Climate Change Education Roundtable: A Coherent National Strategy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Storksdieck, M.; Feder, M.; Climate Change Education Roundtable

2010-12-01

The Climate Change Education (CCE) Roundtable fosters ongoing discussion of the challenges to and strategies for improving public understanding of climate science and climate change among federal agencies, the business community, non-profit, and academic sectors. The CCE Roundtable is provides a critical mechanism for developing a coherent, national strategy to advance climate change education guided by the best available research evidence. Through its meetings and workshops, the roundtable brings together 30 federal and state policymakers, educators, communications and media experts, and members from the business and scientific community. The roundtable includes a number of ex officio members from federal agencies with dedicated interests in climate change education, including officials from the National Science Foundation’s EHR Directorate and its collaborating partner divisions, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Department of Interior, the Department of Energy, and the Department of Education. The issues that are addressed by the roundtable include: - ways to incorporate knowledge about learning and understanding in developing informative programs and materials for decision-makers who must cope with climate change - the design of educational programs for professionals such as local planners, water managers, and the like, to enable them to better understand the implications of climate change for their decisions - development of training programs for scientists to help them become better communicators to decision-makers about implications of, and solutions to climate change - coordinated and collaborative efforts at the national level between federal agencies and other stakeholders This presenation will describe how the roundtable is fostering a coherent direction for climate change education.

Challenges and Possibilities in Climate Change Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pruneau,, Diane; Khattabi, Abdellatif; Demers, Melanie

2010-01-01

Educating and communicating about climate change is challenging. Researchers reported that climate change concepts are often misunderstood. Some people do not believe that climate change will have impacts on their own life. Other challenges may include people's difficulty in perceiving small or gradual environmental changes, the fact that…

Teaching About Climate Change in Medical Education: An Opportunity

PubMed Central

Maxwell, Janie; Blashki, Grant

2016-01-01

Climate change threatens many of the gains in development and health over the last century. However, it could also be a catalyst for a necessary societal transformation to a sustainable and healthy future. Doctors have a crucial role in climate change mitigation and health system adaptation to prepare for emergent health threats and a carbon-constrained future. This paper argues that climate change should be integrated into medical education for three reasons: first, to prepare students for clinical practice in a climate-changing world; secondly, to promote public health and eco-health literacy; and finally, to deepen existing learning and strengthen graduate attributes. This paper builds on existing literature and the authors’ experience to outline potential learning objectives, teaching methods and assessment tasks. In the wake of recent progress at the United Nations climate change conference, COP-21, it is hoped that this paper will assist universities to integrate teaching about climate change into medical education. Significance for public health There is a strong case for teaching about climate change in medical education. Anthropogenic climate change is accepted by scientists, governments and health authorities internationally. Given the dire implications for human health, climate change is of fundamental relevance to future doctors. Integrating climate change into medical education offers an opportunity for future doctors to develop skills and insights essential for clinical practice and a public health role in a climate-changing world. This echoes a broader call for improved public health literacy among medical graduates. This paper provides medical schools with a rationale and an outline for teaching on climate change. PMID:27190980

Teaching About Climate Change in Medical Education: An Opportunity.

PubMed

Maxwell, Janie; Blashki, Grant

2016-04-26

Climate change threatens many of the gains in development and health over the last century. However, it could also be a catalyst for a necessary societal transformation to a sustainable and healthy future. Doctors have a crucial role in climate change mitigation and health system adaptation to prepare for emergent health threats and a carbon-constrained future. This paper argues that climate change should be integrated into medical education for three reasons: first, to prepare students for clinical practice in a climate-changing world; secondly, to promote public health and eco-health literacy; and finally, to deepen existing learning and strengthen graduate attributes. This paper builds on existing literature and the authors' experience to outline potential learning objectives, teaching methods and assessment tasks. In the wake of recent progress at the United Nations climate change conference, COP-21, it is hoped that this paper will assist universities to integrate teaching about climate change into medical education. Significance for public healthThere is a strong case for teaching about climate change in medical education. Anthropogenic climate change is accepted by scientists, governments and health authorities internationally. Given the dire implications for human health, climate change is of fundamental relevance to future doctors. Integrating climate change into medical education offers an opportunity for future doctors to develop skills and insights essential for clinical practice and a public health role in a climate-changing world. This echoes a broader call for improved public health literacy among medical graduates. This paper provides medical schools with a rationale and an outline for teaching on climate change.

Balancing the Tensions and Meeting the Conceptual Challenges of Education for Sustainable Development and Climate Change

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blum, Nicole; Nazir, Joanne; Breiting, Soren; Goh, Kim Chuan; Pedretti, Erminia

2013-01-01

This paper addresses one of the key challenges for work on education, sustainable development and climate change: the overall conceptualisation of central ideas such as Environmental Education (EE), Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and Climate Change Education (CCE). What do these concepts mean in diverse contexts and amongst diverse…

Taming Typhon: Advancing Climate Literacy by Coordinating Federal Earth System Science Education Investments Through the U.S. Climate Change Science Program

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karsten, J. L.; Niepold, F.; Wei, M.; Waple, A. M.

2008-12-01

Thirteen Federal agencies in the United States invest in research, communication, and education activities related to climate and global change. The U.S. Climate Change Science Program (CCSP) works to integrate the research activities of these different agencies, with oversight from the Office of Science and Technology Policy, the Council on Environmental Quality, the National Economic Council and the Office of Management and Budget. The CCSP is the result of a Presidential initative in 2001 to build on the Global Change Research Program, which exists as a result of the Global Change Research Act of 1990. This initiative was to shift the focus of the Program from 'discovery and characterization' to 'differentiation and strategy investigation.' With this shift, CCSP's focus is now on evaluating optimal strategies for addressing climate change risks, improving coordination among the Federal agencies, communicating research results to all stakeholders (including national policy leaders and local resource managers), and improving public debate and decision-making related to global change. Implicit to these activities is the need to educate the general public about the science of climate change and its consequences, as well as coordinate Federal investments related to climate change education. This is no small task, given the variety of missions and approaches of the participating agencies. Recognizing that its Communications Interagency Working Group (CIWG) does not have the expertise or focus to adequately address issues related to science education, the CCSP recently established an ad-hoc Education Interagency Working Group (EIWG), comprising representatives from all 13 agencies, that will work closely with the CIWG to enhance education goals. Its mission is to advance literacy in climate and related sciences and increase informed decision making for the Nation. The EIWG envisions that its primary activities in the near-term will be focused on establishing: (1) a consensus framework to define climate literacy; (2) a protocol and process for vetting, reviewing, and assuring scientific quality of educational materials related to climate change; (3) a Federal network of professionals who can share, access, and identify complementary educational materials; (4) a suite of evaluation tools to gauge effectiveness of interagency programs related to climate change education; (5) a clearinghouse or central repository of climate change education resources and expertise; and (6) professional development resources for educators seeking to improve their understanding of climate change and related Earth system science principles.

Sustained Large-Scale Collective Climate Action Supported by Effective Climate Change Education Practice

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Niepold, F., III; Crim, H.; Fiorile, G.; Eldadah, S.

2017-12-01

Since 2012, the Climate and Energy Literacy community have realized that as cities, nations and the international community seek solutions to global climate change over the coming decades, a more comprehensive, interdisciplinary approach to climate literacy—one that includes economic and social considerations—will play a vital role in knowledgeable planning, decision-making, and governance. City, county and state leaders are now leading the American response to a changing climate by incubating social innovation to prevail in the face of unprecedented change. Cities are beginning to realize the importance of critical investments to support the policies and strategies that will foster the climate literacy necessary for citizens to understand the urgency of climate actions and to succeed in a resilient post-carbon economy and develop the related workforce. Over decade of federal and non-profit Climate Change Education effective methods have been developed that can support municipality's significant educational capabilities for the purpose of strengthening and scaling city, state, business, and education actions designed to sustain and effectively address this significant social change. Looking to foster the effective and innovative strategies that will enable their communities several networks have collaborated to identify recommendations for effective education and communication practices when working with different types of audiences. U.S. National Science Foundation funded Climate Change Education Partnership (CCEP) Alliance, the National Wildlife Federation, NOAA Climate Program Office, Tri-Agency Climate Change Education Collaborative and the Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network (CLEAN) are working to develop a new web portal that will highlight "effective" practices that includes the acquisition and use of climate change knowledge to inform decision-making. The purpose of the web portal is to transfer effective practice to support communities to be empowered to address the challenges of a new climate reality and ensure that all people are capable of taking an active role in shaping a sustainable future.

Forest Owners' Response to Climate Change: University Education Trumps Value Profile.

PubMed

Blennow, Kristina; Persson, Johannes; Persson, Erik; Hanewinkel, Marc

2016-01-01

Do forest owners' levels of education or value profiles explain their responses to climate change? The cultural cognition thesis (CCT) has cast serious doubt on the familiar and often criticized "knowledge deficit" model, which says that laypeople are less concerned about climate change because they lack scientific knowledge. Advocates of CCT maintain that citizens with the highest degrees of scientific literacy and numeracy are not the most concerned about climate change. Rather, this is the group in which cultural polarization is greatest, and thus individuals with more limited scientific literacy and numeracy are more concerned about climate change under certain circumstances than those with higher scientific literacy and numeracy. The CCT predicts that cultural and other values will trump the positive effects of education on some forest owners' attitudes to climate change. Here, using survey data collected in 2010 from 766 private forest owners in Sweden and Germany, we provide the first evidence that perceptions of climate change risk are uncorrelated with, or sometimes positively correlated with, education level and can be explained without reference to cultural or other values. We conclude that the recent claim that advanced scientific literacy and numeracy polarizes perceptions of climate change risk is unsupported by the forest owner data. In neither of the two countries was university education found to reduce the perception of risk from climate change. Indeed in most cases university education increased the perception of risk. Even more importantly, the effect of university education was not dependent on the individuals' value profile.

U.S. Federal Investments in Climate Change Education: They're Warming Up! (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karsten, J. L.; Niepold, F.; Wei, M.; Usgcrp Education Interagency Working Group

2010-12-01

Many similarities exist between the U.S. federal government and the climate system, in terms of their complexity. Government operates through a dynamic interplay of sub-systems (different agencies), pressure gradients (political interests), energy transformations (converting dollars into activity through Congressional appropriations, grants and contracts), and non-linear positive and negative feedback mechanisms (MOU’s, competing agency missions). ‘Viscosity’ in the system makes progress difficult. The good news is that, like the climate, federal investments in climate change education are heating up, due to man-made inputs. Individual agency investments in projects to improve and monitor public understanding of climate change and its impacts are rapidly becoming more coupled and coherent. This paper will discuss several efforts now underway. In FY 2009, dedicated, multi-million dollar funding led to creation of NSF’s Climate Change Education (CCE) and NASA’s Global Climate Change Education (GCCE) grant programs, which are funding a projects to develop pedagogically-sound learning resources, professional development strategies, tool kits, and web-based clearinghouses offering scientifically accurate information about climate change to different learner audiences. NOAA has been able to firmly establish their Environmental Literacy Grant (ELG) program because of the America COMPETES Act. Related programs are being developed within the EPA and USDA’s NIFA and U.S. Forest Service. Several other agencies have revamped their strategic plans to increase focus on communicating with and educating teachers, students, policymakers, and the general public about climate change, adaptation, and mitigation issues. To foster larger networks of scientists and educators, minimize duplication, and encourage synergy and scale-up, NSF, NOAA, and NASA have initiated joint meetings of their CCE, GCCE, and ELG Principal Investigators and shared evaluations. Additional cross-agency linkages are being encouraged through NSF’s new Climate Change Education Partnership (CCEP) program, which launched 15 Phase I Partnerships focused around specific geographic regions or scientific themes unified by common climate change impacts. When fully implemented in Phase II, CCEP expects to increase the adoption of high quality educational resources and their impact on public climate literacy. Phase I strategic planning efforts will identify and engage relevant stakeholders, inventory existing climate change education resources for that theme or region, conduct a needs analysis, and develop a robust strategic plan for implementation in Phase II. The U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) is the primary organizational structure through which the 13 federal agencies that conduct climate-related research, education, and outreach are coordinating their efforts. The Climate Literacy framework is one example of the constructive collaboration that has been achieved through the USGCRP Education Interagency Working Group. Additional efforts are being planned through a new Interagency Climate Communication and Education Task Force.

An innovative approach to undergraduate climate change education: Sustainability in the workplace

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Robinson, Z. P.

2009-04-01

Climate change and climate science are a core component of environment-related degree programmes, but there are many programmes, for example business studies, that have clear linkages to climate change and sustainability issues which often have no or limited coverage of the subject. Although an in-depth coverage of climate science is not directly applicable to all programmes of study, the subject of climate change is of great relevance to all of society. Graduates from the higher education system are often viewed as society's ‘future leaders', hence it can be argued that it is important that all graduates are conversant in the issues of climate change and strategies for moving towards a sustainable future. Rather than an in depth understanding of climate science it may be more important that a wider range of students are educated in strategies for positive action. One aspect of climate change education that may be missing, including in programmes where climate change is a core topic, is practical strategies, skills and knowledge for reducing our impact on the climate system. This presentation outlines an innovative approach to undergraduate climate change education which focuses on the strategies for moving towards sustainability, but which is supported by climate science understanding taught within this context. Students gain knowledge and understanding of the motivations and strategies for businesses to improve their environmental performance, and develop skills in identifying areas of environmental improvement and recommending actions for change. These skills will allow students to drive positive change in their future careers. Such courses are relevant to students of all disciplines and can give the opportunity to students for whom climate change education is not a core part of their programme, to gain greater understanding of the issues and an awareness of practical changes that can be made at all levels to move towards a more sustainable society.

Climate Change Challenges for Extension Educators: Technical Capacity and Cultural Attitudes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Becerra, Terrie A.; Middendorf, Gerad; Campbell, Amber; Tomlinson, Peter

2016-01-01

We surveyed Extension educators in the southern Great Plains about their attitudes and beliefs regarding climate change, their interactions with constituents surrounding climate change, and challenges they face in engaging constituents on the topic of climate change. Production-oriented and sociocultural challenges in meeting constituents'…

Climate change: what competencies and which medical education and training approaches?

PubMed

Bell, Erica J

2010-04-30

Much research has been devoted to identifying healthcare needs in a climate-changing world. However, while there are now global and national policy statements about the importance of health workforce development for climate change, little has been published about what competencies might be demanded of practitioners in a climate-changing world. In such a context, this debate and discussion paper aims to explore the nature of key competencies and related opportunities for teaching climate change in medical education and training. Particular emphasis is made on preparation for practice in rural and remote regions likely to be greatly affected by climate change. The paper describes what kinds of competencies for climate change might be included in medical education and training. It explores which curricula, teaching, learning and assessment approaches might be involved. Rather than arguing for major changes to medical education and training, this paper explores well established precedents to offer practical suggestions for where a particular kind of literacy--eco-medical literacy--and related competencies could be naturally integrated into existing elements of medical education and training. The health effects of climate change have, generally, not yet been integrated into medical education and training systems. However, the necessary competencies could be taught by building on existing models, best practice and innovative traditions in medicine. Even in crowded curricula, climate change offers an opportunity to reinforce and extend understandings of how interactions between people and place affect health.

Educating with Resilience in Mind: Addressing Climate Change in Post-Sandy New York City

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dubois, Bryce; E. Krasny, Marianne

2016-01-01

How educators adapt their programs following a climate related disturbance can provide insights into potential climate education practices. Therefore, we used semi-structured interviews to explore changes in environmental education practice in NYC following Hurricane Sandy. Educators adopted new language to reflect funding opportunities and…

Social controversy belongs in the climate science classroom

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Walsh, Elizabeth M.; Tsurusaki, Blakely K.

2014-04-01

Scientists, educators and stakeholders are grappling with how to best approach climate change education for diverse audiences, a task made difficult due to persistent social controversy. This Perspective examines how sociocultural learning theories can inform the design and implementation of climate change education experiences for learners with varied understandings of and attitudes towards climate change. The literature demonstrates that explicitly addressing learners' social and community experiences, values and knowledge supports understandings of and increased concern about climate change. Science learning environments that situate climate change in its social context can support conceptual understandings, shift attitudes and increase the participation of diverse communities in responding to climate change. Examples are provided of successful programmes that attend to social dimensions and learners' previous experiences, including experiences of social controversy.

Disconnects Between Audiences, Resources, and Initiatives: Key Findings of the Coastal Areas Climate Change Education Partnership

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Muller-Karger, F. E.; Ryan, J. G.; Feldman, A.; Gilbes, F.; Trotz, M.; McKayle, C.; Stone, D.; Plank, L.; Meisels, G.; Peterson, M.; Reynolds, C. J.

2012-12-01

The Coastal Areas Climate Change Education (CACCE) Partnership focused on defining a plan for effective education on climate change and its salient issues in coastal communities Florida and the US Caribbean territories. The approach included assessing perceptions and needs of stakeholders, evaluating the nature of available educational and information resources, and establishing a partnership that includes the public and professional organizations most relevant in planning and in addressing the resiliency of coastal communities. Information gathering activities included surveys among K-12 educators and students on climate change perceptions and current classroom activities in both Florida and the Caribbean territories; surveys of professional urban and land-use planners across Florida regarding their understanding of related in their professional practice; and conducting an inventory of relevant educational materials and information resources. Survey results showed a range of misperceptions about climate change, its causes and its likely impacts. At present, students and teachers in high and middle schools show poor understanding of climate science, and minimal time is spent in instruction on climate change in science courses in Florida and Puerto Rico schools. Also, there has to be professional development efforts and access to rich instructional content in a continuum spanning schools and professional communities including planners (which we surveyed). Architects and engineers are communities that also need to be surveyed and included in future efforts. A major obstacle to efforts at providing continuing education for planners and municipal officials is the lack of consensus on and access to regionally-specific scientific data regarding climate impacts and the relevant instructional content. It is difficult for professionals to prepare for climate change if they cannot define impacts in the Florida-Caribbean region and its coastal urban areas. Across over 1000 websites and online information resources on climate change reviewed for this project, less than a dozen items were identified that address climate change issues and impacts relevant to Florida and the US Caribbean Territories. This represents a serious issue for planners, who need to make effective arguments for climate adaptation strategies to the public and to public officials. These disconnects between stakeholder information and education needs, and available educational content and informational resources, is a significant obstacle to any future public education efforts on climate change in the US most vulnerable regions of the US.

