Finding the Feedback Loop in the Field

"Feedback Loops in the Field" is a set of field-based activities that are easy to deploy. Students are given the chance to connect the feedback loops that are introduced in the classroom to phenomena they observe in the field.

Why do we care about Feedback Loops?

The inclusion of feedback loops in Earth science education has deepened students' understanding of the interconnectedness of the world around them. No longer focused solely on linear models, feedback loops introduce nuance and connection, challenging learners to dig into the dynamism that is geoscience and give students a sense of the complexity of Earth Systems. By formally including feedback loops into the curriculum, students associate specific meanings and examples with the formerly vague ideas of growth and decay, boom and bust, snowballing, and regulation. Importantly, students can assess the parts of a system to more thoroughly understand the whole, as well as make well-informed interventions that can alter the outcome of a feedback loop (Meadows, 2008). Feedback loops are taught in a variety of ways: from simple textbook readings and lectures to in-class activities or lab exercises. Most approaches include some aspect of diagramming to visually depict the feedback loop. However, feedback loops are often abstract and general, and often not connected to specific events in a student's experience when learning is limited to taking place in the classroom. To address this distance between the learner and the loop, we developed "Feedback Loops in the Field", an easily deployable field-based activity that helps students connect their classroom learning about feedback loops to real-world phenomena observable in the field.

What is "Feedback Loops in the Field" and why should you use it?

Students who complete "Feedback Loops in the Field" (FLF) will have an opportunity to learn about and identify feedback loops outside the classroom, specifically in a relevant field setting. There are multiple positive outcomes to this approach. First, students find feedback loops with atypical prompting, i.e., field observations, that can challenge their understanding. Second, the activity pushes the learner's understanding of both course-specific content and feedback loops in general.

FLF is a four-part activity that can be used in any course that teaches about feedback loops, although it is best suited for upper-level classes with students who have previous exposure to feedback loops. The field setting is flexible, and while the ideal site depends on the course content, the field component could be done on campus or within walking distance. The field site needn't be of particular geologic significance for the requested observations to be made.

Part 1 of FLF is a pre-test that assesses prior knowledge and provides a baseline that serves as a point of comparison when the activity is completed. In part two, students work independently to review a brief explanation of feedback loops, why they are important, and are provided with recommendations for diagramming loops. Part 3 is the active and cooperative learning phase, as students survey a field site in pairs, identify two feedback loops, and then name and describe those loops either in words or as a diagram, and determine if the loops are positive or negative feedback loops (Figure 1).

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Figure 1. An example of a student-identified positive feedback loop showing how investments into parks and other amenities result in gentrification along a riverside, and how gentrification leads to greater investments into greening of communities.

Finally, in part 4 of the activity, students reflect on their understanding of feedback loops and the activity itself. Students reflect on how they might change their pre-test answers, consider whether positive or negative loops might be easier/harder to identify, share why they chose the loops that they highlighted, and describe how feedback loops are important in their course's area of study.

FLF has great potential because it is easy to utilize, has a modular structure, and provides a new opportunity for students to learn about feedback loops in a less traditional setting. The activity requires minimal instructor guidance. Much of part 2, the independent learning component, can be completed prior to class. During part 3, students work in pairs, needing little support. Part 4, the reflection component, can occur in an online discussion format if desired. Being in the field, simply changing the learning setting, can help the students take new approaches to familiar topics and anchor this topic in their memory (e.g. Behrendt and Franklin, 2014; Jones and Washko, 2022).

Student Outcomes

In the activity, students will:

• Practice and improve their observation skills
• Apply and identify newly learned course material
• Create and describe feedback loops based on their independent observations and findings
• Reflect on their feedback loops learning and how loops are relevant to their personal area of study

Educator Opportunities

• Educators will determine students' prior knowledge regarding feedback loops before starting the activity with a pre-test and compare this with student performance and their post-activity reflections.
• This activity can serve as a relatively affordable and easy to lead field trip.
• Educators can gauge whether students understand course content well enough to independently identify relevant feedback loops in the field.

What did we learn?

We developed and tested this activity for upper-level electives (3000 level) in the Barnard College Environmental Science department. Barnard College is a small, all-women's liberal arts college, though students from Columbia University cross-enroll in courses. The activity was utilized in the Urban Ecosystems course, with enrollment dominated by those majoring in Environmental Science, Environment and Sustainability, and Urban Studies. Riverside Park in New York City was chosen as the field site, a 5-minute walk from campus.

Students were receptive to FLF and enjoyed being outside while learning about feedback loops. While the activity itself is scaffolded, we recommend only using this activity in smaller courses with students who can remain focused in the field and bring prior knowledge of feedback loops into the class.

A common concern that educators have is that students will confuse positive feedback loops with feedback loops that generate positive (desirable) outcomes. During the pre-test, students were asked to write their definition of a feedback loop, and those who chose to include positive and negative loop delineations did not associate them with "good" or "bad" outcomes. However, not all students gave such a detailed definition, given that the question was quite broad. Students said that if they were to amend their pre-test definitions that they would add more nuance and detail, such as including the general impacts of positive and negative feedback loops on Earth's systems.

In examining the loops that students described in part three of FLF, there were no completely wrong loops. However, there were occasional jumps in logic. Students reflected that their confidence in identifying loops increased, but more so for positive than negative loops. Students consistently said that negative loops were more challenging to identify. That being said, students who said that negative loops were hard to find were still able to effectively identify and describe negative loops based on their observations. For example, stating that when temperature rises, photosynthesis increases and atmospheric CO₂ decreases, leading to a reduction in temperature, i.e. stabilization of the initial perturbation in the loop.

Finally, one obstacle that about half of the students noted was the issue of timescales. Students said that they were uncertain whether they were able to observe the entire loop while out in the field; therefore, they were concerned that they were missing components in their loops. This issue was not surprising. Kastens and Manduca (2012) evaluated the challenge of timescale when they described certain systems as being either active and observable, active but too slow to observe, or the product of a prior process that is no longer visible. The obstacle of timescale cannot be removed, but these three scenarios can be explicitly discussed with students before field observation if desired.

To summarize, in our experience students improved their understanding of feedback loops, showed that they were able to apply content knowledge in generating their own feedback loops from field observations, and developed a greater appreciation for the challenge of identifying the negative feedback loops that balance our earth system. Students enjoyed being in the field for this brief activity, which provided an appreciated respite from traditional classroom learning.

More details regarding the activity "Feedback Loops in the Field," including Teaching Notes and Tips as well as a downloadable version of the activity, can be found on the SERC website. The creation of the Feedback Loops in the Field activity was informed by our research project: Infusing feedback loop thinking into instruction across natural and social sciences (NSF Award Number: 2141982). Other activities developed through this research, including causal loop diagrams, mutual alignment, and extracting feedback loops from readings, can be accessed on our dedicated Fostering Feedback Loop Thinking page.

References

Behrendt, M. and Franklin, T. (2014), A Review of Research on School Field Trips and Their Value in Education, International Journal of Environmental and Science Education, 9, 235-245.

Jones, J. C., and Washko, S (2022), More than fun in the sun: The pedagogy of field trips improves student learning in higher education, Journal of Geoscience Education, 70(3), 292-305.

Kastens, K. and Manduca, C. (2012), "Mapping the domain of time in the geosciences", Earth and Mind II: A Synthesis of Research on Thinking and Learning in the Geosciences, Kim A. Kastens, Cathryn A. Manduca

Meadows, D. H. (2008), Thinking in Systems: A Primer, White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing