Award Date

12-15-2025

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Educational Psychology, Leadership, and Higher Education

First Committee Member

Jonathan Hilpert

Second Committee Member

Gwen Marchand

Third Committee Member

Lisa Bendixen

Fourth Committee Member

Emma Bloomfield

Number of Pages

216

Abstract

This research explores early college science majors’ conceptions of the Mojave Desert ecosystem as a complex system. A multi-level, explanatory sequential mixed methods design was employed to study college science majors’ understanding of the Mojave Desert ecosystem to better inform science pedagogy. The first level, the quantitative phase of the study, consisted of developing a mathematical representation of twelve ecosystem variables present within the Mojave Desert. The second level, the qualitative phase of the study, consisted of phenomenological semi-structured interviews with 23 early college science majors. The findings of this research suggest that the Mojave Desert operates as a complex, adaptive ecological system with non-linear, dynamic, hierarchical, and emergent properties. Students’ understanding surrounding these complex system phenomena ranged from novice to adept; findings included students’ tendency to focus on causal connections between variables, anthropogenic impact on the Mojave Desert, and understanding ecosystem hierarchies as expressed through food chains and energy transfer. This work has implications for K-12 science education and knowledge construction about complex systems.

Keywords

Alternative conceptions; Complex systems; Ecological systems; Mixed methods; Mojave Desert; Science learning

Disciplines

Educational Psychology | Environmental Sciences | Systems Science | Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology

File Format

PDF

File Size

4000 KB

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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