ERIC Number: ED640866
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2023
Pages: 343
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: 979-8-3810-1787-8
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
"The Trees Act Not as Individuals"--Learning to See the Whole Picture in Biology Education and Remote Sensing Research
Rebeka A. F. Greenall
ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, Brigham Young University
To increase equity and inclusion for underserved and excluded Indigenous students, we must make efforts to mitigate the unique barriers they face. As their knowledge systems have been historically excluded and erased in Western science, we begin by reviewing the literature on the inclusion of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) in biology education and describe best practices. Next, to better understand how Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander (NHPI) students integrate into the scientific community, we used Social Influence Theory as a framework to measure NHPI student science identity, self-efficacy, alignment with science values, and belonging. We also investigated how students feel their ethnic and science identities interact. We found that NHPI students do not significantly differ from non-NHPI students in these measures of integration, and that NHPI students are varied in how they perceive their ethnic and science identities interact. Some students experience conflict between the two identities, while others view the two as having a strengthening relationship. Next, we describe a lesson plan created to include Hawaiian TEK in a biology class using best practices described in the literature. This is followed by an empirical study on how students were impacted by this lesson. We measured student integration into the science community using science identity, self-efficacy, alignment with science values, and belonging. We found no significant differences between NHPI and non-NHPI students. We also looked at student participation, and found that all students participated more on intervention days involving TEK and other ways of knowing than on non-intervention days. Finally, we describe qualitative findings on how students were impacted by the TEK interventions. We found students were predominantly positively impacted by the inclusion of TEK and discuss future adjustments that could be made using their recommendations. The last chapter describes how we used remote sensing to investigate land cover in a fenced and unfenced region of the Ko?olau Mountains on the island of O?ahu. After mapping the biodiversity hotspot Management Unit of Koloa, we found that there is slightly more bare ground, grass, and bare ground/low vegetation mix in fenced, and thereby ungulate-free areas, than those that were unfenced and had ungulates. This could be indicative of faster growing species recolonizing after ungulate removal, but further research is needed. Implications of these findings and suggestions for future research are discussed. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]
Descriptors: Biology, Science Instruction, Minority Group Students, Inclusion, Equal Education, Best Practices, Indigenous Knowledge, Ethnicity, Social Influences, Self Concept, STEM Education, Curriculum Implementation, Biodiversity, Science Equipment, Measurement Equipment, Satellites (Aerospace)
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Publication Type: Dissertations/Theses - Doctoral Dissertations
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Hawaii
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A