COS 103-1 - NEON in the classroom: a systematic review of what and how NEON data are used to promote ecological literacy

Abstract: For nearly twenty years, the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) has been noted for its transformational potential in promoting ecological literacy in undergraduate classrooms. Despite this, many of NEON’s data products are incomplete, making it challenging for instructors to integrate NEON data into their lessons or even create their own lessons using the open-access data. Furthermore, there remains a limited number of faculty with data-science skills who can access and manipulate the data. While NEON data presents an opportunity to reshape ecological curriculum, there has yet to be a synthesis and critical reflection of how the data are used in ecology classrooms.
To address this, we conducted a systematic review of all published lesson plans and teaching modules that claimed to use NEON data. Within this review, we documented what and how NEON data were being used, what ecological principles and scientific practices were applied, what grade-level the lessons were designed for, and what learning objectives were used to quantify student achievement. Additionally, we evaluated the extent to which data gaps may limit the pedagogical experience.
Our search resulted in 35 lesson plans of which 16 were adaptations of already published lessons. These adaptations were often modified to include more locally relevant data or were adjusted to fit different learning environments (I.e., in-person/hybrid/online or lecture/lab). Nearly 1/3 of all lessons did not actually use NEON data but instead followed a NEON sampling protocol, mentioned an interest in using the data when it became fully available, or were adapted such that data from other resources were used. A diversity of taxa was represented across the 35 lessons, including use of data from angiosperms and gymnosperms, fungi, birds, small mammals, and insects. The focus of these datasets ranged from community structure and function to mutualistic networks to impacts of natural disturbances. All lesson plans incorporated quantitative reasoning and science inquiry skills, such as developing and testing hypotheses. Due to the data-driven nature of these lessons, all but one was developed for use in undergraduate classrooms. For the completeness of data, we found mixed results across sites in a variety of metrics that are core to NEONs potential.
This review has revealed that despite the challenges of data gaps and skills, instructors have successfully implemented data-intensive ecological curriculum. Our results can be used as a guide for future lesson-planning to continue offering learning experiences for a diversity of NEON datasets.