater elaboration while viewing the testimonial evidence video compared to the scientific video treatment. These findings provide unique evidence suggesting that farmers and ranchers allocate greater cognitive resources to scientific evidence, on screen graphics, and narrated statistics.

Water availability is an important issue addressed by Cooperative Extension programs nationwide. Rapid population growth and urbanization present unique challenges and opportunities for Extension programming. In this study, we explored whether urban Extension audiences in Florida had unique characteristics that could be used to design tailored programs. We used electronic surveys to collect water conservation and landscape management behaviors along with demographic information. Applying audience segmentation concepts, we divided respondents into subgroups by rural-urban continuum codes. We then described the resulting subgroups and made comparisons to identify differences that could inform Extension programming. The most urban residents had lived in Florida the longest, were least engaged in most water conservation practices, most likely to use a professional landscape company for landscape maintenance activities, and most likely to reside in a homeowners' association. The findings revealed somewhat of a disconnect between urban residents and protection of water resources. Understanding these differences among urban audiences can be useful insights to guide impactful Extension programs. Urban landscape water conservation programming should be designed to build a connection between residents and their local water bodies, and should engage the many partners present in urban systems. More research is needed to examine the relationship between residing in more urban areas and engaging less in landscape water conservation practices.

Elevated levels of bacteria impact the use of the Little River watershed in Texas. The amount of bacteria entering the waterway could be reduced if landowners within the watershed received water-related information and adopted best management practices. However, landowners' access to water-related information is limited, perhaps, because the information is not targeted to them and their preferences. Therefore, to identify landowners' communication preferences for receiving water-related information, we assessed 275 landowners in the Texas Little River watershed using a paper questionnaire. Respondents preferred water-related information delivered via websites monthly and direct mailings quarterly, twice annually, and annually and least preferred social media platforms as a communication medium. Yet, we found no statistically significant differences between respondents' demographics and their preferred communication mediums. Furthermore, respondents identified Texas A&M AgriLife Extension as the most trustworthy source of water-related information. Water resource experts, therefore, should disseminate information using websites and direct mailings in partnership with Texas A&M AgriLife Extension. Further research should be conducted using observations, focus groups, and interviews during the watershed-based planning process to understand reasons for landowners' communication preferences. [This research was supported by Texas Water Resource Institute and Texas Commission on Environmental Quality under the Clean Water Act Section 319(h) Nonpoint Source (NPS) Grant Program, Grant No. 131527 SRS M1502190.]

This study was prepared to investigate prospective biology teachers' cognitive structures related to "water". As the research design of the study, the case study was applied. The data were collected from 44 prospective biology teachers. The free word-association test, the drawing-writing technique and the semantic differential attitude scale were used as data collection instruments. The data were subject to content analysis and divided into categories through coding. In the analysis, the categories were formed and determined through the results of word-association test and drawing-writing test which were completed by the prospective biology teachers. With the help of these categories, the cognitive structures of prospective biology teachers were explained. These categories were determined as "the place and importance of water in life, the definition and chemical properties of water and water and metabolism". It was determined that prospective biology teachers' semantic attitudes towards water were at a positive level in terms of mean scores of all adjectives considered; However based on each and every adjective, they mostly perceive water as compulsory, valuable and necessary. Moreover, the data collected through three data collection instruments indicated that prospective biology teachers had misconceptions about water considering the categories determined.

This study aims to evaluate the influence of fasting on the balance of thermoregulation and the aerobic endurance performance in middle distance runners. 13 male athletes (aged 21-33), specialists in middle distance, were evaluated 11 days before the fasting period, then the 25th day of the fast and finally the 119th day after the end of the fasting period. In order to make the study operational, we took axillary temperature measurements before the preparatory warm-up and, also, just after the end of each running event over a distance of 3000 meters. Statistical analysis shows that the fasting period generates significant changes in thermoregulation balance and, also, aerobic endurance performance of middle distance runners.

Environmental problems nowadays pose threats to the sustainability of environment, such as global warming, urban air pollution, water scarcity, environmental noise, and biodiversity loss. The root cause of those problems is human behavior. Inspiring the interest of preschoolers is crucial in their future cognition of the environment. This research discussed the influence of parent-child reading on the children's environmental interest. It also integrated environmental education into the learning process of preschoolers more comprehensively and continuously. A questionnaire was used for data collection and the data were analyzed using Smart PLS 2.0. The results show that personality trait, visual attention, and expression of ideas have statistical significance in terms of the children's learning attitude. The picture book designed in this study can improve the pro-environmental behavior after parent-child reading.

