Making Socio-Ecological Relationships Visible: Qualitative Causal-Loop Diagrams in Preservice STEM Teacher Education

Ecology is the study of relationships among organisms, environments, and the processes that connect them, yet undergraduate ecology education often emphasizes mechanistic processes while underemphasizing the social, ethical, and historical dimensions of ecological systems. Justice-centered science education calls for ecological learning that engages place, culture, and relational responsibility within socio-ecological systems. This study examines the design and use of qualitative causal-loop diagrams (CLDs) in a place-based undergraduate ecology course for preservice elementary educators. Across four course enactments, 86 students engaged in field investigations, place-based inquiry, and qualitative systems modeling. Using grounded theory analysis of student reflections, discussion transcripts, modeling artifacts, and ArcGIS StoryMaps, we examined patterns of socio-ecological reasoning represented through CLDs. Students used CLDs to connect ecological processes across timescales, identify delayed and nonlinear feedback, situate governance and cultural practices within ecological systems, and represent more-than-human entities as active participants in relational networks. A case focused on Pacific salmon and the Boldt Decision illustrates how CLDs made visible connections among watershed processes, treaty rights, Indigenous sovereignty, restoration, and ethical decision-making. We argue that the contribution lies in justice-centered modeling scaffolds that integrate human and more-than-human actors, histories, governance, cultural practices, and multiple timescales within systems representations.