Utilizing the NASA Data-enhanced Investigations for Climate Change Education Resource for Elementary Pre-service Teachers in a Technology Integration Education Course.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Howard, E. M.; Moore, T.; Hale, S. R.; Hayden, L. B.; Johnson, D.

2014-12-01

The preservice teachers enrolled in the EDUC 203 Introduction to Computer Instructional Technology course, primarily for elementary-level had created climate change educational lessons based upon their use of the NASA Data-enhanced Investigations for Climate Change Education (DICCE). NASA climate education datasets and tools were introduced to faculty of Minority Serving Institutions through a grant from the NASA Innovations in Climate Education program. These lessons were developed to study various ocean processes involving phytoplankton's chlorophyll production over time for specific geographic areas using the Giovanni NASA software tool. The pre-service teachers had designed the climate change content that will assist K-4 learners to identify and predict phytoplankton sources attributed to sea surface temperatures, nutrient levels, sunlight, and atmospheric carbon dioxide associated with annual chlorophyll production. From the EDUC 203 course content, the preservice teachers applied the three phases of the technology integration planning (TIP) model in developing their lessons. The Zunal website (http://www.zunal.com) served as a hypermedia tool for online instructional delivery in presenting the climate change content, the NASA climate datasets, and the visualization tools used for the production of elementary learning units. A rubric was developed to assess students' development of their webquests to meet the overall learning objectives and specific climate education objectives. Accompanying each webquest is a rubric with a defined table of criteria, for a teacher to assess students completing each of the required tasks for each lesson. Two primary challenges of technology integration for elementary pre-service teachers were 1) motivating pre-service teachers to be interested in climate education and 2) aligning elementary learning objectives with the Next Generation science standards of climate education that are non-existent in the Common Core State Standards.

Perceptions and Misconceptions Regarding Climate Change: Politics versus Education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gil, Elia O.

Climate change has been increasingly becoming a commonly debated topic among the public (Lambert & Bleicher, 2013). This is especially true with scientists and educators (Cooney, 2010). Terminology, politics, and misconceptions can bias perceptions. Scientists also tend to disagree over the cause of climate change and the data resulting from different studies (Idso, Carter, & Singer, 2016). The pilot study was conducted to examine perceptions of preservice teachers regarding climate change. There were forty participants, comprised of twenty Hispanic, nineteen Anglo American, and one African American, enrolled in a required course for future science educators in a medium-sized south Texas university. The pilot study included pre- and post-tests distributed to all of the participants and one on one interviews with three randomly selected pre-service teachers. The post-test results showed a significant difference in statements about the belief that climate change is real, about there being enough scientific evidence to prove the climate is changing, and the belief we are experiencing an extinction event due to climate change. While one lesson on climate change may not prove to be enough to change all of the participants' perceptions, there were some pre-service teachers who did begin to think differently about the impact of human activities and became more aware of climate change issues. The findings from this research show how beneficial a lesson on climate change can be to the future careers of science educators and in turn contribute considerably to the education of future students.

Climate change science education across schools, campuses, and centers: strategies and successes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Merrill, J.; Harcourt, P.; Rogers, M.; Buttram, J.; Petrone, C.; Veron, D. E.; Sezen-Barrie, A.; Stylinski, C.; Ozbay, G.

2016-02-01

With established partnerships in higher education, K-12, and informal science education communities across Delaware and Maryland, the NSF-funded MADE CLEAR project (Maryland Delaware Climate Change Education, Assessment, and Research) has instituted a suite of professional development strategies to bring climate change science into science education methods courses, K-12 classrooms, university lecture halls, and public park facilities. MADE CLEAR partners have provided consistent climate literacy topics (mechanisms, human contributions, local and global impacts, mitigation and adaptation) while meeting the unique needs of each professional community. In-person topical lectures, hands-on work with classroom materials, seed funding for development of new education kits, and on-line live and recorded sessions are some of the tools employed by the team to meet those needs and build enduring capacity for climate change science education. The scope of expertise of the MADE CLEAR team, with climate scientists, educators, learning scientists, and managers has provided not only PD tailored for each education audience, but has also created, fostered, and strengthened relationships across those audiences for long-term sustainability of the newly-built capacity. Specific examples include new climate change programs planned for implementation across Delaware State Parks that will be consistent with middle school curriculum; integration of climate change topics into science methods classes for pre-service teachers at four universities; and active K-12 and informal science education teams working to cooperatively develop lessons that apply informal science education techniques and formal education pedagogy. Evaluations by participants highlight the utility of personal connections, access to experts, mentoring and models for developing implementation plans.

Debunking Climate Change Myths in the College Classroom

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bedford, D. P.

2012-12-01

Research in sociology (e.g. Hamilton, 2011) and social psychology (e.g. Kahan et al., 2012) suggests that there is no basis to an assumption common among educators that higher education levels lead to more rational decision making. Indeed, there is growing evidence that views on climate change, for just one significant example, become more polarized at higher education levels, rather than converging on the scientific consensus. Some research points to improved facility at filtering information according to preconceptions at higher education levels as a possible explanation for this phenomenon. Misinformation about subjects that are perceived to be contentious, such as anthropogenic climate change, is therefore potentially easily accepted despite-- or even because of-- higher levels of education. Thus, explicitly addressing misinformation about climate change may be an important strategy for use in the classroom. Fortunately, misinformation provides a valuable opportunity to turn a challenging situation to educational advantage and, in effect, make lemonade out of lemons. This presentation provides a case study of efforts explicitly to debunk climate change myths in the college classroom. The approach outlined here utilizes material on the psychology of the acceptance of misinformation for the popular audience, combined with examples of misinformation itself. Qualitative assessment of the effectiveness of these efforts is also presented. Hamilton, L. 2011. Education, political and opinions about climate change: evidence for interaction effects. Climatic Change vol. 104 no. 2, 231-242.. Kahan, D.M., E. Peters, M. Wittlin, P. Slovic, L. Larrimore Ouellette, D. Braman and G. Mandel. 2012. The polarizing impact of science literacy and numeracy on perceived climate change risks. Nature Climate Change. doi:10.1038/nclimate1547.

Forest Owners' Response to Climate Change: University Education Trumps Value Profile

PubMed Central

Persson, Erik; Hanewinkel, Marc

2016-01-01

Do forest owners’ levels of education or value profiles explain their responses to climate change? The cultural cognition thesis (CCT) has cast serious doubt on the familiar and often criticized "knowledge deficit" model, which says that laypeople are less concerned about climate change because they lack scientific knowledge. Advocates of CCT maintain that citizens with the highest degrees of scientific literacy and numeracy are not the most concerned about climate change. Rather, this is the group in which cultural polarization is greatest, and thus individuals with more limited scientific literacy and numeracy are more concerned about climate change under certain circumstances than those with higher scientific literacy and numeracy. The CCT predicts that cultural and other values will trump the positive effects of education on some forest owners' attitudes to climate change. Here, using survey data collected in 2010 from 766 private forest owners in Sweden and Germany, we provide the first evidence that perceptions of climate change risk are uncorrelated with, or sometimes positively correlated with, education level and can be explained without reference to cultural or other values. We conclude that the recent claim that advanced scientific literacy and numeracy polarizes perceptions of climate change risk is unsupported by the forest owner data. In neither of the two countries was university education found to reduce the perception of risk from climate change. Indeed in most cases university education increased the perception of risk. Even more importantly, the effect of university education was not dependent on the individuals' value profile. PMID:27223473

Rural health service managers' perspectives on preparing rural health services for climate change.

PubMed

Purcell, Rachael; McGirr, Joe

2018-02-01

To determine health service managers' (HSMs) recommendations on strengthening the health service response to climate change. Self-administered survey in paper or electronic format. Rural south-west of New South Wales. Health service managers working in rural remote metropolitan areas 3-7. Proportion of respondents identifying preferred strategies for preparation of rural health services for climate change. There were 43 participants (53% response rate). Most respondents agreed that there is scepticism regarding climate change among health professionals (70%, n = 30) and community members (72%, n = 31). Over 90% thought that climate change would impact the health of rural populations in the future with regard to heat-related illnesses, mental health, skin cancer and water security. Health professionals and government were identified as having key leadership roles on climate change and health in rural communities. Over 90% of the respondents believed that staff and community in local health districts (LHDs) should be educated about the health impacts of climate change. Public health education facilitated by State or Federal Government was the preferred method of educating community members, and education facilitated by the LHD was the preferred method for educating health professionals. Health service managers hold important health leadership roles within rural communities and their health services. The study highlights the scepticism towards climate change among health professionals and community members in rural Australia. It identifies the important role of rural health services in education and advocacy on the health impacts of climate change and identifies recommended methods of public health education for community members and health professionals. © 2017 National Rural Health Alliance Inc.

Teaching Controversial Issues in Geography: Climate Change Education in Singaporean Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ho, Li-Ching; Seow, Tricia

2015-01-01

In this article, the authors investigate 6 Singaporean geography teachers' understandings of climate change education. The findings indicate that the participants held very different beliefs about the primary purposes of climate change education, in spite of the highly centralized national curriculum and the unambiguous state support for the…

Student Media Production to Meet Challenges in Climate Change Science Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rooney-Varga, Juliette N.; Brisk, Angelica Allende; Adams, Elizabeth; Shuldman, Elizabeth; Rath, Kenneth

2014-01-01

While the need for effective climate change education is growing, this area of geoscience also poses unique educational challenges. These challenges include the politicization of climate change, the psychological and affective responses it elicits, and common misconceptions, which can all create barriers to learning. Here, we present an…

Climate Change Education for Sustainability in Brazil: A Status Report

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Trajber, Rachel; Mochizuki, Yoko

2015-01-01

This article maps and explains Brazil's policies, strategies, plans and initiatives related to Climate Change Education (CCE), in the overall context of Environmental Education (EE) and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). The case of Brazil offers useful insights on how to enhance climate response through education because of its unique…

Singapore Teachers' Beliefs about the Purpose of Climate Change Education and Student Readiness to Handle Controversy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Seow, Tricia; Ho, Li-Ching

2016-01-01

This qualitative study examines what four pre-service and six practicing geography educators in Singapore schools believe to be the purpose of climate change education, and how this intersects with their beliefs about student readiness to handle controversy within climate change education. A key finding of this study indicates that the teachers'…

The effect of education on climate change risks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

O'Neill, B. C.; KC, S.; Jiang, L.; Fuchs, R.; Pachauri, S.; Ren, X.; Zhang, T.; Laidlaw, E.

2017-12-01

Changes in the demographic and socio-economic compositions of populations are relevant to the climate change issue because these characteristics can be important determinants both of the capacity to adapt to climate change impacts as well as of energy use and greenhouse gas emissions, and therefore climate change. However, the incorporation of major trends such as aging, urbanization, and changes in household size into projections of future energy use and emissions is rare. Here we build on our previous work in this area by exploring the implications of future changes in educational attainment for the climate issue. Changes in the educational composition of the population may reduce the vulnerability of the population to climate change impacts, reducing risks. However they may also have effects on energy use and land use, and the resulting greenhouse gas emissions that drive climate change and increase risks. The direction of the effect of education on emissions is itself ambiguous. On the one hand, improvements in education can be expected to lead to faster fertility decline and slower population growth which, all else equal, would be expected to reduce emissions. On the other hand, education can also be expected to lead to faster economic growth, which would tend to increase emissions, and also to changes in consumption patterns. We employ iPETS, an integrated assessment model that includes a multi-region model of the world economy, driven with a new set of country-specific projections of future educational composition, to test the net effect of education on energy use and emissions on four world regions (China, India, Latin America, and Rest of Asia + Middle East) and therefore on climate. We also calculate the Human Development Index (HDI) for each region resulting from these scenarios, as an indicator of vulnerability to climate impacts. We find that the net effect of improved education is to increase emissions in the medium term driven primarily by increased labor productivity, but decrease emissions in the long term primarily as a result of slower population growth. At the same time, improved education positively affects all aspects of the HDI at all time horizons. Important caveats include the uncertainty in the effect of education on economic growth.

Learning as change: Responding to socio-scientific issues through informal education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Allen, Lauren Brooks

Informal learning is an important venue for educating the general public about complex socio-scientific issues: intersections of scientific understanding and society. My dissertation is a multi-tiered analysis of how informal education, and particularly informal educators, can leverage learning to respond to one particular socio-scientific issue: climate change. Life-long, life-wide, and life-deep learning not only about the science of climate change, but how communities and society as a whole can respond to it in ways that are commensurate with its scale are necessary. In my three-article dissertation, I investigated the changes in practice and learning that informal educators from a natural history museum underwent in the process of implementing a new type of field trip about climate change. This study focused on inquiry-based learning principles taken on by the museum educators, albeit in different ways: learner autonomy, conversation, and deep investigation. My second article, a short literature review, makes the argument that climate change education must have goals beyond simply increasing learners' knowledge of climate science, and proposes three research-based principles for such learning: participation, relevance, and interconnectedness. These principles are argued to promote learning to respond to climate change as well as increased collective efficacy, necessary for responding. Finally, my third article is an in-depth examination of a heterogeneous network of informal educators and environmental professionals who worked together to design and implement a city-wide platform for informal climate change learning. By conceptualizing climate change learning at the level of the learning ecology, educators and learners are able to see how it can be responded to at the community level, and understand how climate change is interconnected with other scientific, natural, and social systems. I briefly discuss a different socio-scientific issue to which these principles can be applied: heritable, human manipulation of other biological entities; in other words, genetic engineering.

Successfully Integrating Climate Change Education into School System Curriculum

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Scallion, M.

2017-12-01

Maryland's Eastern Shore is threatened by climate change driven sea level rise. By working with school systems, rather than just with individual teachers, educators can gain access to an entire grade level of students, assuring that all students, regardless of socioeconomic background or prior coursework have an opportunity to explore the climate issue and be part of crafting community level solutions for their communities. We will address the benefits of working with school system partners to achieve a successful integration of in-school and outdoor learning by making teachers and administrators part of the process. We will explore how, through the Maryland and Delaware Climate Change Education, Assessment, and Research Project, teachers, content supervisors and informal educators worked together to create a climate curriculum with local context that effectively meets Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards. Over the course of several weeks during the year, students engage in a series of in-class and field activities directly correlated with their science curriculum. Wetlands and birds are used as examples of the local wildlife and habitat being impacted by climate change. Through these lessons led by Pickering Creek Audubon Center educators and strengthened by material covered by classroom teachers, students get a thorough introduction to the mechanism of climate change, local impacts of climate change on habitats and wildlife, and actions they can take as a community to mitigate the effects of climate change. The project concludes with a habitat and carbon stewardship project that gives students and teachers a sense of hope as they tackle this big issue on a local scale. We'll explore how the MADE-CLEAR Informal Climate Change Education (ICCE) Community of Practice supports Delaware and Maryland environmental educators in collaboratively learning and expanding their programming on the complex issue of climate change. Participants will learn how to include climate change education as part of a larger ecological exploration, giving students and teachers local context to this global issue and memorable outdoor hands-on experiences and student driven adaptation projects.

Comparison of In-Person vs. Digital Climate Education Program

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anderson, R. K.; Flora, J. A.; Saphir, M.

2017-12-01

In 2014, ACE (Alliance for Climate Education) evaluated the impact of its 45-minute live climate edutainment education program on the knowledge, attitudes and behavior of high school students with respect to climate change. The results showed gains in knowledge, increased engagement, as well as increased communication about climate change with number of students reporting talking about climate change with friends and family more than doubling. In 2016, ACE launched a digital version of its in-person edutainment education program, a 40-minute video version of the live program. This digital version, Our Climate Our Future (OCOF), has now been used by nearly 4,000 teachers nationwide and viewed by over 150,000 students. We experimentally tested the impact of the digital program (OCOF) compared to the live program and a control group. The experiment was conducted with 709 students in 27 classes at two North Carolina public high schools. Classes were assigned to one of three conditions: digital, live and control. In the digital version, students watched the 40-minute OCOF video featuring the same educator that presented the live program. In the live version, students received an identical 40-minute live presentation by an ACE staff educator The control group received neither treatment. When compared to controls, both programs were effective in positively increasing climate change knowledge, climate justice knowledge, perceived self-efficacy to make climate-friendly behavior changes, and beliefs about climate change (all statistically significant at or above P<.01). In the areas of hope that people can solve climate change and intent to change behavior, only the live program showed significant increases. In these two areas, it may be that an in-person experience is key to affecting change. In light of these positive results, ACE plans to increase the use of OCOF in schools across the country to assist teachers in their efforts to teach about climate change.

Comparison of In-Person vs. Digital Climate Education Program

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anbar, A. D.; Elkins-Tanton, L. T.; Klug Boonstra, S.; Ben-Naim, D.

2016-12-01

In 2014, ACE (Alliance for Climate Education) evaluated the impact of its 45-minute live climate edutainment education program on the knowledge, attitudes and behavior of high school students with respect to climate change. The results showed gains in knowledge, increased engagement, as well as increased communication about climate change with number of students reporting talking about climate change with friends and family more than doubling. In 2016, ACE launched a digital version of its in-person edutainment education program, a 40-minute video version of the live program. This digital version, Our Climate Our Future (OCOF), has now been used by nearly 4,000 teachers nationwide and viewed by over 150,000 students. We experimentally tested the impact of the digital program (OCOF) compared to the live program and a control group. The experiment was conducted with 709 students in 27 classes at two North Carolina public high schools. Classes were assigned to one of three conditions: digital, live and control. In the digital version, students watched the 40-minute OCOF video featuring the same educator that presented the live program. In the live version, students received an identical 40-minute live presentation by an ACE staff educator The control group received neither treatment. When compared to controls, both programs were effective in positively increasing climate change knowledge, climate justice knowledge, perceived self-efficacy to make climate-friendly behavior changes, and beliefs about climate change (all statistically significant at or above P<.01). In the areas of hope that people can solve climate change and intent to change behavior, only the live program showed significant increases. In these two areas, it may be that an in-person experience is key to affecting change. In light of these positive results, ACE plans to increase the use of OCOF in schools across the country to assist teachers in their efforts to teach about climate change.

Southern Foresters' Perceptions of Climate Change: Implications for Educational Program Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boby, Leslie; Hubbard, William; Megalos, Mark; Morris, Hilary L. C.

2016-01-01

An understanding of foresters' perceptions of climate change is important for developing effective educational programs on adaptive forest management. We surveyed 1,398 foresters in the southern United States regarding their perceptions of climate change, observations and concerns about climatic and forest conditions, and knowledge of and interest…

Climate Change Education as an Integral Part of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Journal of Education for Sustainable Development, 2012

2012-01-01

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), through its Article 6, and the Convention's Kyoto Protocol, through its Article 10 (e), call on governments to develop and implement educational programmes on climate change and its effects. In particular, Article 6 of the Convention, which addresses the issue of climate…

Ready for the Storm: Education for Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kagawa, Fumiyo; Selby, David

2012-01-01

Incidences of disaster and climate change impacts are rising globally. Disaster risk reduction and climate change education are two educational responses to present and anticipated increases in the severity and frequency of hazards. They share significant complementarities and potential synergies, the latter as yet largely unexploited. Three…

Cognitive Structures of University Students about Environmental Education, Climate Change and Consumption Concepts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Keles, Özgül; Gilbertson, Kenneth L.; Uzun, Naim

2016-01-01

The purpose of this study was to determine cognitive structures and the retention of knowledge about environmental education, climate change and consumption concepts. The field of Environmental Education is increasingly including both climate change and consumption in the context of sustainability. Thus, this research is investigating the…

Climate Change Communicators: The C3E3 Project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sharif, H. O.; Joseph, J.

2013-12-01

The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), San Antonio College (SAC), and the University of North Dakota (UND) have partnered with NASA to provide underrepresented undergraduates from UTSA, SAC, and other community colleges climate-related research and education experiences through the Climate Change Communication: Engineer, Environmental science, and Education (C3E3) project. The program aims to develop a robust response to climate change by providing K-16 climate change education; enhance the effectiveness of K-16 education particularly in engineering and other STEM disciplines by use of new instructional technologies; increase the enrollment in engineering programs and the number of engineering degrees awarded by showing engineering's usefulness in relation to the much-discussed contemporary issue of climate change; increase persistence in STEM degrees by providing student research opportunities; and increase the ethnic diversity of those receiving engineering degrees and help ensure an ethnically diverse response to climate change. Students participated in the second summer internship funded by the project. More than 60 students participated in guided research experiences aligned with NASA Science Plan objectives for climate and Earth system science and the educational objectives of the three institutions. The students went through training in modern media technology (webcasts), and in using this technology to communicate the information on climate change to others, especially high school students, culminating in production of webcasts on investigating the aspects of climate change using NASA data. Content developed is leveraged by NASA Earth observation data and NASA Earth system models and tools. Several departments are involved in the educational program.

Undergraduate Students As Effective Climate Change Communicators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sharif, H. O.; Joseph, J.; Mullendore, G. L.

2014-12-01

The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), San Antonio College (SAC), and the University of North Dakota (UND) have partnered with NASA to provide underrepresented undergraduates from UTSA, SAC, and other community colleges climate-related research and education experiences through the Climate Change Communication: Engineer, Environmental science, and Education (C3E3) project. The program aims to develop a robust response to climate change by providing K-16 climate change education; enhance the effectiveness of K-16 education particularly in engineering and other STEM disciplines by use of new instructional technologies; increase the enrollment in engineering programs and the number of engineering degrees awarded by showing engineering's usefulness in relation to the much-discussed contemporary issue of climate change; increase persistence in STEM degrees by providing student research opportunities; and increase the ethnic diversity of those receiving engineering degrees and help ensure an ethnically diverse response to climate change. Students participated in the second summer internship funded by the project. The program is in its third year. More than 75 students participated in a guided research experiences aligned with NASA Science Plan objectives for climate and Earth system science and the educational objectives of the three institutions. The students went through training in modern media technology (webcasts), and in using this technology to communicate the information on climate change to others, especially high school students, culminating in production of webcasts on investigating the aspects of climate change using NASA data. Content developed is leveraged by NASA Earth observation data and NASA Earth system models and tools. Three Colleges were involved in the program: Engineering, Education, and Science.

One hundred years: A collective case study of climate change education in Georgia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bloch, Leonard Mark

This collective case study examined how five K-12 science teachers taught about climate change during Fall 2013, and asked how the University of Georgia can support climate change education. The participants were all experienced teachers, and included: three high school teachers, a middle school teacher, and an elementary school teacher. 'Postcarbonism', an emerging theoretical framework, shaped the research and guided the analysis. The teachers varied in their teaching practices and in their conceptions of 'climate change', but they were united in: 1) their focus on mitigation over adaptation, and 2) presenting climate change as a remote problem with simple solutions. The teachers drew on varied resources, but in all cases, their most valuable resources were their own skills, knowledge and personality. The University of Georgia can support climate change education by developing locally relevant educational resources. Curriculum developers might consider building upon the work of outstanding teach.

Trans- and Interdisciplinarity in K-14 Climate Change Education: Trends Emerging from Recent Reports by the National Research Council

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Storksdieck, M.

2012-12-01

A recent report by the National Research Council placed climate change or climate science education deeply into the curriculum of K-12 science education in the US (A Framework for K-12 Science Education). The NRC Framework is currently being translated into the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), an effort by 26 states, representing 57% of the US school-aged population, under the leadership of the educational nonprofit Achieve. A first draft version of the NGSS was made available to public audiences in June of 2012, and a revised draft will be available for a second round of reviews in later November of 2012; the final version of the NGSS which will likely feature climate change and climate science as part of Earth Systems Science, but also embedded in other areas of the science curriculum, is expected to be released in the spring of 2013. It has already become apparent, though, that successful implementation of the new standards down into effective classroom-based instruction will require a deep analysis of current and likely future barriers and opportunities for engaging K-14 students in climate change education. A recently released report on an NRC workshop conducted in 2011 summarizes these discussions (Climate Change Education in Formal Settings, K-14: A Workshop Summary). The proceedings of the workshop highlight the need to think in trans- or interdisciplinary ways about educating children in primary, secondary and early post-secondary education. This report builds on a 2010 workshop that addressed how to best reach general audiences on the issue of climate change education, particularly if the desired outcome is seen as building adaptive capacity in children and adults alike. This workshop was summarized in a report entitled Climate Change Education: Goals, Audiences, and Strategies. Opportunities for engaging students in trans- or interdisciplinary exploration of climate science or climate change-related topics, while available to K-12 students, abound in undergraduate education and informal learning. This presentation will feature a variety of cases in which climate is being addressed this way, and discuss principles that one can extract from such diverse examples as an integrated undergraduate minor; a youth-oriented show and related activities for schools provided by an educational non-profit; Green Schools and other specialty initiatives at the K-12 level that integrate education around climate and energy challenges, or programs in nature and science centers that address climate issues from a stewardship perspective, addressing actions children can take as part of the educational activities themselves. Principles that have guided various successful efforts to implement trans-and interdisciplinary climate education include orientation towards local and community action; relevance to learners; commitment by leadership and staff; institutional and organizational freedom to experiment and cooperate; opportunities to explore underlying natural and social science phenomena through hands-on and active learning; and commitment to excellence and scientific "truth". The session will close with a reflection on the merits of infusing climate change throughout the learning trajectory of a child, adolescent or young adult.

Fight Swack, Adapt to Climate Change or How to Use Humor to Engage the Public in Climate Issues

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ellis, R.; Elinich, K.; Johnson, R.; Fink, J.; Crawford, J.

2014-12-01

We are carefully considering how a humor-based campaign can help us communicate important climate change messages. Using pilot campaign strategies, we have engaged local residents in focus groups and interviews to understand how effective the approach can be. Growing educational research suggests learning about climate change can lead to feelings of depression, fear and inaction. Climate change seems too big of a task to take on. But with sweaty back (or "swack" as it's known in some circles), there's a public enemy that can be defeated. As only one piece of an innovative model for informal climate change education, the Climate and Urban Systems Partnership repositions the war on climate change by declaring a war on swack instead. This way, we can talk about climate change in a way it has never been talked about before that will certainly get people's attention. It also answers the common question of, "Yeah, but how does it affect me?" We're educating about responses to climate change because heat waves, floods, and excessive back sweat all kinda suck a lot.

Linking Climate Change Education through the Integration of a Kite-Borne Remote Sensing System: Linking Climate Change Education and Remote Sensing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Xie, Yichun; Henry, Andy; Bydlowski, David; Musial, Joseph

2014-01-01

A majority of secondary science teachers are found to include the topic of climate change in their courses. However, teachers informally and sporadically discuss climate change and students rarely understand the underlying scientific concepts. The project team developed an innovative pedagogical approach, in which teachers and students learn…

Climate Change Education in the Southeastern U.S. Through Public Dialogue: Not Just Preaching to the Choir

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McNeal, Karen S.; Hammerman, James K. L.; Christiansen, Jonathan A.; Carroll, F. Julian

2014-01-01

Climate change education in the southeastern United States can be challenging. Due to economic factors, as well as the conservative political and faith perspectives typical of the region, high proportions (40%) of the population are not engaged, not convinced, or doubt Earth's climate is changing or that climate change has anthropogenic causes.…

Experiential-Based Climate Change Education: Fostering Students' Knowledge and Motivation towards the Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Karpudewan, Mageswary; Mohd Ali Khan, Nur Sabrina

2017-01-01

Climate change is one of the most important environmental issues affecting our society today and we need to educate the citizens about the impact on human lives. An attempt was made to integrate experiential-based climate change education into the teaching and learning of secondary school Biology lessons on the topic of "Endangered…

Effective Teacher Practice on the Plausibility of Human-Induced Climate Change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Niepold, F.; Sinatra, G. M.; Lombardi, D.

2013-12-01

Climate change education programs in the United States seek to promote a deeper understanding of the science of climate change, behavior change and stewardship, and support informed decision making by individuals, organizations, and institutions--all of which are summarized under the term 'climate literacy.' The ultimate goal of climate literacy is to enable actors to address climate change, both in terms of stabilizing and reducing emissions of greenhouse gases, but also an increased capacity to prepare for the consequences and opportunities of climate change. However, the long-term nature of climate change and the required societal response involve the changing students' ideas about controversial scientific issues which presents unique challenges for educators (Lombardi & Sinatra, 2010; Sinatra & Mason, 2008). This session will explore how the United States educational efforts focus on three distinct, but related, areas: the science of climate change, the human-climate interaction, and using climate education to promote informed decision making. Each of these approaches are represented in the Atlas of Science Literacy (American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2007) and in the conceptual framework for science education developed at the National Research Council (NRC) in 2012. Instruction to develop these fundamental thinking skills (e.g., critical evaluation and plausibility reappraisal) has been called for by the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) (Achieve, 2013), an innovative and research based way to address climate change education within the decentralized U.S. education system. However, the promise of the NGSS is that students will have more time to build mastery on the subjects, but the form of that instructional practice has been show to be critical. Research has show that effective instructional activities that promote evaluation of evidence improve students' understanding and acceptance toward the scientifically accepted model of human-induced climate change (Lombardi, Sinatra, & Nussbaum, 2013). This study and many others show the critical role instructional practice plays in the development of a climate literate nation. Climate change communication faces many challenges, but federal agencies, civil society, and individuals have invested in numerous initiatives to develop a climate-literate citizenry. In the NRC Report America's Climate Choices the authors find that 'climate change is difficult to understand by its very nature,' however, 'education and communication are among the most powerful tools the nation has to bring hidden hazards to public attention, understanding, and action.' This session will explore how the federal science mission agencies and their partners are working to harness these tools and use the best available research to develop programs and partnership that build on the promise of the NGSS. When citizens have knowledge of the causes, likelihood, and severity of climate impacts, as well as of the range, cost, and efficacy of options to adapt to impacts, they are more prepared to effectively address the risks and opportunities

Climate Masters of Nebraska: An Innovative Action-Based Approach for Climate Change Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pathak, Tapan B.; Bernadt, Tonya; Umphlett, Natalie

2014-01-01

Climate Masters of Nebraska is an innovative educational program that strategically trains community volunteers about climate change science and corresponding ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in an interactive and action-based teaching environment. As a result of the program, 91% of participants indicated that they made informed changes in…

Countering Climate Confusion in the Classroom: New Methods and Initiatives

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McCaffrey, M.; Berbeco, M.; Reid, A. H.

2014-12-01

Politicians and ideologues blocking climate education through legislative manipulation. Free marketeers promoting the teaching of doubt and controversy to head off regulation. Education standards and curricula that skim over, omit, or misrepresent the causes, effects, risks and possible responses to climate change. Teachers who unknowingly foster confusion by presenting "both sides" of a phony scientific controversy. All of these contribute to dramatic differences in the quality and quantity of climate education received by U.S. students. Most U.S. adults and teens fail basic quizzes on energy and climate basics, in large part, because climate science has never been fully accepted as a vital component of a 21st-century science education. Often skipped or skimmed over, human contributions to climate change are sometimes taught as controversy or through debate, perpetuating a climate of confusion in many classrooms. This paper will review recent history of opposition to climate science education, and explore initial findings from a new survey of science teachers on whether, where and how climate change is being taught. It will highlight emerging effective pedagogical practices identified in McCaffrey's Climate Smart & Energy Wise, including the role of new initiatives such as the Next Generation Science Standards and Green Schools, and detail efforts of the Science League of America in countering denial and doubt so that educators can teach consistently and confidently about climate change.

What is motivating middle-school science teachers to teach climate change?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McNeal, Peggy; Petcovic, Heather; Reeves, Patricia

2017-05-01

Adoption of science content standards that include anthropogenic climate change has prompted widespread instruction in climate change for the first time. However, the controversial nature of the topic can be daunting and many teachers share misconceptions that lead to weak treatment of climate change in classrooms. Nevertheless, numerous teachers have embraced the topic and are providing illustrations of deliberate climate change education. In this study we investigated teacher motivation using focus groups with middle school teachers who currently teach climate change. Qualitative analysis of the collective teacher voices yielded underlying motivations. Our findings suggest that these teachers' interest in environmentalism naturally translates to climate change advocacy and motivates teaching the topic. Their knowledge and expertise gives them confidence to teach it. These teachers see themselves as scientists, therefore their views align with the scientific consensus. They practice authentic scientific research with their students, thus confirming valued characteristics of their scientist identity. Finally, our findings suggest that teaching climate change gives these teachers a sense of hope as they impact the future through their students. This study contrasts with skepticism over the state of climate change education and contributes to an understanding of how climate change education is motivated in teachers.

Climate change games as tools for education and engagement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Jason S.; Lee, Joey J.

2015-05-01

Scientists, educators and policymakers continue to face challenges when it comes to finding effective strategies to engage the public on climate change. We argue that games on the subject of climate change are well-suited to address these challenges because they can serve as effective tools for education and engagement. Recently, there has been a dramatic increase in the development of such games, many featuring innovative designs that blur traditional boundaries (for example, those that involve social media, alternative reality games, or those that involve direct action upon the real world). Here, we present an overview of the types of climate change game currently available, the benefits and trade-offs of their use, and reasons why they hold such promise for education and engagement regarding climate change.

Communicating Urban Climate Change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Snyder, S.; Crowley, K.; Horton, R.; Bader, D.; Hoffstadt, R.; Labriole, M.; Shugart, E.; Steiner, M.; Climate; Urban Systems Partnership

2011-12-01

While cities cover only 2% of the Earth's surface, over 50% of the world's people live in urban environments. Precisely because of their population density, cities can play a large role in reducing or exacerbating the global impact of climate change. The actions of cities could hold the key to slowing down climate change. Urban dwellers are becoming more aware of the need to reduce their carbon usage and to implement adaptation strategies. However, messaging around these strategies has not been comprehensive and adaptation to climate change requires local knowledge, capacity and a high level of coordination. Unless urban populations understand climate change and its impacts it is unlikely that cities will be able to successfully implement policies that reduce anthropogenic climate change. Informal and formal educational institutions in urban environments can serve as catalysts when partnering with climate scientists, educational research groups, and public policy makers to disseminate information about climate change and its impacts on urban audiences. The Climate and Urban Systems Partnership (CUSP) is an interdisciplinary network designed to assess and meet the needs and challenges of educating urban audiences about climate change. CUSP brings together organizations in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Queens, NY and Washington, DC to forge links with informal and formal education partners, city government, and policy makers. Together this network will create and disseminate learner-focused climate education programs and resources for urban audiences that, while distinct, are thematically and temporally coordinated, resulting in the communication of clear and consistent information and learning experiences about climate science to a wide public audience. Working at a community level CUSP will bring coordinated programming directly into neighborhoods presenting the issues of global climate change in a highly local context. The project is currently exploring a number of models for community programming and this session will present early results of these efforts while engaging participants in exploring approaches to connecting urban communities and their local concerns to the issues of global climate change.

The potential of exceptional climate change education on individual lifetime carbon emissions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cordero, E.; Centeno, D.; Todd, A. M.

2016-12-01

Strategies to mitigate climate change often center on clean technologies such as electric vehicles and solar panels, while the mitigation potential of a quality educational experience is rarely discussed. We investigate the role of education on individual carbon emissions using case studies from an intensive one-year university general education course focused on climate science and solutions. Results from this analysis demonstrate that students who completed the university course had significantly lower carbon emissions compared to a control group. If such an educational experience could be expanded throughout the United States, we estimate that education could be as valuable a climate change mitigation method as improving the fuel efficiency of automobiles. Relatedly, we also report on a new approach to apply real-time cloud based data to track the environmental impact of students during their participation in educational climate change programs. Such a tool would help illustrate the potential of education as a viable carbon mitigation strategy.

Bring Hidden Hazards to the Publics Attention, Understanding, and Informed Decision by Coordinating Federal Education Initiatives

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Niepold, F.; Karsten, J. L.; Wei, M.; Jadin, J.

2010-12-01

In the 2010 National Research Council’s America’s Climate Choices’ report on Informing Effective Decisions and Actions Related to Climate Change concluded; “Education and communication are among the most powerful tools the nation has to bring hidden hazards to public attention, understanding, and action.” They conclude that the “current and future students, the broader public, and policymakers need to understand the causes, consequences, and potential solutions to climate change, develop scientific thinking and problem-solving skills, and improve their ability to make informed decisions.” The U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) works to integrate the climate related activities of these different agencies, with oversight from the Office of Science and Technology Policy and other White House offices. USGCRP’s focus is now on evaluating optimal strategies for addressing climate change risks, improving coordination among the Federal agencies, engaging stakeholders (including national policy leaders and local resource managers) on the research results to all and improving public understanding and decision-making related to global change. Implicit to these activities is the need to educate the public about the science of climate change and its consequences, as well as coordinate Federal investments related to climate change education. In a broader sense, the implementation of the proposed Interagency Taskforce on Climate Change Communication and Education will serve the evolving USGCRP mandates around cross-cutting, thematic elements, as recommended by the National Research Council (NRC, 2009) and the U.S. Climate Change Science Program Revised Research Plan: An update to the 2003 Strategic Plan (USGCRP, 2008), to help the Federal government “capitalize on its investments and aid in the development of increased climate literacy for the Nation.” This session will update the participants on the work to date and the near term coordinated plans of the proposed Interagency Taskforce on Climate Change Communication and Education.

The potential roles of science centers in climate change adaptation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hamilton, P.

2012-12-01

The overwhelming consensus amongst climatologists is that anthropogenic climate change is underway, but leading climate scientists also anticipate that over the next 20 years research may only modestly reduce the uncertainty about where, when and by how much climate will change. Uncertainty presents not only scientific challenges but social, political and economic quandaries as well. Both scientific and educational communities understand that climate change will test the resilience of societies especially because of the uncertainties regarding the timing, nature and severity of climate change. Thus the need is great for civic conversations regarding climate change adaptation. What roles might science centers play in helping their audiences and communities make decisions about climate change adaptation despite less-than-perfect knowledge? And how might informal and formal education work together on this task? This session will begin with a review of some initial efforts by selected science centers and their partners to engage their audiences in and help their communities grapple with climate change adaptation. It then will conclude with an audience discussion about potential future efforts by science centers both individually and in collaboration with formal education institutions to elevate public and policymaker awareness and appreciation of the need for climate change adaptation.

"Roll up Your Sleeves and Get at It!" Climate Change Education in Teacher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Berger, Paul; Gerum, Natalie; Moon, Martha

2015-01-01

We present findings from research on a nine-week elective course, "Climate Change Pedagogy," taught for the first time in the Bachelor of Education program at Lakehead University in winter 2014. After reviewing literature on what is needed for effective teaching about climate change and some of the neoliberal barriers to such teaching,…

Climate Change Education in Informal Settings: Using Boundary Objects to Frame Network Dissemination

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Steiner, Mary Ann

2016-01-01

This study of climate change education dissemination takes place in the context of a larger project where institutions in four cities worked together to develop a linked set of informal learning experiences about climate change. Each city developed an organizational network to explore new ways to connect urban audiences with climate change…

Rethinking Climate Education: Climate as Entanglement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Verlie, Blanche

2017-01-01

Climate change education often relies on climate science's mantra that climate change is human induced, not natural. In a posttruth world, this can seem unequivocally necessary. However, I worry that this perpetuates the human/nature dualism and may thus reiterate the very distinction we are seeking to transgress. In this article, I outline my…

Increasing Communities Capacity to Effectively Address Climate Change Through Education, Civic Engagement and Workforce Development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Niepold, F., III; Ledley, T. S.; Stanton, C.; Fraser, J.; Scowcroft, G. A.

2017-12-01

Understanding the causes, effects, risks, and developing the social will and skills for responses to global change is a major challenge of the 21st century that requires coordinated contributions from the sciences, social sciences, humanities, arts, and beyond. There have been many effective efforts to implement climate change education, civic engagement and related workforce development programs focused on a multitude of audiences, topics and in multiple regions. This talk will focus on how comprehensive educational efforts across our communities are needed to support cities and their primary industries as they prepare for, and embrace, a low-carbon economy and develop the related workforce.While challenges still exist in identifying and coordinating all stakeholders, managing and leveraging resources, and resourcing and scaling effective programs to increase impact and reach, climate and energy literacy leaders have developed initiatives with broad input to identify the understandings and structures for climate literacy collective impact and to develop regional/metropolitan strategy that focuses its collective impact efforts on local climate issues, impacts and opportunities. This Climate Literacy initiative envisions education as a central strategy for community's civic actions in the coming decades by key leaders who have the potential to foster the effective and innovative strategies that will enable their communities to seize opportunity and prosperity in a post-carbon and resilient future. This talk discusses the advances and collaborations in the Climate Change Education community over the last decade by U.S. federal and non-profit organization that have been made possible through the partnerships of the Climate Literacy & Energy Awareness Network (CLEAN), U.S. National Science Foundation funded Climate Change Education Partnership (CCEP) Alliance, and the Tri-Agency Climate Change Education Collaborative.

Climate Change Education in the U.S. Affiliated Pacific Islands

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sussman, A.; Fletcher, C. H.; Sachs, J. P.

2013-12-01

The Pacific Islands Climate Education Partnership (PCEP) serves the U.S. Affiliated Pacific Island (USAPI) Region. The international entities served by PCEP are the state of Hawai';i (USA); three Freely Associated States (the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau), and three Territories (Guam, Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa). These Pacific Islands spread across 4.9 million square miles and include diverse indigenous cultures and languages. Many USAPI students live considerably below the poverty line. The Pacific Island region is projected to experience some of the most profound negative impacts considerably sooner than other regions. Funded by NSF, the PCEP aims to educate the region's students and citizens in ways that exemplify modern science and indigenous environmental knowledge, address the urgency of climate change impacts, and honor indigenous cultures. Students and citizens within the region will have the knowledge and skills to advance their and our understanding of climate change, and to adapt to its impacts. The PCEP Strategic Plan incorporates a range of interconnected strategic goals grouped into four priority education areas: Climate Education Framework --Implement a next-generation Climate Education Framework that focuses on the content and skills necessary for understanding the science of global and Pacific island climates, as well as the adaptation to climate impacts in the USAPI region. Indigenous Knowledge and Practices --Gather appropriate local indigenous knowledge based on the cultural stories and traditional practices related to environmental stewardship, climate, and local climate adaptation strategies. Learning and Teaching--Enhance conditions for learning about climate change in K-14 classrooms with the CEF through college-based, credentialed climate education programs; professional learning opportunities for teachers; and increased teacher implementation of locally-relevant climate science and adaptation curricula. Community-School Partnership --Connect schools (K-14) and community climate adaptation partners through locally relevant projects to implement effective and sustainable climate education. Explore and build awareness of resources that the community, colleges, and K-12 schools have to offer each other, and initiate partnering activities to support project-based learning activities. Current PCEP activities include: revising state and national science education standards to better incorporate climate change; contextualizing curricula to wide variety of climate and education contexts; gathering local indigenous knowledge and practices related to climate education and adaptation; providing professional development appropriate to these very diverse locations; supporting local professional learning communities in each international location; and developing a regional climate education certificate program. A key PCEP challenge is to maintain a coherent regional identity while contextualizing education activities to very diverse locations. PCEP staff have a high priority to learn, share and communicate across these locations, and to broadly benefit from lessons learned in each of the locations. Another strong connector is the overlap in climate changes, impacts and adaptation strategies across this international region.

Harnessing Homophily to Improve Climate Change Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Monroe, Martha C.; Plate, Richard R.; Adams, Damian C.; Wojcik, Deborah J.

2015-01-01

The Cooperative Extension Service (Extension) in the United States is well positioned to educate the public, particularly farmers and foresters, about climate change and to encourage responsible adoption of adaptation and mitigation strategies. However, the climate change attitudes and perceptions of Extension professionals have limited…

Professional development design considerations in climate change education: teacher enactment and student learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Drewes, Andrea; Henderson, Joseph; Mouza, Chrystalla

2018-01-01

Climate change is one of the most pressing challenges facing society, and climate change educational models are emerging in response. This study investigates the implementation and enactment of a climate change professional development (PD) model for science educators and its impact on student learning. Using an intrinsic case study methodology, we focused analytic attention on how one teacher made particular pedagogical and content decisions, and the implications for student's conceptual learning. Using anthropological theories of conceptual travel, we traced salient ideas through instructional delivery and into student reasoning. Analysis showed that students gained an increased understanding of the enhanced greenhouse effect and the implications of human activity on this enhanced effect at statistically significant levels and with moderate effect sizes. However, students demonstrated a limited, though non-significant gain on the likely effects of climate change. Student reasoning on the tangible actions to deal with these problems also remained underdeveloped, reflecting omissions in both PD and teacher enactment. We discuss implications for the emerging field of climate change education.

Making Climate Hot: Preparing Scientists and Teachers for Climate Change Communication and Education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buhr, S. M.; Wise, S. B.

2008-05-01

Anyone having anything to do with climate change science (or even geosciences) is increasingly asked to communicate about climate change with friends and family, media, the general public, and students. But, we have often not had the training to communicate with simplicity and clarity about such a complex topic. Furthermore, the need to know how to accommodate controversy, common misconceptions, and contrarian arguments complicates the task. The CIRES Education and Outreach group has developed a short professional development workshop "Making Climate Hot: How to Communicate Effectively about Climate Change". The goals of the workshop are to make scientists and educators aware of best practices in climate change communications, provide some tools for crafting messages, and allow participants to practice skills in a supportive, low-risk environment. The "Making Climate Hot" workshop has been piloted with scientists and university communicators, teachers and environmental educators and college students anxious to communicate with family and roommates. The most and least effective aspects of the workshop will be described, along with the lessons learned and next steps.

Undergraduate Students as Climate Communicators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sharif, H. O.; Joseph, J.; Mullendore, G. L.

2012-12-01

The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), San Antonio College (SAC), and the University of North Dakota (UND) are partnering with NASA to provide underrepresented undergraduates from UTSA, SAC, and other community colleges climate-related research and education experiences. The program aims to develop a robust response to climate change by providing K-16 climate change education; enhance the effectiveness of K-16 education particularly in engineering and other STEM disciplines by use of new instructional technologies; increase the enrollment in engineering programs and the number of engineering degrees awarded by showing engineering's usefulness in relation to the much-discussed contemporary issue of climate change; increase persistence in STEM degrees by providing student research opportunities; and increase the ethnic diversity of those receiving engineering degrees and help ensure an ethnically diverse response to climate change. Students will have the opportunity to participate in guided research experiences aligned with NASA Science Plan objectives for climate and Earth system science and the educational objectives of the three institutions. An integral part of the learning process will include training in modern media technology (webcasts), and in using this technology to communicate the information on climate change to others, especially high school students, culminating in production of a webcast about investigating aspects of climate change using NASA data. Content developed is leveraged by NASA Earth observation data and NASA Earth system models and tools. Several departments are involved in the educational program.

Using an Integrated Approach to Supporting Climate Change Literacy for Pre-Service Teachers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miller, H. R.; Mattox, S.; Llerandi-Román, P. A.; Dobson, C.

2014-12-01

Educating future Americans has long been a debate; with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) now being adopted, climate literacy has become a more dominant discussion in both the classroom and in our society where climate education has often been non-existent or dismal at best. With these new education standards climate literacy is now fundamental to science education, this means understanding climate needs to begin with those headed into the classroom with these future Americans. These educators are expected to be skilled and confident in all subject areas, including science, where they might receive less training. To address this challenge, we have focused on an interdisciplinary approach to climate literacy, which is facilitated through cross-cutting concepts in both Earth and life sciences and parallels NGSS standards. We used the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication to gauge our student's strengths and weaknesses and compare them to the general public's understanding of climate change and complex Earth processes, such as beliefs about climate change, understanding the greenhouse effect, weather versus climate, climate change past and present, impacts and solutions. After a semester of this interdisciplinary course our students felt 95% confident that they are informed about global climate change as compared to 62% of Americans that were surveyed. Our students could define and describe greenhouse effect and 82% of them could classify greenhouse gases as compared to 66% and 45% of Americans respectively. While these non-science, education students were generally more knowledgeable about climate change, the areas where they did not significantly outperform the general public allowed us to refocus our course to aid them in understanding this complex issue where our hopes are that they will be prepared to teach science in their future classroom which will allow their students to be competitive in today's rapidly evolving global economy.

Experimentation with a Socio-Constructivist Process for Climate Change Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pruneau, Diane; Gravel, Helene; Bourque, Wendy; Langis, Joanne

2003-01-01

A socio-constructivist and experiential process for climate change education was experimented within two coastal communities of Eastern Canada with 39 students 13 and 14 years of age. The pedagogical process, based on local observation of climate change, Duit's conceptual change theory (1999) and experiential learning, aimed for the improvement of…

Collaborative Education in Climate Change Sciences and Adaptation through Interactive Learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ozbay, G.; Sriharan, S.; Fan, C.

2014-12-01

As a result of several funded climate change education grants, collaboration between VSU, DSU, and MSU, was established to provide the innovative and cohesive education and research opportunities to underrepresented groups in the climate related sciences. Prior to offering climate change and adaptation related topics to the students, faculty members of the three collaborating institutions participated at a number of faculty training and preparation workshops for teaching climate change sciences (i.e. AMS Diversity Project Workshop, NCAR Faculty-Student Team on Climate Change, NASA-NICE Program). In order to enhance the teaching and student learning on various issues in the Environmental Sciences Programs, Climatology, Climate Change Sciences and Adaptation or related courses were developed at Delaware State University and its partner institutions (Virginia State University and Morgan State University). These courses were prepared to deliver information on physical basis for the earth's climate system and current climate change instruction modules by AMS and historic climate information (NOAA Climate Services, U.S. and World Weather Data, NCAR and NASA Climate Models). By using Global Seminar as a Model, faculty members worked in teams to engage students in videoconferencing on climate change through Contemporary Global Studies and climate courses including Climate Change and Adaptation Science, Sustainable Agriculture, Introduction to Environmental Sciences, Climatology, and Ecology and Adaptation courses. All climate change courses have extensive hands-on practices and research integrated into the student learning experiences. Some of these students have presented their classroom projects during Earth Day, Student Climate Change Symposium, Undergraduate Summer Symposium, and other national conferences.

Getting The Picture: Our Changing Climate- A new learning tool for climate science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yager, K.; Balog, J. D.

2014-12-01

Earth Vision Trust (EVT), founded by James Balog- photographer and scientist, has developed a free, online, multimedia climate science education tool for students and educators. Getting The Picture (GTP) creates a new learning experience, drawing upon powerful archives of Extreme Ice Survey's unique photographs and time-lapse videos of changing glaciers around the world. GTP combines the latest in climate science through interactive tools that make the basic scientific tenets of climate science accessible and easy to understand. The aim is to use a multidisciplinary approach to encourage critical thinking about the way our planet is changing due to anthropogenic activities, and to inspire students to find their own voice regarding our changing climate The essence of this resource is storytelling through the use of inspiring images, field expedition notes and dynamic multimedia tools. EVT presents climate education in a new light, illustrating the complex interaction between humans and nature through their Art + Science approach. The overarching goal is to educate and empower young people to take personal action. GTP is aligned with national educational and science standards (NGSS, CCSS, Climate Literacy) so it may be used in conventional classrooms as well as education centers, museum kiosks or anywhere with Internet access. Getting The Picture extends far beyond traditional learning to provide an engaging experience for students, educators and all those who wish to explore the latest in climate science.

Integrating Scientific Content with Context to Connect Educators with the Complexities and Consequences of Climate Change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Low, R.; Gosselin, D. C.; Oglesby, R. J.; Larson-Miller, C.; Thomas, J.; Mawalagedara, R.

2011-12-01

Over the past three years the Nebraska Earth Systems Education Network has designed professional development opportunities for K-12 and extension educators that integrates scientific content into the context of helping educators connect society with the complexities and consequences of climate change. Our professional development approach uses learner-, knowledge-, assessment-, and community-centered strategies to achieve our long-term goal: collaboration of scientists, educators and learners to foster civic literacy about climate change. Two NASA-funded projects, Global Climate Change Literacy for Educators (GCCE, 2009-2012), and the Educators Climatologists Learning Community (ECLC, 2011-2013), have provided the mechanism to provide teachers with scientifically sound and pedagogically relevant educational materials to improve climate and Earth systems literacy among educators. The primary product of the GCCE program is a 16-week, online, distance-delivered, asynchronous course entitled, Laboratory Earth: Human Dimensions of Climate Change. This course consists of four, four-week modules that integrate climate literacy, Earth Systems concepts, and pedagogy focused on active learning processes, building community, action research, and students' sense of place to promote action at the local level to address the challenges of climate change. Overall, the Community of Inquiry Survey (COI) indicated the course was effective in teaching content, developing a community of learners, and engaging students in experiences designed to develop content knowledge. A pre- and post- course Wilcoxan Signed Ranks Test indicated there was a statistically significant increase in participant's beliefs about their personal science teaching efficacy. Qualitative data from concept maps and content mastery assignments support a positive impact on teachers' content knowledge and classroom practice. Service Learning units seemed tohelp teachers connect course learning to their classroom teaching. In addition, qualitative data indicate that teachers' students found service learning to be highly motivational components to learning. The ECLC project, to be initiated in the fall 2011, will build on our GCCE experiences to create a sustainable virtual learning community of educators and scientists. Climate-change issues will serve as a context in which collaborative scientist-educator-teams will develop discrete, locally oriented research projects to facilitate development of confident, knowledgeable citizen-scientists within their classrooms.

Three Connected Climate Education Interactives: Carbon Cycle, Earth System Energy Flows, and Climate Change Impacts/Adaptations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sussman, A.

2015-12-01

The Pacific Islands Climate Education Partnership (PCEP) serves the U.S. Affiliated Pacific Island (USAPI) Region. The international entities served by PCEP are the state of Hawai'i (USA); three Freely Associated States (the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau), and three Territories (Guam, Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa). Funded by NSF, the PCEP aims to educate the region's students and citizens in ways that exemplify modern science and indigenous environmental knowledge, address the urgency of climate change impacts, and focus on adaptation strategies that can increase resiliency with respect to climate change impacts. Unfortunately the vast majority of the science texts used in schools come from the US mainland and feature contexts that do not relate to the lives of Pacific island students. The curricular materials also tend to be older and to have very weak climate science content, especially with respect to tropical islands and climate change. In collaboration with public broadcast station WGBH, PCEP has developed three climate education interactives that sequentially provide an introduction to key climate change education concepts. The first in the series focuses on the global carbon cycle and connects increased atmospheric CO2 with rising global temperatures. The second analyzes Earth system energy flows to explain the key role of the increased greenhouse effect. The third focuses on four climate change impacts (higher temperatures, rising sea level, changes in precipitation, and ocean acidification), and adaptation strategies to increase resiliency of local ecosystems and human systems. While the interactives have a Pacific island visual and text perspective, they are broadly applicable for other education audiences. Learners can use the interactives to engage with the basic science concepts, and then apply the climate change impacts to their own contexts.