Music cannot be separated from its historical, geographical, and cultural context; therefore, it is important that students be taught music from a variety of genres, cultures, and historical periods relevant to the music to which they are introduced. In this article, I introduce an interdisciplinary approach through contextualization of the content of music, using it to lead to the study of related works in various disciplines. Using a song inspired by Indonesia's Solo River, a lesson sample demonstrates teaching strategies that motivate students to engage in integrative thinking. By exploring music's connection with relevant subjects to teach about the natural environment, this contextualized lesson presents a global learning experience to broaden students' knowledge of the world. Contextualizing the content of Bengawan Solo illustrates how history and culture shaped the song and demonstrates how this work can be used as a springboard for students' exploration of its history, geography, and ecology.

Recent science education reforms, as described in the "Framework for K-12 Science Education" (NRC, 2012), call for three-dimensional learning that engages students in scientific practices and the use of scientific lenses to learn science content. However, relatively little research at any grade level has focused on how students develop this kind of three-dimensional knowledge that includes crosscutting concepts. This paper aims to contribute to a growing knowledge base that describes how to engage students in three-dimensional learning by exploring to what extent elementary students represent the crosscutting concept systems and system models when engaged in the practice developing and using models as part of an NGSS-aligned curriculum unit. This paper answers the questions: How do students represent elements of crosscutting concepts in conceptual models of water systems? How do students' representations of crosscutting concepts change related to different task-based scaffolds? To analyze students' models, we developed and applied a descriptive coding scheme to describe how the students illustrated the flow of water. The results show important differences in how students represented system elements across models. Findings provide insight for the kinds of support that students might need in order to move towards the development of three-dimensional understandings of science content.

Rainfall is a key process in the water cycle, the most structured scientific knowledge about water movement on Earth. Nevertheless, despite being a common topic covered in school science, it entails several cognitive difficulties for young children. This study uses a pictorial task and semi-opened questions to examine primary (11/12 years old) and secondary (12/13 years old) students' understanding of the elements and processes involved in the hydrologic cycle and how they are integrated into their explanations regarding the rainfall phenomenon. Overall, we have found that the studied children's (n = 246) conceptual knowledge increases with age. However, they have an incomplete perception of the mechanism of rainfall and its integration into the water cycle. In fact, not all the students have a cyclic notion of water dynamics; they also miss the inclusion and role of groundwater in water systems and present misconceptions regarding key processes, such as condensation and evaporation. Regarding the two diagnostic tools (drawings and questionnaires) used to study children's understanding, although questionnaires seem more appropriate for assessing lower conceptual levels, each methodological approach is useful for detecting different key concepts and misconceptions related to the rainfall phenomenon and related water cycle. Consequently, a mixed research design using different methods is advised for a comprehensive study of students' conceptions.

The Griess assay is widely used by regulation agencies as an official method for nitrite quantification in water and food samples. In Brazil, the official method, which has been used to determine nitrite in food, was described by Instituto Adolfo Lutz (283/IV) in 1984. It uses 8 mL of reactants and provides 50 mL (reactants plus sample) of waste per sample analyzed. Here, students scaled down the official method 50 times and quantified nitrite in water and food samples by using just 0.2 mL of the Griess reactant and 1 mL of sample. Quantitative analysis was carried out using absorbance measured at 540 nm (standard method) and 96-well-plate images (proposed method) obtained with a desktop scanner. The nitrite was extracted from solid food samples by heating it in a water bath. After heating, sample color and turbidity were eliminated by addition of K[subscript 4][Fe(CN)[subscript 6]] and ZnSO[subscript 4] solutions and filtering. During samples preparation, students evaluate the heating time effect in nitrite extraction from sausage samples using hypothesis tests. Students did a series of matrix matched samples to observe the matrix effect. Students also calculated the detection limit (DL) and the quantification limit (QL) for the proposed method (1.35 and 4.1[mu]mol/L nitrite, respectively) and for the standard method (1.1 and 3.4 [mu]mol/L nitrite, respectively). DL and QL were determined using the standard deviation of the lowest concentration point on the standard curve. The major pedagogical value of this laboratory class was to scale down the official method and use it to prepare and analyze a solid food sample. As a learning model, finding real water samples, which have nitrite concentrations larger than method QL, was a hard task, but all sausage samples analyzed had larger nitrate concentrations than the method QL and nitrite quantification in sausages was a good learning model.

Due to social distancing constraints during the COVID-19 pandemic, several experiments were designed in the Fall 2020 and Spring 2021 semesters in our Electrochemistry and Corrosion elective course to demonstrate electrochemical phenomena and applications at the students' homes with a kit sent by the school. We report here a student-designed experiment focused on water electrolysis, a well-studied phenomenon of great interest to the electrochemical industry. Its main appeal derives from the use of solar energy for the production of hydrogen gas, which is used in fuel cells. Here, the light-to-electricity converting function of light-emitting diodes is exploited to produce an electric current from solar radiation. This current is, in turn, utilized to perform microscale water electrolysis at graphite electrodes with the aid of a magnetic field. Lastly, the electrolysis products are employed to generate a voltage, demonstrating the fuel cell principle.