The Next Generation Science Standards call for science teachers to integrate engineering into science instruction. Many teachers address this using integrated STEM units built around engineering design challenges. An important challenge in these units is making sure that students draw meaningful connections between their science learning and the engineering design challenges. In this talk, I will share a framework for evidence-based reasoning, based on the claim-evidence-reasoning framework, that I use to support students in explaining how their engineering design decisions are supported by their science learning. I will also share research on integrated STEM instruction that informed the design of this framework as well as how I apply it in my classroom. When using this framework, I have found students see the engineering design challenges as a meaningful opportunity to apply their science learning.

Evidence-Based Reasoning for Integrated STEM

The purpose of this study is to explore the Generation Y (Gen Y) segment’s understanding of green hotels in Singapore. The study concentrates on the preferences of green hotel attributes and evaluates guests’ willingness to pay a premium to stay in green hotels. The hotel industry’s main purpose is to deliver comfortable services/supplies (e.g. hot water, food, drinks, linens, and swimming pool). In the process, there is excessive consumption of water, energy, non-recyclable, goods, and natural resources, thus directly or indirectly harming the environment (Han et al., 2011). Among all generational segments, Gen Y comprises more than 25 percent of the world’s population (Bilgihan et al., 2013). Millennial individuals born between 1979 and 1994 are classified as Generation Y, aged between 24 and 39 (Talbott, 2012). Gen Y is the segment with strong views about environmental issues (Jang, Kim & Bonn, 2011). Many companies are focusing on Gen Y individuals and converting them to potential consumers due to their significant purchasing power (Parment, 2013). They use social media and are well-versed with the internet by uploading content frequently (Bolton, et al., 2013).

The study employed a qualitative approach by using purposeful sampling to select ten participants for semi-structured interviews. This study shows that Gen Y’s willingness to stay in a hotel is highly related to location and price. It delves more in-depth to provide recommendations to hotels on improving their green initiatives and marketing strategies. The result of this study also shows that guests were accepting of paying slightly more for green attributes.

Gen Y’s preferences and willingness to pay towards green attributes hotels

**Abstract:**

Seabirds are apex predators in the marine environment and well-known ecosystem engineers, capable of changing their habitats by introducing marine-derived nutrients via the deposition of their guano and other allochthonous inputs. However, with the health of the world's oceans under threat due to anthropogenic pressures such as organic, inorganic, and physical pollutants, seabirds are also introducing such pollutants to their breeding and roosting grounds. Here, we examine how the Flesh-footed Shearwater (Ardenna carneipes) has inadvertently introduced physical pollutants to their colonies on Lord Howe Island, a UNESCO World Heritage site in the Tasman Sea and their largest breeding colony, through a mix of bolus deposition and carcasses containing plastic debris. The density of plastics within the shearwater colonies ranged between 1.32 and 3.66 pieces/m2 (mean ± SE: 2.18 ± 0.32), and a total of 688,480 (95% CI: 582,409e800,877) pieces are deposited on the island each year. Our research demonstrates that seabirds are a transfer mechanism for marine-derived plastics, reintroducing items back into the terrestrial environment, thus making seabird colonies a sink for plastic debris. This phenomenon is likely occurring in seabird colonies across the globe and will increase in severity as global plastic production and marine plastic pollution accelerates without adequate mitigation strategies.

**Authors:**

Megan Grant¹, Jennifer Lavers¹, Ian Hutton², Alexander Bond³

¹University of Tasmania, ²Lord Howe Island Museum, ³Natural History Museum

Seabird colonies are a minor sink for plastics

**Abstract:**

Light pollution, and the potential risks it poses to all living things, is emerging as an issue of concern worldwide. In Australia, the draft National Light Pollution Guidelines for Wildlife aims to provide theoretical, technical and practical information required to assess if a lighting project is likely to affect wildlife and outline potential management tools to minimise and mitigate that affect. Offshore oil and gas facilities present a year-round source of artificial light at sea, potentially disrupting critical behaviours in both nocturnal and diurnal wildlife, including birds. Negative responses of birds to artificial light may include collision, entrapment, stranding, grounding, disorientation or interference with navigation, potentially resulting in reduced fitness, injury and/or death. However, the degree of impact can vary between species, depending on their habitat use and adaptations, and within species, depending on the life stage of the individual and the behaviour being undertaken at the time. Birds, like most vertebrates, have an eye that is well adapted to see colour. However, adaptation of sensitivity to different wavelengths can vary between species. We present a case study applying the draft Light Pollution Guidelines to develop an impact assessment that considered the conservation status, distribution, habitat use and relative density of species in the region, with reported interactions with artificial light at sea, to determine the vulnerability of different seabird species to the proposed facility. By applying knowledge of light type and wavelength sensitivity of the most vulnerable species, we were able to develop project-specific best practice lighting design guidance outlining mitigation measures to be implemented during both design and operation of the facility that are tailored to the location for maximum benefit.