Tools for Teaching Climate Change Studies

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Maestas, A.M.; Jones, L.A.

2005-03-18

The Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Climate Research Facility (ACRF) develops public outreach materials and educational resources for schools. Studies prove that science education in rural and indigenous communities improves when educators integrate regional knowledge of climate and environmental issues into school curriculum and public outreach materials. In order to promote understanding of ACRF climate change studies, ACRF Education and Outreach has developed interactive kiosks about climate change for host communities close to the research sites. A kiosk for the North Slope of Alaska (NSA) community was installed at the Iupiat Heritage Center in 2003, and a kiosk for the Tropical Westernmore » Pacific locales will be installed in 2005. The kiosks feature interviews with local community elders, regional agency officials, and Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program scientists, which highlight both research and local observations of some aspects of environmental and climatic change in the Arctic and Pacific. The kiosks offer viewers a unique opportunity to learn about the environmental concerns and knowledge of respected community elders, and to also understand state-of-the-art climate research. An archive of interviews from the communities will also be distributed with supplemental lessons and activities to encourage teachers and students to compare and contrast climate change studies and oral history observations from two distinct locations. The U.S. Department of Energy's ACRF supports education and outreach efforts for communities and schools located near its sites. ACRF Education and Outreach has developed interactive kiosks at the request of the communities to provide an opportunity for the public to learn about climate change from both scientific and indigenous perspectives. Kiosks include interviews with ARM scientists and provide users with basic information about climate change studies as well as interviews with elders and community leaders discussing the impacts of climate change on land, sea, and other aspects of village life.« less

Fostering Hope in Climate Change Educators

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Swim, Janet K.; Fraser, John

2013-01-01

Climate Change is a complex set of issues with large social and ecological risks. Addressing it requires an attentive and climate literate population capable of making informed decisions. Informal science educators are well-positioned to teach climate science and motivate engagement, but many have resisted the topic because of self-doubt about…

GREENIFY: A Real-World Action Game for Climate Change Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Joey J.; Ceyhan, Pinar; Jordan-Cooley, William; Sung, Woonhee

2013-01-01

The literature on climate change education recommends social, accessible action-oriented learning that is specifically designed to resonate with a target audience's values and worldview. This article discusses GREENIFY, a real-world action game designed to teach adult learners about climate change and motivate informed action. A pilot study…

Misconceptions Surrounding Climate Change: A Review of the Literature

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Templeton, C. M.; McNeal, K. S.; Libarkin, J.

2011-12-01

Misconceptions about climate change abound in every corner of society. The result manifests itself ranging from apprehension to total disregard for climate change conditions. According to several sources, however, a large percentage of the U. S. population do, indeed indicate some concern over global warming and climate change in general. These climate change misconceptions are numerous and include, to name a few; confusion between weather and climate, how greenhouse gases are affecting the earth, the effects of ozone depletion, earth's natural cycles, volcanic activity, nuclear waste and a host of other anthropogenic influences. This paper is a review of the current research literature relating to climate change misconceptions. These errant views will be addressed, cataloged, enumerated, and ranked to get a grasp on where the general population, politicians, scientists, and educators as well as students stand on informed climate change information. The categories where misconceptions arise have been identified in this literature review study and include the following: Natural cycles of the earth, ecological which include deforestation, urban development and any human intervention on the environment, educational - including teacher strategies, student understanding and textbook updates, emotional, ozone layer and its interactions, polar ice, political regulations, mandates and laws, pollution from human sources as well as from nature, religious beliefs and dogma and social beliefs. We suggest appropriate solutions for addressing these misconceptions, especially in the classroom setting, and broadly include available funding sources for work in climate change education. Some solutions include need for compilation of appropriate education resources and materials for public use, need for the development of educational materials that appropriately address the variety of publics, and need for programs that are conducting climate change education research and EPO work to communicate and share resources in a common community. Many organizations are addressing these critical needs and we will compile these efforts in our analysis as well.

Global Climate Change for Kids: Making Difficult Ideas Accessible and Exciting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fisher, D. K.; Leon, N.; Greene, M. P.

2009-12-01

NASA has recently launched its Global Climate Change web site (http://climate.nasa.gov), and it has been very well received. It has now also launched in preliminary form an associated site for children and educators, with a plan for completion in the near future. The goals of the NASA Global Climate Change Education site are: To increase awareness and understanding of climate change science in upper-elementary and middle-school students, reinforcing and building upon basic concepts introduced in the formal science education curriculum for these grades; To present, insofar as possible, a holistic picture of climate change science and current evidence of climate change, describing Earth as a system of interconnected processes; To be entertaining and motivating; To be clear and easy to understand; To be easy to navigate; To address multiple learning styles; To describe and promote "green" careers; To increase awareness of NASA's contributions to climate change science; To provide valuable resources for educators; To be compliant with Section 508 of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The site incorporates research findings not only on climate change, but also on effective web design for children. It is envisioned that most of the content of the site will ultimately be presented in multimedia forms. These will include illustrated and narrated "slide shows," animated expositions, interactive concept-rich games and demonstrations, videos, animated fictionalized stories, and printable picture galleries. In recognition of the attention span of the audience, content is presented in short, modular form, with a suggested, but not mandatory order of access. Empathetic animal and human cartoon personalities are used to explain concepts and tell stories. Expository, fiction, game, video, text, and image modules are interlinked for reinforcement of similar ideas. NASA's Global Climate Change Education web site addresses the vital need to impart and emphasize Earth system science concepts at or near the beginning of the education pipeline.

Identifying Effective Strategies for Climate Change Education: The Coastal Areas Climate Change Education (CACCE) Partnership Audiences and Activities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ryan, J. G.; Feldman, A.; Muller-Karger, F. E.; Gilbes, F.; Stone, D.; Plank, L.; Reynolds, C. J.

2011-12-01

Many past educational initiatives focused on global climate change have foundered on public skepticism and disbelief. Some key reasons for these past failures can be drawn directly from recognized best practices in STEM education - specifically, the necessity to help learners connect new knowledge with their own experiences and perspectives, and the need to create linkages with issues or concerns that are both important for and relevant to the audiences to be educated. The Coastal Areas Climate Change Education (CACCE) partnership has sought to follow these tenets as guiding principles in identifying critical audiences and developing new strategies for educating the public living in the low-lying coastal areas of Florida and the Caribbean on the realities, risks, and adaptation and mitigation strategies for dealing with the regional impacts of global climate change. CACCE is currently focused on three key learner audiences: a) The formal education spectrum, targeting K-12 curricula through middle school marine science courses, and student and educator audiences through coursework and participatory research strategies engaging participants in a range of climate-related investigations. b) Informal science educators and outlets, in particular aquaria and nature centers, as an avenue toward K-12 teacher professional development as well as for public education. c) Regional planning, regulatory and business professionals focused on the built environment along the coasts, many of whom require continuing education to maintain licensing and/or other professional certifications. Our current activities are focused on bringing together an effective set of educational, public- and private-sector partners to target the varied needs of these audiences in Florida and the U.S. Caribbean, and tailoring an educational plan aimed at these stakeholder audiences that starts with the regionally and topically relevant impacts of climate change, and strategies for effective adaptation and mitigation.

Exploring the Climate Literacy Development Utilizing a Learning Progressions Approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Drewes, A.; Breslyn, W.; McGinnis, J. R.; Hestness, E.; Mouza, C.

2017-12-01

Climate change encompasses a broad and complex set of concepts that is often challenging for students and educators. Using a learning progressions framework, in this exploratory study we report our efforts to identify, describe, and organize the development of learners' understanding of climate change in an empirically supported learning progression (LP). The learning progression framework is a well suited analytical tool for investigating how student thinking develops over time (Duschl et al., 2007). Our primary research question is "How do learners progress over time from an initial to a more sophisticated understanding of climate change?"We followed a development process that involved drafting a hypothetical learning progression based on the science education research literature, consensus documents such as the Next Generation Science Standards and the Atlas of Science Literacy. Additionally, we conducted expert reviews with both climate scientists and educational researchers on the content and pedagogical expectations. Data are then collected from learners, which are used to modify the hypothetical learning progression based on how well it describes actual student learning. In this current analysis, we present findings from written assessments (N=294) and in-depth interviews (n=27) with middle school students in which we examine their understanding of the role of human activity, the greenhouse effect as the mechanism of climate change, local and global impacts, and strategies for the adaptation and mitigation of climate change. The culmination of our research is a proposed, empirically supported LP for climate change. Our LP is framed by consideration of four primary constructs: Human Activity, Mechanism, Impacts, and Mitigation and Adaptation. The conditional LP provides a solid foundation for continued research as well as providing urgently needed guidance to the education community on climate change education (for curriculum, instruction, and assessment). Based on consensus documents like NGSS, the research literature, and data collected in our investigation, as well as review by practicing climate scientists and educational researchers, the climate change LP represents a robust and empirically supported description of how climate change understanding develops over time.

The Climate Change Education Evidence Base: Lessons Learned from NOAA's Monitoring and Evaluation Framework Implementation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baek, J.

2012-12-01

Federal science mission agencies are under increased pressure to ensure that their STEM education investments accomplish several objectives, including the identification and use of evidence-based approaches. Climate change education and climate literacy programs fall under these broader STEM initiatives. This paper is designed as a primer for climate change education evaluators and researchers to understand the policy context on the use of evidence. Recent initiatives, that include the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), point to a need for shared goals and measurements amongst the climate change education community. The Tri-agency Climate Change Education (CCE) collaboration, which includes NSF, NASA, and NOAA, developed the Tri-Agency Climate Change Education Common Evaluation Framework Initiative Stakeholder Statement (2012). An excerpt: From the perspective of the tri-agency collaboration, and its individual agency members, the goal of the common framework is not to build a required evaluation scheme or a set of new requirements for our funded climate change education initiatives. Rather, the collaboration would be strengthened by the development of a framework that includes tools, instruments, and/or documentation to: ● Help the agencies see and articulate the relationships between the individual pieces of the tri-agency CCE portfolio; ● Guide the agencies in reporting on the progress, lessons learned, and impacts of the collaboration between the three agencies in developing a coordinated portfolio of climate education initiatives; and ● Help the individual projects, as part of this broader portfolio, understand where they fit into a larger picture. The accomplishments of this initiative to date have been based on the collaborative nature of evaluators the climate change education community within the tri-agency portfolio. While this effort has provided some shared understanding and general guidance, there is still a lack of guidance to make decisions at any level of the community. A recent memorandum from the Office of Management and Budget provides more specific guidance around the generation and utilization of evidence. For example, the amount of funding awarded through grants should be weighted by the level of the evidence supporting a proposed project. As the field of climate change education establishes an evidence base, study designs should address a greater number of internal validity threats through comparison groups and reliable common measures. In addition, OMB invites agencies to develop systematic measurement of costs and costs per outcome. A growing evidence base, one that includes data that includes costs and even monetizes benefits, can inform decisions based on the strongest returns on investments within a portfolio. This paper will provide examples from NOAA's Monitoring and Evaluation Framework Implementation project that illustrate how NOAA is facing these challenges. This is intended to inform climate change educators, evaluators, and researchers in ways to integrate evaluation into the management of their programs while providing insight across the portfolio.

The National Climate Assessment: A Treasure Trove for Education, Communications and Outreach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McCaffrey, M.; Berbeco, M.; Connolly, R.; Niepold, F., III; Poppleton, K. L. I.; Cloyd, E.; Ledley, T. S.

2014-12-01

Required by Congress under the Global Change Act of 1990 to inform the nation on the findings of current climate research, the Third U.S. National Climate Assessment (NCA), released in May 2014, is a rich resource for climate change education, communications and outreach (ECO). Using a website design with mobile applications in mind, NCA takes advantage of mobile learning technology which is revolutionizing how, when and where learning occurs. In an effort to maximize the "teachable moments" inherent in the assessment, a community of experts from the National Center for Science Education and the CLEAN Network, working under the auspices of the National Climate Assessment Network (NCAnet) Education Affinity Group, have developed a series of NCA Learning Pathways that match key NCA messages and resources with reviewed educational materials and trusted online information sources, thereby adding pedagogical depth to the assessment. The NCA Learning Pathways, which focus on the regional chapters of the report, are designed make climate change science more local, human, relevant and, if properly framed by educators and communicators, hopeful for learners. This paper touches on the challenges and opportunities of infusing climate education, communications and outreach into curriculum and society, and details the development and content of NCA Learning Pathways, which are available online through NOAA's Climate.gov website: http://www.climate.gov/teaching

Earth System Science Education Centered on Natural Climate Variability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ramirez, P. C.; Ladochy, S.; Patzert, W. C.; Willis, J. K.

2009-12-01

Several new courses and many educational activities related to climate change are available to teachers and students of all grade levels. However, not all new discoveries in climate research have reached the science education community. In particular, effective learning tools explaining natural climate change are scarce. For example, the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) is a main cause of natural climate variability spanning decades. While most educators are familiar with the shorter-temporal events impacting climate, El Niño and La Niña, very little has trickled into the climate change curriculum on the PDO. We have developed two online educational modules, using an Earth system science approach, on the PDO and its role in climate change and variability. The first concentrates on the discovery of the PDO through records of salmon catch in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. We present the connection between salmon abundance in the North Pacific to changing sea surface temperature patterns associated with the PDO. The connection between sea surface temperatures and salmon abundance led to the discovery of the PDO. Our activity also lets students explore the role of salmon in the economy and culture of the Pacific Northwest and Alaska and the environmental requirements for salmon survival. The second module is based on the climate of southern California and how changes in the Pacific Ocean , such as the PDO and ENSO (El Niño-Southern Oscillation), influence regional climate variability. PDO and ENSO signals are evident in the long-term temperature and precipitation record of southern California. Students are guided in the module to discover the relationships between Pacific Ocean conditions and southern California climate variability. The module also provides information establishing the relationship between climate change and variability and the state's water, energy, agriculture, wildfires and forestry, air quality and health issues. Both modules will be reviewed for inclusion on the ESSEA (Earth Systems Science Education Alliance) course module list. ESSEA is a NSF-funded organization dedicated to K-12 online Earth system science education.

Demographic aspects of climate change mitigation and adaptation.

PubMed

Lutz, Wolfgang; Striessnig, Erich

2015-01-01

This paper addresses the contribution of changes in population size and structures to greenhouse gas emissions and to the capacity to adapt to climate change. The paper goes beyond the conventional focus on the changing composition by age and sex. It does so by addressing explicitly the changing composition of the population by level of educational attainment, taking into account new evidence about the effect of educational attainment in reducing significantly the vulnerability of populations to climatic challenges. This evidence, which has inspired a new generation of socio-economic climate change scenarios, is summarized. While the earlier IPCC-SRES (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change-Special Report on Emissions Scenarios) scenarios only included alternative trajectories for total population size (treating population essentially as a scaling parameter), the Shared Socio-economic Pathways (SSPs) in the new scenarios were designed to capture the socio-economic challenges to climate change mitigation and adaptation, and include full age, sex, and education details for all countries.

Changing the Educational Climate: Children, Citizenship and Learning Contexts?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

David, Miriam E.

2007-01-01

The changing climate of children's education at the turn of the twenty-first century through sociocultural and global political changes is my focus of attention. I will discuss the changing social context and environments for research on children and education, considering various transformations in the social and policy contexts that have led to…

Improving the Nation's Climate Literacy through the Next Generation Science Standards

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grogan, M.; Niepold, F.; Ledley, T. S.; Gold, A. U.; Breslyn, W. G.; Carley, S.

2013-12-01

Climate Literacy: The Essential Principles of Climate Science (2009) presented the information that is deemed important for individuals and communities to know and understand about Earth's climate, impacts of climate change, and approaches to adaptation or mitigation by a group of federal agencies, science and educational partners. These principles guided the development of the NRC Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas (2012) and the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS, 2013). National Science Foundation recently funded two partnership projects which support the implementation of the climate component of the NGSS using the Climate Literacy framework. The first project, the Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network (CLEAN), was launched in 2010 as a National Science Digital Library (NSDL) Pathways project. CLEAN's primary effort is to steward a collection of educational resources around energy and climate topics and foster a community that supports learning about climate and energy topics. CLEAN's focus has been to integrate the effective use of the educational resources across all grade levels - with a particular focus on the middle-school through undergraduate levels (grades 6-16) and align the resources with educational standards. The second project, the Maryland and Delaware Climate Change Education, Assessment and Research (MADE-CLEAR) program is supported by a Phase II Climate Change Education Partnership (CCEP) grant awarded to the University System of Maryland (USM) by the National Science Foundation. The MADE-CLEAR project's related goals are to support innovations in interdisciplinary P-20 (preschool through graduate school) climate change education, and develop new pathways for teacher education and professional development leading to expertise in climate change content and pedagogy. Work in Maryland, Delaware (MADE-CLEAR) and other states on the implementation of the NGSS, that will utilize the years of work, the efforts of hundreds of community members and tens of millions of dollars of investment and to increase the nations climate literacy, will be highlighted. We will particularly focus on the partnerships among MADE-CLEAR, NOAA and CLEAN. Climate science and energy are complex topics, with rapidly developing science and technology and the potential for controversy. The NGSS offer educators an opportunity to effectively bring these important subjects into their classrooms across a learning progression spanning K-12 and well beyond. Yet regardless of the pedagogic setting, using a literacy-based approach can provide a sound foundation for building learners' understanding of these topics. In this presentation, we will describe contributions by a group of collaborative projects and organizations to support the NGSS implementation through an integrated Earth system science approach in K-12 education.

ClimateInterpreter.org: an online sharing platform with best practices and resources on effective climate change communication, climate change exhibits, and sustainability efforts at aquariums, zoos, and science museums

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miller, M. K.; MacKenzie, S.

