Ecoliteracy Research
Being equal parts ecologist and science educator, I am very interested in how people learn and apply ecological concepts to individual and societal environmental challenges.
I am involved in an NSF-funded research project investigating how guided writing affects the development of ecological literacy in undergraduate biology students. My collaborators (Meena Balgopal, Colorado State University, and Steve Dahlberg, White Earth Tribal Community College) and I conducted a pilot study to test our CAB-WTL model (see reference below). This model is designed to engage students' cognitive (C), affective (A), and behavioral (B) domains in the context of a science course through a variety of writing-to-learn (WTL) activities. Currently, we are comparing the response of three student populations to this teaching intervention and investigating variation in the degree of guidance provided for these students. Our next steps involve the creation of a ecolgocial concept inventory to serve as a pre post test to measure changes in ecological literacy.
Balgopal, M., and A.Wallace. 2009. Decisions and dilemmas: using WTL activities to increase ecological literacy. The Journal of Environmental Education. 40(3): 13-26.
Teacher Research Network
I served as a researcher, a profile analyst, and also created a website for this multi-year, mutli-institution effort to study the practices of beginning math and science teachers in Minnesota. Other science educators are invited to utilize our instruments and protocols.
Student Research Projects
I am interested in mentoring student research projects that involve plant-plant interactions, plant-insect interactions, plant-microbe interactions, prairie restoration ecology, and climate change effects from individual plant species to ecosystem dynamics. I am open to suggestons from freshman to seniors for future research projects! Here is a list of previous research projects to give you an idea of the range of possibilities:
2009-2010
"The effects of Brassica rapa trichomes on cabbage white butterfly larvae" – Amy Moorhouse and Brittany Beers
2007-2008
“Effects of elevated carbon dioxide on maternal families of Brassica rapa (rapid-cycling)” – Michael McConnell and Amanda Wickersham
“Investigating variation in glucosinolate production by Brassica rapa (rapid-cycling) as related to trichome production” – Ryan Walsh, Liz Jagol, Renek Jorgenson
2006-2007
"Tradeoffs between allelopathy and trichomes” - Ryan Walsh
“A comparison of transpiration and growth rates in high and low trichome rapid-cycling Wisconsin fast plants (Brassica rapa)”– Crystal Arnold and Liz Jagol
“The effects of global warming on prairie seed germination” – Tatiana Gracyk and Jennifer Hostetter
2005-2006
“A comparison of nitrogen-fixing species abundance on 3rd grade prairie restoration plots at the MSUM Regional Science Center” - Liz Jagol, Barbara Michel, Amber Haugen, Jennifer Hostetter, Jenny Neuberger, Tatiana Gracyk
“A comparison of morphological and genetic variation among four local populations of big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii)”- Cassandra Kramer, Crystal Arnold, Mariah Clements, Anil Bhatta
“Using gel electrophoresis to tell if corn chips are made from genetically modified corn” – Barbara Michel and Char Binstock
2004-2005
“A comparison of forb diversity in 3rd grade prairie restoration plots” - Liz Jagol and Shannon Odermann
“How does mycorrhizae affect the growth of prairie grass species?” – Elizabeth Caroline, Elizabeth McLain, Ondrea Row
2002-2003
Vian Abdulhakim, a life science teaching major, continued the mycorrhizae project and grew hundreds of plants that still need to be weighed and tested for presence of mycorrhizae.
Heather Rickerl, a life science teaching major, investigated the possibility of mosquitoes acting as pollinators in the tallgrass prairie. Mosquitoes were collected by Jen Hatton (a life science teaching major), counted and sexed by Heather Rickerl, and identified to species by Luke Oradnick, who worked at the Cass County Mosquito Control in the summer of 2003.
2001-2002
Alicia Gulbranson, a life science teaching major, worked on growing leadplant seedlings with and without their associated N2-fixing bacteria.
Bethany Lundgren, a freshman biology major, did some work testing seed viability of older seeds and freshly collected seeds. Another freshman biology major, Ava-Gaye Simms, researched primary literature on the effects of mycorrhizae on prairie seedling establishment and designed a greenhouse experiment using sterilized (no mycorrhizae) and unsterilized prairie soil to grow prairie seedlings.
Christine Olson, a life science teaching major, helped count seedlings the third graders planted in the restoration plot in the summer.
2000-2001
Susan Sorenson studied how planting depth affects germination rates of prairie seeds. Tanya Becker studied how pot size affects seedlings growth rates. Holly Triska studied how temperature affects seed germination.
Susan, Holly, Cortnee Dronen, and Vian Abdulhakim spent many hours during the summer keeping track of the survival of over 1000 prairie seedlings planted by Moorhead third graders in a large prairie restoration plot.