**Authors:**

Annabel Knipe¹, Kellie Pendoley¹

¹Pendoley Environmental

Applying the Australian National Light Pollution Guidelines for Wildlife to develop best practice lighting design guidance for a proposed offshore oil and gas facility

**Abstract:**

Mercury is a toxic, bioaccumulating trace metal whose emissions have recently been increasing and impacting even remote environments. Seabirds integrate bio-accumulative mercury via food intake. This is mainly deposited during the molting period in which the feathers are replaced annually, and the concentrations reflect the uptake and storage of mercury between molts. Here, we examine variation in marine mercury concentrations in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, by using seabirds' feathers. We collected primary, rectrix and breast feathers from three auk species with similar body masses (Rhinoceros Auklets Cerorhinca monocerata, Tufted Puffins Fratercula cirrhata, Atlantic Puffins Fratercula arctica) each may be subjected to different levels of mercury emissions in the Pacific (Middleton Island, USA; Teuri Island, Japan) and Atlantic (Skomer Island, UK), and tracked birds with light-level geolocators to obtain information about their non-breeding habitat. We measured mercury concentrations, then compared these concentrations with the birds' distribution obtained by geolocators, to test mercury contamination at individual levels. We discuss potential factors affecting the levels of mercury concentration among different species and locations.

**Authors:**

Chinatsu Nakajima¹, Kyle Elliott², Scott Hatch³, Shannon Whelan², Annette Fayet⁴, Yasuaki Niizuma⁵, Jumpei Okado⁶, Akiko Shoji¹

¹University of Tsukuba, ²McGill University, ³Institute for Seabird Research and Monitoring, ⁴Oxford University, ⁵Meijo University, ⁶Hokkaido University

Mercury contaminations and at-sea areas of three auk species, breeding across the Pacific and Atlantic oceans

**Abstract:**

The Black-winged Petrel Pterodroma nigripennis established populations on Phillip Island off Norfolk Island, and the main island of the Lord Howe Island group, both in the South East Pacific, at approximately the same time in the late 1960s. Phillip Island is a degraded 190 ha landscape recovering from 200 years of browsing feral mammals. Lord Howe Island is a 1400 ha island which, until recently, was impacted by rodents. We monitored both colonies in recent years to examine the impacts of rodents on the Lord Howe Island population. Black-winged petrel populations were estimated, breeding success was determined by direct observation, foraging ranges were established using Global Location Sensors and the impacts of rodents on the seabirds was captured by surveillance cameras. Fifty years after establishment, population size differed by an order of magnitude between the two islands. Breeding success (eggs producing near-fledged chicks) was 50% on Phillip Island but only 3% on Lord Howe Island in areas baited for rodents and 0% in the absence of rodent control. Black rats Rattus rattus were seen to take eggs from nests under active incubation and solitary chicks aged up to approximately six weeks. There was substantial overlap in foraging ranges of breeding adults from both islands, even though their breeding sites are 900 km apart. So, while rat predation could not be confirmed as the sole cause of breeding loss, difference in foraging areas was not a contributory factor either. While breeding success is recovering on Lord Howe Island after rodent removal, the population will take decades before it reaches the levels currently experienced on Phillip Island.

**Authors:**

Terry O'Dwyer¹, Lisa O'Neill¹, Luke Halpin², Nicholas Carlile¹

¹NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment, ²Monash University

The impact of black rats on the Black-winged petrel Pterodroma nigripennis: A tale of two islands

**Abstract:**

On leeward Haleakalā, Maui Nui Seabird Recovery Project and Auwahi Wind Project of AEP Energy Partners monitor endangered ʻUaʻu (Pterodroma sandwichensis, Hawaiian petrel), and collaborate to control predators in adjacent management areas. Together these sites form a buffer for the greater ʻUaʻu colony within Haleakalā National Park. Since monitoring began, the number of active burrows and reproductive success rates have increased. We present predator activity data and control efforts over 8 years of management. Although predator abundance is locally low, feral cats (Felis catus) and small Indian mongoose (Herpestes auropunctatus) freely traverse the landscape and target ʻUaʻu burrows. We suggest that the current approach of intensive predator control near nesting sites is marginally effective due to behavioral patterns and large home ranges of the predators. Predator activity is assessed through standardized surveys, and by monitoring game camera data from ʻUaʻu burrows. Traps are maintained near areas of high burrow density, and are deployed in response to predator activity on cameras. Despite successful trapping efforts, predators persist, and predation rates (depredated/breeding burrows; annual mean 20%) remain largely unchanged. We show that adopting new trapping technology and methodology can achieve improvements in capture rates; however, we expect the current, reactive strategy to remain limited to local and near-term predation suppression. In addition, budget and personnel are difficult to maintain as the colony continues to expand. A change toward a more landscape-level approach that addresses the behavioral ecology of the target species is needed to produce long-term and widespread effects.

**Authors:**

Martin Frye¹, Jennifer Learned¹, George Akau², Benjamin Campbell², Nuuanu Santos², Cecelia Frisinger¹, Jay Penniman¹

¹Maui Nui Seabird Recovery Project, ²Auwahi Wind Project

Underline digital video library

Evidence-Based Reasoning for Integrated STEM

Gen Y’s preferences and willingness to pay towards green attributes hotels

Seabird colonies are a minor sink for plastics

Applying the Australian National Light Pollution Guidelines for Wildlife to develop best practice lighting design guidance for a proposed offshore oil and gas facility

Mercury contaminations and at-sea areas of three auk species, breeding across the Pacific and Atlantic oceans

The impact of black rats on the Black-winged petrel Pterodroma nigripennis: A tale of two islands

Assessing the limitations of conventional predator control in Maui Nui: Re-envisioning the approach to protecting a unique seabird habitat

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