2011-12-01

Many aquariums, zoos, museums, and other informal science education (ISE) centers across the country want to connect their visitors with the important issue of climate change. Communicating climate change and the science it embodies is no easy task though, and ISE institutions are seeking creative and collaborative ways to best interpret the issue with their audiences. Some of these institutions, particularly aquariums and zoos, have live specimens on exhibit that stand to be severely impacted by climate change. Others see it as an educational and moral imperative to address such an important issue affecting the world today, especially one so close to the core mission of their institution. Regardless, informal science educators have noticed that the public is increasingly coming to them with questions related to climate change, and they want to be able to respond as effectively as they can. The Monterey Bay Aquarium is one partner in a coalition of aquariums, zoos, museums and informal science education institutions that are working together to present climate change to its visitors. These institutions hold enormous public trust as sources of sound scientific information. Whether it is through exhibitions like the Aquarium's Hot Pink Flamingos: Stories of Hope in a Changing Sea, interpretive and communication techniques to navigate challenging climate change discussions, or with sustainability planning and operational greening efforts, there is a concerted movement to improve the capacity of these institutions to respond to the issue. Ultimately, their goal is to inspire visitors in a way that positively impacts the country's discourse surrounding climate change, and helps steer our dialog toward a focus on solutions. In addition to the Hot Pink Flamingos exhibit, the Aquarium is also working with the coalition to build a website, www.climateinterpreter.org, that can serve as an online platform for sharing the experiences of what different partners have learned at their respective locations, and a clearinghouse for resources related to effectively communicating climate change. While the website was built for informal science educators, its content and information will be a valuable resource for everyone in the science and education community. There is a broad need for a better way to present climate change to a variety of audiences, whether it is the public, students, or just a colleague and peer.

Combating Climate Change through Quality Education. Policy Brief 2010-03

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Anderson, Allison

2010-01-01

Climate change threatens to undo and even reverse the progress made toward meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and poses one of the most serious challenges to reducing global poverty for the international community. However, the education sector offers a currently untapped opportunity to combat climate change. There is a clear…

Education and Climate Change: Living and Learning in Interesting Times

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kagawa, Fumiyo, Ed.; Selby, David, Ed.

2009-01-01

There is widespread consensus in the international scientific community that climate change is happening and that abrupt and irreversible impacts are already set in motion. What part does education have to play in helping alleviate rampant climate change and in mitigating its worst effects? In this volume, contributors review and reflect upon…

The Curriculum of Climate Change Education: A Case for Singapore

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chang, Chew-Hung; Pascua, Liberty

2017-01-01

The inclusion of the climate change topic in the curriculum of school subjects in Singapore was pivotal, such that it positioned the discourse squarely in the structure of Singapore's education system. In an examination of the intersections and disjoints between state policies on climate change against the programmatic curriculum, results showed…

Assessing Climate Literacy Content in Higher Education Science Courses: Distribution, Challenges, and Needs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Veron, Dana E.; Marbach-Ad, Gili; Wolfson, Jane; Ozbay, Gulnihal

2016-01-01

The study described in this article is part of the Maryland and Delaware Climate Change Education Assessment and Research (MADE CLEAR) project, which aims to improve climate literacy in the K-16 population through systemic, sustainable change in teacher preparation. The authors surveyed faculty members at four higher education institutions to…

An Investigation of Science Educators' View of Roles and Responsibilities for Climate Change Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McGinnis, J. Randy; McDonald, Chris; Hestness, Emily; Breslyn, Wayne

2016-01-01

This exploratory study investigates what science educators from differing groups (outside of higher education--informal and formal (K-12) and inside of higher education--content and pedagogy experts) believe are the roles and responsibilities (and what actions these might involve) in climate change education for: 1) their group of educators, and…

Making the climate part of the human world: Why addressing beliefs and biases is necessary part of effective climate change education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Donner, S. D.

2009-12-01

Efforts to raise public awareness and understanding of the social, cultural and economic consequences of climate change often encounter skepticism. The primary causes of this skepticism, whether in the form of a mild rejection of proposed policy responses or an outright rejection of the basic scientific findings, is often cited to be the poor framing of issues by the scientific community, the quality of science education or public science literacy, disinformation campaigns by representatives of the coal and gas industry, individual resistance to behavioral change, and the hyperactive nature of the modern information culture. However, the root cause may be that the weather and climate, and by association climate change, is viewed as independent of the sphere of human influence in ancient and modern societies. In this presentation, I will outline how long-standing human beliefs in the separation between the earth and the sky and the modern framing of climate change as an “environmental” issue are limiting efforts to education the public about the causes, effects and possible response to climate change. First, sociological research in the Pacific Islands (Fiji, Kiribati, Tuvalu) finds strong evidence that beliefs in divine control of the weather and climate limit public acceptance of human-induced climate change. Second, media analysis and polling data from North America supports the role of belief and provides further evidence that climate change is viewed as a threat to an “other” labeled “the environment”, rather than a threat to people or society. The consequences of these mental models of the climate can be an outright reject of scientific theory related to climate change, a milder distrust of climate change predictions, a lack of urgency about mitigation, and an underestimate of the effort required to adapt to climate change. In order to be effective, public education about climate change needs to directly address the two, critical beliefs held by the majority of the audience. Proposed solutions include re-casting climate change as a broad societal concern, thus rejecting characterization of climate change as “environmental issue”, and clearly expressing to the audience the historical reasons why climate change may be hard to “believe”

Bringing the Science of Climate Change to Elementary Students with new Classroom Activities from Elementary GLOBE

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gardiner, L. S.; Hatheway, B.; Taylor, J.; Chambers, L. H.; Stanitski, D.

2016-12-01

To address the dearth of climate education resources at the elementary level, we have developed a new module of Elementary GLOBE to showcase the science of climate change for young learners. Elementary GLOBE builds K-4 student understanding of the science concepts and the practices of science research. At the heart of each Elementary GLOBE module is a fiction storybook, describing how three kids investigate a science question. Accompanying classroom activities allow students to explore the science concepts in the book in more depth and in a context appropriate for young learners. The book for the Elementary GLOBE climate module, "What in the World Is Happening to Our Climate?," is the account of an adventure to explore climate change, how it is affecting melting glacial ice and sea level rise, and how climate change is a problem that can be solved. Three hands-on activities, which will be presented at this session, allow students to explore the topics in greater depth including differences between weather and climate, how sea level rise affects coastal areas, and how they can shrink their carbon footprint to help address recent climate change. Each activity includes instructions for teachers, background information, and activity sheets for students, and is aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards and Common Core Math and Language Arts Standards. The storybook and activities were field tested in classrooms and reviewed by climate and Earth system scientists as well as elementary education and climate education specialists and educators to ensure scientific accuracy and clear explanations, and that the resources are age appropriate and reflect the needs of the climate education community. Other Elementary GLOBE modules include the science of seasonal change, water, soil, clouds, aerosols, and Earth as a system. All Elementary GLOBE educational resources are freely available online (www.globe.gov/elementaryglobe).

Conceptualizing Climate Change in the Context of a Climate System: Implications for Climate and Environmental Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shepardson, Daniel P.; Niyogi, Dev; Roychoudhury, Anita; Hirsch, Andrew

2012-01-01

Today there is much interest in teaching secondary students about climate change. Much of this effort has focused directly on students' understanding of climate change. We hypothesize, however, that in order for students to understand climate change they must first understand climate as a system and how changes to this system due to both natural…

Predictors of public climate change awareness and risk perception around the world

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Tien Ming; Markowitz, Ezra M.; Howe, Peter D.; Ko, Chia-Ying; Leiserowitz, Anthony A.

2015-11-01

Climate change is a threat to human societies and natural ecosystems, yet public opinion research finds that public awareness and concern vary greatly. Here, using an unprecedented survey of 119 countries, we determine the relative influence of socio-demographic characteristics, geography, perceived well-being, and beliefs on public climate change awareness and risk perceptions at national scales. Worldwide, educational attainment is the single strongest predictor of climate change awareness. Understanding the anthropogenic cause of climate change is the strongest predictor of climate change risk perceptions, particularly in Latin America and Europe, whereas perception of local temperature change is the strongest predictor in many African and Asian countries. However, other key factors associated with public awareness and risk perceptions highlight the need to develop tailored climate communication strategies for individual nations. The results suggest that improving basic education, climate literacy, and public understanding of the local dimensions of climate change are vital to public engagement and support for climate action.

Environmental literacy framework with a focus on climate change (ELF): a framework and resources for teaching climate change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huffman, L. T.; Blythe, D.; Dahlman, L. E.; Fischbein, S.; Johnson, K.; Kontar, Y.; Rack, F. R.; Kulhanek, D. K.; Pennycook, J.; Reed, J.; Youngman, B.; Reeves, M.; Thomas, R.

2010-12-01

The challenges of communicating climate change science to non-technical audiences present a daunting task, but one that is recognized in the science community as urgent and essential. ANDRILL's (ANtarctic geological DRILLing) international network of scientists, engineers, technicians and educators work together to convey a deeper understanding of current geoscience research as well as the process of science to non-technical audiences. One roadblock for educators who recognize the need to teach climate change has been the lack of a comprehensive, integrated set of resources and activities that are related to the National Science Education Standards. Pieces of the climate change puzzle can be found in the excellent work of the groups of science and education professionals who wrote the Essential Principles of Ocean Sciences, Climate Literacy: The Essential Principles of Climate Science, Earth Science Literacy Principles: The Big Ideas and Supporting Concepts of Earth Science, and Essential Principals and Fundamental Concepts for Atmospheric Science Literacy, but teachers have precious little time to search out the climate change goals and objectives in those frameworks and then find the resources to teach them. Through NOAA funding, ANDRILL has created a new framework, The Environmental Literacy Framework with a Focus on Climate Change (ELF), drawing on the works of the aforementioned groups, and promoting an Earth Systems approach to teaching climate change through five units: Atmosphere, Biosphere, Geosphere, Hydrosphere/Cryosphere, and Energy as the driver of interactions within and between the “spheres.” Each key concept in the framework has a hands-on, inquiry activity and matching NOAA resources for teaching the objectives. In its present form, we present a ‘road map’ for teaching climate change and a set of resources intended to continue to evolve over time.

Climate Literacy and Cyberlearning: Emerging Platforms and Programs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McCaffrey, M. S.; Wise, S. B.; Buhr, S. M.

2009-12-01

With the release of the Essential Principles of Climate Science Literacy: A Guide for Individuals and Communities in the Spring of 2009, an important step toward an shared educational and communication framework about climate science was achieved. Designed as a living document, reviewed and endorsed by the thirteen federal agencies in the U.S. Climate Change Science Program (now U.S. Global Change Research Program), the Essential Principles of Climate Literacy complement other Earth system literacy efforts. A variety of emerging efforts have begun to build on the framework using a variety of cyberlearning tools, including an online Climate Literacy course developed by Education and Outreach group at CIRES, the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, and the Independent Learning program of the Continuing Education Division at the University of Colorado at Boulder. The online course, piloted during the Summer of 2009 with formal classroom teachers and informal science educators, made use of the online Climate Literacy Handbook, which was developed by CIRES Education and Outreach and the Encyclopedia of Earth, which is supported by the National Council for Science and the Environment and hosted by Boston University. This paper will explore challenges and opportunities in the use of cyberlearning tools to support climate literacy efforts, highlight the development of the online course and handbook, and note related emerging cyberlearning platforms and programs for climate literacy, including related efforts by the Climate Literacy Network, the NASA Global Climate Change Education programs, the National STEM Education Distributed Learning (NSDL) and AAAS Project 2061.

Climate Change Education: Student Media Production to Educate and Engage

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rooney-Varga, J. N.; Brisk, A. A.; Ledley, T. S.; Shuldman, M.

2011-12-01

Climate change education offers many challenges, including the complexity of the natural and human systems involved, a need for a multi-disciplinary perspective, and the psychological barriers to learning that result from a problem that frequently elicits a sense of being overwhelmed and powerless. The implications of climate change impacts and/or solutions can be especially overwhelming for today's students, who are likely to be confronted with many projected changes within their lifetimes. We are developing approaches to incorporate video production by students at both the high school and university levels in order to overcome many of the challenges unique to climate change education. Through media production, students are asked to convey complex topics using clear, simple language and metaphor, so their content knowledge must be deep enough to educate others. Video production is a team effort (director, camera person, editor, etc.) and inherently creates an opportunity for learning in a social context, which has been shown to lead to better learning outcomes in climate change education. Video production also promotes the basic tenets of engagement theory, in which a small group of students is in constant contact with the content and, ideally, creates a product that can be disseminated broadly. Lastly, putting students behind the camera can give them a voice and a sense of empowerment, fostering active participation in the learning process. While video is a medium that is readily disseminated to a broad audience, our focus is on the process (i.e., learning outcomes of students directly involved in media production), not the product. However, we have found that providing students with a means to add their voices to the broader public's discussion of climate change has a positive impact on student engagement with climate change science and on public awareness this problem beyond the classroom. While student-produced media pieces are not intended to provide in-depth scientific information to the broader public, we have found that they can be successful in conveying some of the key, basic concepts needed to understand anthropogenic climate change. Some of these concepts include the causal relationships between fossil fuel-based energy systems, atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations, and climate change; the distinction between natural and anthropogenic processes in the carbon cycle; impacts of climate change on ecosystem services; and transitioning to renewable energy systems that do not emit carbon dioxide is necessary to avert 'dangerous' climate change.

Narratives of Dynamic Lands: Science Education, Indigenous Knowledge and Possible Futures

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McGinty, Megan; Bang, Megan

2016-01-01

We aim to share some of our work currently focused on understanding and unearthing the multiplicities of ways the denial of culture in relation to science and knowledge construction is embedded in issues of climate change and climate change education. The issues become more troubling when we consider how effects of climate change are manifesting…

Narratives of dynamic lands: science education, indigenous knowledge and possible futures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McGinty, Megan; Bang, Megan

2016-06-01

We aim to share some of our work currently focused on understanding and unearthing the multiplicities of ways the denial of culture in relation to science and knowledge construction is embedded in issues of climate change and climate change education. The issues become more troubling when we consider how effects of climate change are manifesting locally in ways that force shifts in Indigenous ways of living while simultaneously nation-states seem to think that continued or increased control of Indigenous practice is warranted. For us, taking the implications of such approaches seriously requires significant consideration of how climate education impacts Indigenous learners and whether learning western climate science is indeed part of making real change important. In our work we have focused on the ways in which settler-colonialism and the resultant racialized hierarchies permeate science education and contribute to an expectation of human entitlement to land and a notion of land permanence.

Climate Change Education: Goals, Audiences, and Strategies--A Workshop Summary

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Forest, Sherrie; Feder, Michael A.

2011-01-01

The global scientific and policy community now unequivocally accepts that human activities cause global climate change. Although information on climate change is readily available, the nation still seems unprepared or unwilling to respond effectively to climate change, due partly to a general lack of public understanding of climate change issues…

The Fate of the World is in your hands: computer gaming for multi-faceted climate change education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bedford, D. P.

2015-12-01

Climate change is a multi-faceted (or 'wicked') problem. True climate literacy therefore requires understanding not only the workings of the climate system, but also the current and potential future impacts of climate change and sea level rise on individuals, communities and countries around the world, as noted in the US Global Change Research Program's (2009) Climate Literacy: The Essential Principles of Climate Sciences. The asymmetric nature of climate change impacts, whereby the world's poorest countries have done the least to cause the problem but will suffer disproportionate consequences, has also been widely noted. Education in climate literacy therefore requires an element of ethics in addition to physical and social sciences. As if addressing these multiple aspects of climate change were not challenging enough, polling data has repeatedly shown that many members of the public tend to see climate change as a far away problem affecting people remote from them at a point in the future, but not themselves. This perspective is likely shared by many students. Computer gaming provides a possible solution to the combined problems of, on the one hand, addressing the multi-faceted nature of climate change, and, on the other hand, making the issue real to students. Fate of the World, a game produced by the company Red Redemption, has been used on several occasions in a small (20-30 students) introductory level general education course on global warming at Weber State University. Players are required to balance difficult decisions about energy investment while managing regional political disputes and attempting to maintain minimum levels of development in the world's poorer countries. By providing a realistic "total immersion" experience, the game has the potential to make climate change issues more immediate to players, and presents them with the ethical dilemmas inherent in climate change. This presentation reports on the use of Fate of the World in an educational setting, highlighting student experiences and lessons learned from two attempts to use the game as a tool for teaching the multi-faceted nature of climate change.

The Promise and Limitations of Using Analogies to Improve Decision-Relevant Understanding of Climate Change.

PubMed

Raimi, Kaitlin T; Stern, Paul C; Maki, Alexander

2017-01-01

To make informed choices about how to address climate change, members of the public must develop ways to consider established facts of climate science and the uncertainties about its future trajectories, in addition to the risks attendant to various responses, including non-response, to climate change. One method suggested for educating the public about these issues is the use of simple mental models, or analogies comparing climate change to familiar domains such as medical decision making, disaster preparedness, or courtroom trials. Two studies were conducted using online participants in the U.S.A. to test the use of analogies to highlight seven key decision-relevant elements of climate change, including uncertainties about when and where serious damage may occur, its unprecedented and progressive nature, and tradeoffs in limiting climate change. An internal meta-analysis was then conducted to estimate overall effect sizes across the two studies. Analogies were not found to inform knowledge about climate literacy facts. However, results suggested that people found the medical analogy helpful and that it led people-especially political conservatives-to better recognize several decision-relevant attributes of climate change. These effects were weak, perhaps reflecting a well-documented and overwhelming effect of political ideology on climate change communication and education efforts in the U.S.A. The potential of analogies and similar education tools to improve understanding and communication in a polarized political environment are discussed.

Examining Educational Climate Change Technology: How Group Inquiry Work with Realistic Scientific Technology Alters Classroom Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bush, Drew; Sieber, Renee; Seiler, Gale; Chandler, Mark

2018-01-01

This study with 79 students in Montreal, Quebec, compared the educational use of a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) global climate model (GCM) to climate education technologies developed for classroom use that included simpler interfaces and processes. The goal was to show how differing climate education technologies succeed…

Tipping Points and Balancing Acts: Grand Challenges and Synergistic Opportunities of Integrating Research and Education, Science and Solutions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McCaffrey, M. S.; Stroeve, J. C.

2011-12-01

The "Grand Challenges" to address Global Change identified by the International Council for Science (ICSU) and its partners through the Earth System Sustainability Initiative-improving forecasting, enhancing and integrating observation systems, confining and minimizing global environmental change, responding effectively to change, as well as innovating and evaluating these efforts-require an integrative approach that engages and inspires society in general and young people in particular. What are some of the effective strategies-and stumbling blocks-in being able to make Earth System science and related sustainability efforts relevant and practical to non-technical audiences? Recent climate education projects have pioneered new strategies toward linking and infusing research with education, science with solutions. For example, the Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network (CLEAN), a National Science Digital Library Pathway funded by NSF, has approached this integral approach by "closing the loop" between climate and energy topics, identifying and annotating high quality online resources relating to the carbon cycle and related topics. The Inspiring Climate Education Excellence (ICEE) project, funded by NASA, offers professional development for teachers that infuses climate science with solutions as an emerging "best practice" while being sensitive to the emotional, psychological and political aspects of avoiding "gloom and doom" on one hand or advocating for particular policy solutions on another. Other examples includes NASA's climate website (http://climate.nasa.gov ), which serves as a robust, engaging portal for climate research and data, especially for educators. The recent PBS series Earth: The Operators' Manual and related book and website are other recent example of how climate science research, education and solutions can be incorporated in a way that is appealing and informative. The Alliance for Climate Education (ACE) has given assemblies in thousands of US high schools that integrate climate science and solutions in a way that inspires and informs youth, and similar programs exist internationally. Other approaches to prepare vulnerable communities, especially young people, for natural hazards and human-induced environmental change include programs such as Plan International's "Child Centered Disaster Risk Reduction- Building Resilience Through Participation," and their "Weathering the Storm" project, focusing on integrating the needs of teenage girls with climate change adaptation and risk reduction. While minimizing global environmental and climate change is crucial, these and related programs that weave research with education, science with solutions offer the potential for addressing the "Grand Challenges" by better preparing for societal and environmental tipping points through a more balanced and integrated approach to addressing change."

How Five Master Teachers Teach about Climate Chang

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bloch, L.

2015-12-01

The AGU Position Statement, "Human-Induced Climate Change Requires Urgent Action," calls on scientists to "[work] with stakeholders to identify relevant information, and [to convey] understanding clearly and accurately, both to decision makers and to the general public". Everyday, K-12 teachers communicate with an important segment of the general public, and they represent important stakeholders with unique needs. The terms 'global warming', 'greenhouse effect', and 'climate change' appear nowhere in the 1996 National Science Education Standards, but under the Next Generation Science Standards, millions of teachers- most of whom have little to no experience teaching about climate change- will be required to cover the topic. This presentation discusses research conducted with five veteran public school teachers, each of whom has been teaching about climate change for many years. The group comprises three high school teachers, a middle school teacher, and an elementary school teacher. The study examined: 1) What these teachers teach about climate change; 2) How they teach about climate change; 3) What resources they use in teaching and learning about climate change; and 4) How they think the scientific community can support teachers in their efforts to teach about climate change. The teachers varied in their teaching practices and in their conceptions of 'climate change', but they all said that the academic community can support climate change education by developing locally relevant educational resources. Scientists working with K-12 teachers can build on the work of these master teachers, and attendees can access detailed descriptions of all of the lessons and the associated learning materials.

Climate Change Education and Education for Sustainable Development in the Republic of Korea: A Status Report

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sung, Junghee

2015-01-01

The Republic of Korea (ROK) has officially declared its national vision of green growth, and actively develops and implements policies related to education for sustainable development (ESD), green growth education (GGE) and climate change education (CCE). Over the Decade of ESD, the ROK experienced three administrations which have taken different…

Medical Providers as Global Warming and Climate Change Health Educators: A Health Literacy Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Villagran, Melinda; Weathers, Melinda; Keefe, Brian; Sparks, Lisa

2010-01-01

Climate change is a threat to wildlife and the environment, but it also one of the most pervasive threats to human health. The goal of this study was to examine the relationships among dimensions of health literacy, patient education about global warming and climate change (GWCC), and health behaviors. Results reveal that patients who have higher…

How Teachers' Beliefs about Climate Change Influence Their Instruction, Student Understanding, and Willingness to Take Action

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Trendell Nation, Molly

2017-01-01

Climate change science is complex and controversial in nature, yet seen by educators and policy makers as an important topic to be taught within secondary science education. This is becoming increasingly evident with the inclusion of climate change into the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) for Earth and Space Sciences as well as Life…

Climate Discovery Online Courses for Educators from NCAR

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Henderson, S.; Ward, D. L.; Meymaris, K. K.; Johnson, R. M.; Gardiner, L.; Russell, R.

2008-12-01

The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) has responded to the pressing need for professional development in climate and global change sciences by creating the Climate Discovery online course series. This series was designed with the secondary geoscience educator in mind. The online courses are based on current and credible climate change science. Interactive learning techniques are built into the online course designs with assignments that encourage active participation. A key element of the online courses is the creation of a virtual community of geoscience educators who exchange ideas related to classroom implementation, student assessment, and lessons plans. Geoscience educators from around the country have participated in the online courses. The ongoing interest from geoscience educators strongly suggests that the NCAR Climate Discovery online courses are a timely and needed professional development opportunity. The intent of NCAR Climate Discovery is to positively impact teachers' professional development scientifically authentic information, (2) experiencing guided practice in conducting activities and using ancillary resources in workshop venues, (3) gaining access to standards-aligned lesson plans, kits that promote hands-on learning, and scientific content that are easily implemented in their classrooms, and (4) becoming a part of a community of educators with whom they may continue to discuss the challenges of pedagogy and content comprehension in teaching climate change in the Earth system context. Three courses make up the Climate Discovery series: Introduction to Climate Change; Earth System Science - A Climate Change Perspective; and Understanding Climate Change Today. Each course, instructed by science education specialists, combines geoscience content, information about current climate research, hands-on activities, and group discussion. The online courses use the web-based Moodle courseware system (open- source software similar to Blackboard and webCT), utilizing its features to promote dialogue as well as provide rich online content and media. A key element of the online courses is the development and support of an online learning community, an essential component in successful online courses. Interactive learning techniques are built into the course designs with assignments that encourage active participation. Educators (both formal and informal) use the courses as a venue to exchange ideas and teaching resources. A unique feature of the courses is the emphasis on hands-on activities, a hallmark of our professional development efforts. This presentation will focus on the lessons learned in the development of the three online courses and our successful recruitment and retention efforts.

'The Lived Experience of Climate Changé: An Interdisciplinary and Competence-Based Masters Track Using Open Educational Resources and Virtual Mobility

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abbott, Dina; de Kraker, Joop; Pérez, Paquita; van Scheltinga, Catharien Terwisscha; Willems, Patrick; Wilson, Gordon

Drawing on the authors' involvement in a European Union Erasmus project, this paper explores a new holistic approach to climate change education which uses as a source of active/social learning and knowledge construction the diversity of different disciplinary and sectoral approaches. We further argue for a corresponding pedagogy based on developing transboundary competences where the communicative engagement across space and time, and between diverse perspectives and standpoints, is ICT-enabled. Meeting these challenges is a normative goal, not only for this expanded interdisciplinary approach to climate change education, but also for a global resolution of the climate change issue itself.

The Mathematical Formatting of Climate Change: Critical Mathematics Education and Post-Normal Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barwell, Richard

2013-01-01

Climate change is one of the most pressing issues of the 21st Century. Mathematics is involved at every level of understanding climate change, including the description, prediction and communication of climate change. As a highly complex issue, climate change is an example of "post-normal" science -- it is urgent, complex and involves a…

Novel Tools for Climate Change Learning and Responding in Earth Science Education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sparrow, Elena; Brunacini, Jessica; Pfirman, Stephanie

2015-04-01

Several innovative, polar focused activities and tools including a polar hub website (http://thepolarhub.org) have been developed for use in formal and informal earth science or STEM education by the Polar Learning and Responding (PoLAR) Climate Change Education Partnership (consisting of climate scientists, experts in the learning sciences and education practitioners). In seeking to inform understanding of and response to climate change, these tools and activities range from increasing awareness to informing decisions about climate change, from being used in classrooms (by undergraduate students as well as by pre-college students or by teachers taking online climate graduate courses) to being used in the public arena (by stakeholders, community members and the general public), and from using low technology (card games such as EcoChains- Arctic Crisis, a food web game or SMARTIC - Strategic Management of Resources in Times of Change, an Arctic marine spatial planning game) to high technology (Greenify Network - a mobile real world action game that fosters sustainability and allows players to meaningfully address climate change in their daily lives, or the Polar Explorer Data Visualization Tablet App that allows individuals to explore data collected by scientists and presented for the everyday user through interactive maps and visualizations, to ask questions and go on an individualized tour of polar regions and their connections to the rest of the world). Games are useful tools in integrative and applied learning, in gaining practical and intellectual skills, and in systems thinking. Also, as part of the PoLAR Partnership, a Signs of the Land Climate Change Camp was collaboratively developed and conducted, that can be used as a model for engaging and representing indigenous communities in the co-production of climate change knowledge, communication tools and solutions building. Future camps are planned with Alaska Native Elders, educators including classroom teachers, natural resource managers, community members, leaders, and climate scientists as participants.

A National Road Map to a Climate Literate Society: Advancing Climate Literacy by Coordinating Federal Climate Change Educational Programs (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Niepold, F.; Karsten, J. L.

2009-12-01

Over the 21st century, climate scientists expect Earth's temperature to continue increasing, very likely more than it did during the 20th century. Two anticipated results are rising global sea level and increasing frequency and intensity of heat waves, droughts, and floods. [IPCC 2007, USGCRP 2009] These changes will affect almost every aspect of human society, including economic prosperity, human and environmental health, and national security. Climate change will bring economic and environmental challenges as well as opportunities, and citizens who have an understanding of climate science will be better prepared to respond to both. Society needs citizens who understand the climate system and know how to apply that knowledge in their careers and in their engagement as active members of their communities. Climate change will continue to be a significant element of public discourse. Understanding the essential principles of climate science will enable all people to assess news stories and contribute to their everyday conversations as informed citizens. Key to our nations response to climate change will be a Climate Literate society that understands their influence on climate and climate’s influence on them and society. In order to ensure the nation increases its literacy, the Climate Literacy: Essential Principles of Climate Science document has been endorsed by the 13 Federal agencies that make up the US Global Change Research Program (http://globalchange.gov/resources/educators/climate-literacy) and twenty-four other science and educational institutions. This session will explore the coordinated efforts by the federal agencies and partner organizations to ensure a climate literate society. "Climate Literacy: The Essential Principles of Climate Sciences: A Guide for Individuals and Communities" produced by the U.S. Global Change Research Program in March 2009

A Faculty Workshop Model to Integrate Climate Change across the Curriculum

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Teranes, J. L.

2017-12-01

Much of the growing scientific certainty of human impacts on the climate system, and the implications of these impacts on current and future generations, have been discovered and documented in research labs in colleges and universities across the country. Often these institutions also take decisive action towards combatting climate change, by making significant reductions in greenhouse emissions and pledging to greater future reductions. Yet, there are still far too many students that graduate from these campuses without an adequate understanding of how climate change will impact them within their lifetimes and without adequate workforce preparation to implement solutions. It may be that where college and universities still have the largest influence on climate change adaption and mitigation is in the way that we educate students. Here I present a curriculum workshop model at UC San Diego that leverages faculty expertise to infuse climate change education across disciplines to enhance UC San Diego students' climate literacy, particularly for those students whose major focus is not in the geosciences. In this model, twenty faculty from a breadth of disciplines, including social sciences, humanities, arts, education, and natural sciences participated in workshops and developed curricula to infuse aspects of climate change into their existing undergraduate courses. We particularly encouraged development of climate change modules in courses in the humanities, social sciences and arts that are best positioned to address the important human and social dimensions of climate change. In this way, climate change content becomes embedded in current course offerings, including non-science courses, to increase climate literacy among a greater number and a broader cross-section of students.

Current State of Climate Education in the United States: Are Graduate Students being Adequately Prepared to Address Climate Issues?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kuster, E.; Fox, G.

2016-12-01

Climate change is happening; scientists have already observed changes in sea level, increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide, and declining polar ice. The students of today are the leaders of tomorrow, and it is our duty to make sure they are well equipped and they understand the implications of climate change as part of their research and professional careers. Graduate students, in particular, are gaining valuable and necessary research, leadership, and critical thinking skills, but we need to ensure that they are receiving the appropriate climate education in their graduate training. Previous studies have primarily focused on capturing the K-12, college level, and general publics' knowledge of the climate system, concluding with recommendations on how to improve climate literacy in the classroom. While this is extremely important to study, very few studies have captured the current perception that graduate students hold regarding the amount of climate education being offered to them. This information is important to capture, as it can inform future curriculum development. We developed and distributed a nationwide survey (495 respondents) for graduate students to capture their perception on the level of climate system education being offered and their view on the importance of having climate education. We also investigated differences in the responses based on either geographic area or discipline. We compared how important graduate students felt it was to include climate education in their own discipline versus outside disciplines. The authors will discuss key findings from this ongoing research.

("un")Doing the Next Generation Science Standards: Climate Change Education Actor-Networks in Oklahoma

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Colston, Nicole M.; Ivey, Toni A.

2015-01-01

This exploratory research investigated how science education communities of practice in Oklahoma engage in translations of climate change education (CCE). Applications of actor-network theory to educational policymaking facilitate this analysis of the spaces of prescription and spaces of negotiation that characterize CCE in Oklahoma. Informed by…

Preparing Informal Bay Area Educators for Climate Education Success

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Romero, M.

2016-12-01

The Bay Area Climate Literacy Impact Collaborative (Bay-CLIC) joins informal science educators from over 30 environmental education organizations with the common goal of increasing climate literacy and action. Over this past year, the collaborative has been gathering existing tools and resources that will allow informal educators in the Bay Area to communicate on climate change with confidence. Bay-CLIC's work plans to bring climate science to life by equipping educators with climate data that resonates best with local audiences, which is data that is place-based and personal. Bay-CLIC is also researching effective sustainability campaigns focused on behavior change that can be crafted to fit our unique regional context and rolled out across multiple Bay-CLIC member organizations. This session will focus on sharing our findings from our six month information gathering phase. The overarching discussion will focus on the needs that Bay Area educators identified as necessary to address in order for them to provide the best quality climate education programming. We will also discuss the data we gathered on what local educators are already using in their work and share out on how this diverse array of informal educators will be implementing our research into their programs.

Climate Change Education Today in K-12: What's Happening in the Earth and Space Science Classroom?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Holzer, M. A.; National Earth Science Teachers Association

2011-12-01

Climate change is a highly interdisciplinary topic, involving not only multiple fields of science, but also social science and the humanities. There are many aspects of climate change science that make it particularly well-suited for exploration in the K-12 setting, including opportunities to explore the unifying processes of science such as complex systems, models, observations, change and evolution. Furthermore, this field of science offers the opportunity to observe the nature of science in action - including how scientists develop and improve their understanding through research and debate. Finally, climate change is inherently highly relevant to students - indeed, students today will need to deal with the consequences of the climate change. The science of climate change is clearly present in current science education standards, both at the National level as well as in the majority of states. Nonetheless, a significant number of teachers across the country report difficulties addressing climate change in the classroom. The National Earth Science Teachers Association has conducted several surveys of Earth and space science educators across the country over the past several years on a number of issues, including their needs and concerns, including their experience of external influences on what they teach. While the number of teachers that report external pressures to not teach climate change science are in the minority (and less than the pressure to not teach evolution and related topics), our results suggest that this pressure against climate change science in the K-12 classroom has grown over the past several years. Some teachers report being threatened by parents, being encouraged by administrators to not teach the subject, and a belief that the "two sides" of climate change should be taught. Survey results indicate that teachers in religious or politically-conservative districts are more likely to report difficulties in teaching about climate change than in other areas of the country. This presentation will provide an overview of our most recent survey results on climate change education in the K-12 Earth and space science classroom, including highlighting some of the strategies that teachers are using to bring this critically important area of science to their students.

Building the capacity of Extension educators to address climate change and agricultural sustainability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pathak, T. B.; Doll, J. E.

2016-12-01

It is evident that changes in climate will adversely impact various sectors including agriculture and natural resources worldwide. Increased temperatures, longer than normal growing seasons, more frequent extreme weather events, decreased winter snowpack, earlier snowmelt, and vulnerability to pest are some of the examples of changes and impacts documented in the literature. According to the IPCC 2007, mainstreaming` climate change issues into decision-making is an important aspect for sustainability. Due to the lack of locally and regionally focused educational programs, it becomes difficult for people to translate the science into meaningful actions. One of the strengths of the Cooperative Extension system is that it is one of the most trusted sources of science-based information that is locally relevant. In order to utilize strong network of Cooperative Extension system, we implemented a project to provide regionally tailored climate change and sustainable agriculture professional development for Cooperative Extension and Natural Resources Conservation Services (NRCS) educators in 12 states in north central US. We conducted these activities: 1) creation and dissemination of a Climate Change and Sustainable Agriculture Resource Handbook and a curriculum and 2) two climate change and sustainable agriculture workshops. In general, this project resulted in improved ability of Cooperative Extension academics to respond to climate change questions with science-based information. Several workshop attendees also integrated information provided to them through resource handbook and curriculum into their existing programming. In the long-term, we hope these programs will result in educators and farmers making informed choices and recommendations that lead to sustainable agriculture in the face of climate change.

Climate Generation: Advancing Climate Action through Education, Public Engagement and Youth Leadership

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Poppleton, K. L. I.

