What’s a webquest?
A webquest is an inquiry-based teaching tool in which students follow instructions formatted to guide them to various websites to increase their knowledge or understanding of a particular topic. In this case, students visited different sites to gain a deeper under- standing of environmental issues.
teachers, administrators, cohorts, or the educational system8. Conservation education shapes pro-environmental attitudes present in students from the planning and implementation of conservation education. This leads to student action, spe- cifically pro-environmental behaviors, and eventually to internalization of those behaviors and, consequently, pro- environmental attitudes5,10,12,16,18,24. Agency, self-efficacy, and internalization are vital because, when knit together, they create the framework for empowerment. As Sharon Kinsman states, conservation “lessons are more than aca- demic” because they “feel empowered, they are respected, they make a difference, and they know it”8. Empowered stu- dents experience higher academic achievement, have fewer behavioral issues, and report higher aspirations than their less-empowered peers9. Several practices are shown to increase student empow-
erment within the realm of conservation. These practices and methods fall under the following categories: lesson design, student choice, peer collaboration, and student- teacher relationship5,6,10,13,14,15,25,26. The synthesis of these four components became the building blocks of a cross- curricular Project-Based Learning (PBL) unit for my con- servation-focused 8th grade Language Arts Project. Follow- ing the quarter-long project, I invited the students to a focus group to discuss their experience throughout the project. Students’ answers to questions (discussed below) reflected that the amount of choice and trust bestowed upon them while they were tackling real-world problems increased their motivation to complete as well as go beyond the project objectives. Each student confirmed that they felt an increase in pro-environmental attitudes and that they internalized and felt more deeply connected to the conservation issues they addressed. The anecdotal evidence collected shows the positive impacts that can be achieved when students feel empowered within the classroom setting. Thus, creat- ing global citizens with internalized pro-environmental attitudes and the agency to tackle environmental issues can begin in the classroom with the implementation of conserva- tion-centered projects such as the one described below.
Project overview
In creating this conservation-based project, I focused on les- son design, student choice, peer collaboration, and the rela- tionship between students and teacher. Each of these com- ponents is key to building student agency, self-efficacy, and internalization. It was for this reason that I chose a PBL unit to incorporate these design elements. PBL allows students to determine the topic and direction of their learning through- out the project, while still allowing them to adhere to some guidelines15,25,26. It also allows students to work collabora- tively to create their own meaning and understanding of the topic, effectively building agency and self-efficacy while
they work towards internalization. A PBL unit, additionally, allows teachers to equitably share the power of their class- room by offering students various choices, opportunities for collaboration, and student-teacher partnerships. Based on the aforementioned considerations, a technol-
ogy- and project-based unit was designed with the goal of connecting students with real-world environmental prob- lems and issues. Student empowerment would culminate in presentations where they would be given the opportunity to share their learnings. Technology was integrated at various stages to further enhance student empowerment and learn- ing through tasks ranging from research, to blogging, to content creation. The project consisted of three consecutive stages (pre-project, project, and post-project) broken up into tasks. Stage 1 was the learning and preparation stage and required students to define environmental issues through mini lessons and Webquests (see sidebar), research into various issues, and deciding what topic/issue to pursue for the remainder of the project. For the second stage, students began project implementation. They created a blog with Edublogs and designed it to best portray information for their communities. Using these blogs, they created a series of five blog posts in which they…
1. wrote a research paragraph explaining their chosen envi- ronmental issue;
2. created a podcast interviewing an expert to delve deeper into their chosen issue;
3. created a form of PSA (public-service announcement) to inform their audience of the issue;
4. detailed a researched and well-thought-out action plan to help solve or alleviate their chosen issue;
5. wrote a post explaining the implementation and effects of their action plan with pictures as proof.
Students were also given three weeks to implement the proj- ect they designed. The final stage consisted of presentations and reflections during which students created a presentation for parents, teachers, and peers showcasing their blog, com- munity project, and any by-products that came about as a result. The wide-ranging elements of this project — includ- ing citizenship, technology, research, environmental issues, and writing with supporting evidence — were designed for a cross-curricular activity for the Language Arts with pos- sible integrations in Science, Technology, and Social Studies classes.
Conclusion This conservation-centered, project-based learning unit was designed after a literature review focusing on the empow- erment of students through increasing their agency, self-
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