Faculty perspectives on integration in the context of the Four‐Dimensional Ecology Education Framework

Abstract

Science education reform in the United States is shifting toward multidimensional learning as a means to prepare students to tackle authentic scientific challenges. In ecology, the Four‐Dimensional Ecology Education (4DEE) Framework aims to equip students to address complex ecological challenges, such as biodiversity loss in the Anthropocene and beyond. 4DEE emphasizes engaging students in ecological practices as well as concepts, and the bidirectional interactions of humans and the environment. A key component of the 4DEE framework is integration of dimensions, where students engage in scientific practices as tools for constructing conceptual knowledge, and to use their conceptual knowledge to provide meaning and purpose to scientific practices. Despite the potential of 4DEE‐aligned integrated teaching to transform how ecology is taught, instructor engagement has been slow. To explore ecology instructors' perspectives on 4DEE‐aligned integrated teaching, we investigated how instructors define and describe integration of the 4DEE dimensions in their teaching and how they evaluate assessment questions using 4DEE. We also explored how participation in a 4DEE‐focused faculty mentoring network (FMN) influenced instructors' perspectives. We qualitatively analyzed semi‐structured interviews with 10 instructors who participated in a 4DEE FMN and 10 who did not. Through thematic analysis, we identified four 4DEE Integration Definition Types that varied from highly aligned to unaligned with the science education literature. Instructors with highly aligned definitions drew on their ecology disciplinary expertise in their teaching. They expressed learning goals for their students to engage with ecology in a similar fashion as professional ecologists, in which dimensions are used to inform each other. We found that many instructors viewed 4DEE integration in assessment questions along a continuum rather than as a clear distinction between integrated and non‐integrated questions, with some not recognizing the presence of an ecological practice in the assessment question. Instructors who had participated in a 4DEE‐focused FMN appeared more likely to identify ecological practices in assessments and to include them at the lesson level, though we did not observe other clear differences. We suggest recommendations for professional development that can support ecology instructors in developing knowledge and skills for 4DEE‐aligned instruction and assessment.