How do Middle School Students Make Decisions about Socioscientific Issues related to Water, Carbon and Biodiversity?

This study investigates how middle school students make hypothetical purchasing, consuming, and voting decisions about water, carbon and biodiversity issues, a critical component of environmental literacy.  Fifty-three students first defined evidence.  Students were then given a packet containing multiple forms of evidence and interviewed about how they would vote on issues related to water, biodiversity and carbon.  Students responded to questions about what factors influence their decisions about Bottled Water, a Water Bond, a Power Plant, Forest Thinning and Beach Grooming.  Results provided insights about if and how students use evidence to make decisions and what other factors may affect students' decisions: emotional attachment (e.g., how much they care about a topic) and the amount parents/teachers talk about topics.  We investigated whether holding a strong opinion about something affects the likelihood of changing decisions with additional data.  The focus of this poster is on findings about students’ use of evidence and other factors that affect their decision-making about these socioscientific issues.