2017-12-01

Climate Generation: A Will Steger Legacy empowers youth, educators, decision-makers and the public to foster climate literacy and action with the goal of building a more equitable and resilient future. We have over eleven years of experience delivering high-quality K-12 education, public engagement and youth leadership programming, reaching over 75,000 people, 35,000 students and 17,000 educators since 2006. By engaging educators, youth, and the public, we believe that communities can be better positioned to build a resilient and equitable future. For this reason we strive to engage with all these sectors through innovative programming and policy initiatives. Communities are resilient when individuals are connected to each other, resources, and decision-makers. Sharing personal narratives, and highlighting locally relevant solutions are all tools that Climate Generation employs to engage the public. We do this through community wide convenings, as well as sector specific events including at breweries, art fairs, and businesses. Education is also an integral piece for sustained action on climate change. We support educators with a science-based, interdisciplinary model of climate change education that engages all learners, and fosters climate literacy and action. We develop curriculum and offer professional development, encouraging teachers to develop today's students into action-competent citizens. Finally, Climate Generation recognizes the importance of empowering high school youth as a key strategy in transitioning to a just and sustainable future for all. We believe in the inherent genius of youth and know from experience that mentorship fosters powerful youth leadership at the community level, inspiring peers, family members, and local decision-makers to take critical action on climate change solutions. In order to accelerate and implement action on climate change we must take a multi-faceted approach: we are building public will for strong climate action at the local and state level; preparing educators and their students to understand the problem and implement clean energy solutions; and pushing our decision-makers to do the right thing via pressure from their constituents, including youth, who can effectively articulate equitable policy solutions and hold officials accountable.

Impacts Of Global/Regional Climate Changes On Environment And Health: Need For Integrated Research And Education Collaboration (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tuluri, F.

2013-12-01

The realization of long term changes in climate in research community has to go beyond the comfort zone through climate literacy in academics. Higher education on climate change is the platform to bring together the otherwise disconnected factors such as effective discovery, decision making, innovation, interdisciplinary collaboration, Climate change is a complex process that may be due to natural internal processes within the climate system, or to variations in natural or anthropogenic (human-driven) external forcing. Global climate change indicates a change in either the mean state of the climate or in its variability, persisting for several decades or longer. This includes changes in average weather conditions on Earth, such as a change in average global temperature, as well as changes in how frequently regions experience heat waves, droughts, floods, storms, and other extreme weather. It is important to examine the effects of climate variations on human health and disorders in order to take preventive measures. Similarly, the influence of climate changes on animal management practices, pests and pest management systems, and high value crops such as citrus and vegetables is also equally important for investigation. New genetic agricultural varieties must be explored, and pilot studies should examine biotechnology transfer. Recent climate model improvements have resulted in an enhanced ability to simulate many aspects of climate variability and extremes. However, they are still characterized by systematic errors and limitations in accurately simulating more precisely regional climate conditions. The present situations warrant developing climate literacy on the synergistic impacts of environmental change, and improve development, testing and validation of integrated stress impacts through computer modeling. In the present study we present a detailed study of the current status on the impacts of global/regional climate changes on environment and health with a view to highlighting the need for integrated research and education collaboration at national and global level.

Climate Change Adaptation Challenges and EO Business Opportunities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lopez-Baeza, Ernesto; Mathieu, Pierre-Philippe; Bansal, Rahul; Del Rey, Maria; Mohamed, Ebrahim; Ruiz, Paz; Signes, Marcos

Climate change is one of the defining challenges of the 21st century, but is no longer a matter of just scientific concern. It encompasses economics, sociology, global politics as well as national and local politics, law, health and environmental security, etc. The challenge of facing the impacts of climate change is often framed in terms of two potential paths that civilization might take: mitigation and adaptation. On the one hand, mitigation involves reducing the magnitude of climate change itself and is composed of emissions reductions and geoengineering. On the other hand and by contrast, adaptation involves efforts to limit our vulnerability to climate change impacts through various measures. It refers to our ability to adjust ourselves to climate change -including climate variability and extremes, to moderate potential damage, to take advantage of opportunities, or to cope with the consequences. Therefore, we are now faced with a double challenge: next to deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, we also need to adapt to the changing climate conditions. The use of satellites to monitor processes and trends at the global scale is essential in the context of climate change. Earth Observation has the potential to improve our predictive vision and to advance climate models. Space sciences and technologies constitute a significant issue in Education and Public Awareness of Science. Space missions face the probably largest scientific and industrial challenges of humanity. It is thus a fact that space drives innovation in the major breakthrough and cutting edge technological advances of mankind (techniques, processes, new products, … as well as in markets and business models). Technology and innovation is the basis of all space activities. Space agencies offer an entire range of space-related activities - from space science and environmental monitoring to industrial competitiveness and end-user services. More specifically, Earth Observation satellites have a unique global view of planet Earth, providing us -with better data- with consistent and frequent information on the state of our environment at the regional and global scale, also in important but remote areas. Climate Knowledge and Innovation Communities (Climate-KIC), a relatively new initiative from the European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT), provides the innovations, entrepreneurship, education and expert guidance needed to shape Europe's climate change agenda. This paper shows some initiatives that the University of Valencia Climate-KIC Education Group is carrying out in collaboration with the Climate-KIC Central Education Lead in the field of space education to foster and encourage students and entrepreneurs to endevour in these new space business opportunities offered by this step forward towards climate change adaptation challenges.

Notes from the field: Educating, inspiring and activating the next generation of climate leaders

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anderson, R.

2010-12-01

Due to the inherent lag time within the climate system, some of the greatest impacts of climate change will be felt in future decades by those who are today too young to control the course of human action (or inaction). Though today’s youth are not in the driver’s seat yet, this does not mean they are powerless to shape their own futures. To do this, students need to be empowered with an understanding of why and how climate change is happening and how it affects their lives. To prevent students from disengaging entirely in the face of such bleak picture, however, this information must be balanced with a more hopeful message of optimism about the future that they themselves can help to create. The Alliance for Climate Education (ACE) is a non-profit organization whose mission is to educate high school students about climate change and to inspire them to take action that makes a difference on this important issue. ACE educators deliver dynamic and engaging multimedia assembly presentations to high schools in 9 regions around the country. During the 2009-2010 school year, ACE educators spoke to over 400,000 high school students at over 900 high schools, educating students about current climate science in a dynamic manner that is meaningful and relevant. The presentation uses animated graphics to explain how humans are causing climate change, providing both a historical and paleoclimate perspective. Educators discuss the consequences of climate change with real-world video footage, showing both current impacts and model-based predictions for the future. The accompanying script has been thoroughly referenced with peer-reviewed articles to back up all information given. ACE’s education model illustrates for students how climate change will and does impact their lives—which can be sobering news to young people—but also imparts to students a sense of hope for the future by giving them tools to take action. ACE strives to form a crucial link between a foundation of good science and an outlet for students to make change. With ACE, high school students have started over 400 Action Teams at their schools that take on projects ranging from a DOT campaign, where students pledge to Do One Thing to help the environment, to working to put solar panels on their school. By connecting their local actions to ACE’s network, students become part of the larger youth climate movement and can see how their separate actions add up. Through regional trainings, students develop leadership skills to go beyond individual action to collective action at the community, state and national scale. This solutions-oriented approach to climate education is essential to engaging students towards becoming not only climate literate but also climate proactive. This presentation will include selections from ACE’s high school assembly presentation as well as highlights from ACE’s follow-up program for translating education into action.

A Model for Collaborative Learning in Undergraduate Climate Change Courses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Teranes, J. L.

2008-12-01

Like several colleges and universities across the nation, the University of California, San Diego, has introduced climate change topics into many existing and new undergraduate courses. I have administered a program in this area at UCSD and have also developed and taught a new lower-division UCSD course entitled "Climate Change and Society", a general education course for non-majors. This class covers the basics of climate change, such as the science that explains it, the causes of climate change, climate change impacts, and mitigation strategies. The teaching methods for this course stress interdisciplinary approaches. I find that inquiry-based and collaborative modes of learning are particularly effective when applied to science-based climate, environmental and sustainability topics. Undergraduate education is often dominated by a competitive and individualistic approach to learning. In this approach, individual success is frequently perceived as contingent on others being less successful. Such a model is at odds with commonly stated goals of teaching climate change and sustainability, which are to equip students to contribute to the debate on global environmental change and societal adaptation strategies; and to help students become better informed citizens and decision makers. I present classroom-tested strategies for developing collaborative forms of learning in climate change and environmental courses, including team projects, group presentations and group assessment exercises. I show how critical thinking skills and long-term retention of information can benefit in the collaborative mode of learning. I find that a collaborative learning model is especially appropriate to general education courses in which the enrolled student body represents a wide diversity of majors, class level and expertise. I also connect collaborative coursework in interdisciplinary environmental topics directly to applications in the field, where so much "real-world" achievement in research, education, government and business is effectively accomplished in collaborative teams.

Applying "Climate" system to teaching basic climatology and raising public awareness of climate change issues

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gordova, Yulia; Okladnikov, Igor; Titov, Alexander; Gordov, Evgeny

2016-04-01

While there is a strong demand for innovation in digital learning, available training programs in the environmental sciences have no time to adapt to rapid changes in the domain content. A joint group of scientists and university teachers develops and implements an educational environment for new learning experiences in basics of climatic science and its applications. This so-called virtual learning laboratory "Climate" contains educational materials and interactive training courses developed to provide undergraduate and graduate students with profound understanding of changes in regional climate and environment. The main feature of this Laboratory is that students perform their computational tasks on climate modeling and evaluation and assessment of climate change using the typical tools of the "Climate" information-computational system, which are usually used by real-life practitioners performing such kind of research. Students have an opportunity to perform computational laboratory works using information-computational tools of the system and improve skills of their usage simultaneously with mastering the subject. We did not create an artificial learning environment to pass the trainings. On the contrary, the main purpose of association of the educational block and computational information system was to familiarize students with the real existing technologies for monitoring and analysis of data on the state of the climate. Trainings are based on technologies and procedures which are typical for Earth system sciences. Educational courses are designed to permit students to conduct their own investigations of ongoing and future climate changes in a manner that is essentially identical to the techniques used by national and international climate research organizations. All trainings are supported by lectures, devoted to the basic aspects of modern climatology, including analysis of current climate change and its possible impacts ensuring effective links between theory and practice. Along with its usage in graduate and postgraduate education, "Climate" is used as a framework for a developed basic information course on climate change for common public. In this course basic concepts and problems of modern climate change and its possible consequences are described for non-specialists. The course will also include links to relevant information resources on topical issues of Earth Sciences and a number of case studies, which are carried out for a selected region to consolidate the received knowledge.

How the Pacific Islands Climate Education Partnership (PCEP) Has Collaboratively Increased Regional Collective Impacts on Climate Literacy Via Networks of Diverse Stakeholders Engaging in Multiple Reinforcing Activities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sussman, A.

2016-12-01

The Pacific Islands Climate Education Partnership (PCEP) serves the U.S. Affiliated Pacific Island (USAPI) Region. The international entities served by PCEP are the state of Hawai`i (USA); three Freely Associated States (the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau), and three Territories (Guam, Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa). Funded by NSF, the PCEP aims to educate the region's students and citizens in ways that exemplify modern science and indigenous environmental knowledge, address the urgency of climate change impacts, and focus on adaptation strategies that can increase resiliency with respect to climate change impacts. PCEP partners include universities, education nonprofits, state or country offices/ministries of education, local ecological nonprofits, and a variety of community organizations. Partners contribute and share expertise in climate science, local ecological knowledge, K-12 education in the Pacific island region, science and environmental education, community college education, learning science, indigenous navigation, and oceanography. Over the past six years, PCEP has engaged with regional school systems and communities in a wide variety of ways that complement and reinforce each other. Highlighted activities include improving country and state climate science education standards; focusing on place-based local ecological knowledge and skills in working with schools and communities; developing and disseminating formal education resources such as books and web resources that focus on local contexts and skills rather than contextually inappropriate mainland the textbooks; developing and implementing professional development for teachers; and supporting local ways of knowing by gathering and sharing local stories of climate change; and promoting an emphasis on climate adaptation strategies that increase resilience of natural environments and community systems.

TV Weathercasters as Climate Educators: Rationale, Evidence for Effectiveness, and Potential for Nationwide Scale-Up. (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maibach, E.; Cullen, H. M.; Witte, J.

2013-12-01

Climate change is influencing every region of the nation through weather and climatic events including heat waves, droughts, extreme precipitation and floods, more intense hurricanes, and forest fires, yet most Americans continue to perceive climate change as a problem distant in time (with impacts a generation or more away), and in space (that will primarily affect other countries, not the United States). This may be caused, in part, due to the fact that climate change is often described in global, abstract, and analytical terms that are hard for people to connect to their own lives. The impacts of climate change, however, can be personally experienced at the local level, including through unusual weather events; cognitive science has shown that the human brain is more adept at learning through personal experience than through analytical reasoning. In this paper we will describe our efforts to enable America's TV weathercasters to embrace the role of climate educator. Weathercasters are a relatively small cohort of highly skilled communication professionals who are optimally positioned to reach a large majority of the American public, and help move their viewers beyond an abstract (distant) notion of global climate change and toward an understanding of climate change that is both local and concrete. Approximately 70% of American adults watch local TV news, and their primary reason for doing so is to learn about the weather. Our research has shown that TV weathercasters are second only to scientists and government science agencies as trusted sources of information about climate change. Our surveys have also shown that - in every region of the country - many TV weathercasters are willing to embrace the role of climate educator, if certain barriers can be overcome. Our experimental pilot-test - in Columbia, South Carolina - of a model developed to help overcome those barriers demonstrated that: when TV weathercasters make an effort to educate their viewers about the local ramifications of climate change, their viewers learn. Our current attempts to scale-up the model on a limited basis - in one state as a field experiment, and elsewhere around the nation on an uncontrolled basis - are showing promise in terms of attracting an increasing numbers of participating weathercasters. Lastly, professional associations that represent TV weathercasters (AMS and NWA), and government agencies that produce climate and weather data for meteorologists (NOAA and NASA), are committed to help scale up this model so that all interested TV weathercasters have easy access to localized information through which to educate their viewers about local weather and related implications of climate change. In sum, by engaging and empowering TV weathercasters as climate educators, we seek to increase public understanding of the relationships among climate, climate variability, climate change, weather extremes and community vulnerability, and we believe this model has considerable potential.

Climate Change Science: The Literacy of Geography Teachers in the Western Cape Province, South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Anyanwu, Raymond; Le Grange, Lesley; Beets, Peter

2015-01-01

One of the universal responses to tackling global climate change is teaching climate change concepts at all levels of formal education. This response requires, among other things, teachers who are fully literate about climate change science, so that they can explain the concepts underlying the causes, impacts and solutions of climate change as…

Middle and High School Students' Conceptions of Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bofferding, Laura; Kloser, Matthew

2015-01-01

Both scientists and policy-makers emphasize the importance of education for influencing pro-environmental behavior and minimizing the effects of climate change on biological and physical systems. Education has the potential to impact students' system knowledge--their understanding of the variables that affect the climate system--and action…

The Promise and Limitations of Using Analogies to Improve Decision-Relevant Understanding of Climate Change

PubMed Central

Stern, Paul C.; Maki, Alexander

2017-01-01

To make informed choices about how to address climate change, members of the public must develop ways to consider established facts of climate science and the uncertainties about its future trajectories, in addition to the risks attendant to various responses, including non-response, to climate change. One method suggested for educating the public about these issues is the use of simple mental models, or analogies comparing climate change to familiar domains such as medical decision making, disaster preparedness, or courtroom trials. Two studies were conducted using online participants in the U.S.A. to test the use of analogies to highlight seven key decision-relevant elements of climate change, including uncertainties about when and where serious damage may occur, its unprecedented and progressive nature, and tradeoffs in limiting climate change. An internal meta-analysis was then conducted to estimate overall effect sizes across the two studies. Analogies were not found to inform knowledge about climate literacy facts. However, results suggested that people found the medical analogy helpful and that it led people—especially political conservatives—to better recognize several decision-relevant attributes of climate change. These effects were weak, perhaps reflecting a well-documented and overwhelming effect of political ideology on climate change communication and education efforts in the U.S.A. The potential of analogies and similar education tools to improve understanding and communication in a polarized political environment are discussed. PMID:28135337

Improve Climate Change Literacy At Minority Institutions Through Problem-based Teaching And Learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

yang, Z.; Williams, H.

2013-12-01

Climate change is one of most popular topics in the U.S. Currently we are implementing our funded NASA climate change education grant entitled as 'Preparing Science Educators with Climate Change Literacy through Problem-based Teaching and Learning'. This project aims to prepare underrepresented STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) teachers that are competent for teaching the contents of the Earth, climate, and climate change. In this project, we first developed lectures, assignments, and lab exercises which are related to climate change and then applied those materials in courses which are usually selected by pre-service teachers after modification based on students' evaluation. Also field visits to sites such as landfill and hog farm were provided to North Carolina Central University (NCCU) students in order to help them have better understanding on sources and amount of greenhouse gases emitted from human activities. In addition, summer interns are specifically trained to enhance and improve their knowledge and skills in climate change science. Those strategies have effectively improved climate change literacy of pre-service teachers at NCCU in spite of some challenges.

Nevada Infrastructure for Climate Change Science, Education, and Outreach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dana, G. L.; Lancaster, N.; Mensing, S. A.; Piechota, T.

2008-12-01

The Great Basin is characterized by complex basin and range topography, arid to semiarid climate, and a history of sensitivity to climate change. Mountain areas comprise about 10% of the landscape, yet are the areas of highest precipitation and generate 85% of groundwater recharge and most surface runoff. These characteristics provide an ideal natural laboratory to study the effects of climate change. The Nevada system of Higher Education, including the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, the University of Nevada, Reno, the Desert Research Institute, and Nevada State College have begun a five year research and infrastructure building program, funded by the National Science Foundation Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (NSF EPSCoR) with the vision "to create a statewide interdisciplinary program and virtual climate change center that will stimulate transformative research, education, and outreach on the effects of regional climate change on ecosystem resources (especially water) and support use of this knowledge by policy makers and stakeholders." Six major strategies are proposed to develop infrastructure needs and attain our vision: 1) Develop a capability to model climate change at a regional and sub-regional scale(Climate Modeling Component) 2) Analyze effects on ecosystems and disturbance regimes (Ecological Change Component) 3) Quantify and model changes in water balance and resources under climate change (Water Resources Component) 4) Assess effects on human systems and enhance policy making and outreach to communities and stakeholders (Policy, Decision-Making, and Outreach Component) 5) Develop a data portal and software to support interdisciplinary research via integration of data from observational networks and modeling (Cyberinfrastructure Component) and 6) Train teachers and students at all levels and provide public outreach in climate change issues (Education Component). Two new climate observational transects will be established across Great Basin Ranges, one anticipated on a mountain range in southern Nevada and the second to be located in north-central Nevada. Climatic, hydrologic and ecological data from these transects will be downloaded into high capacity data storage units and made available to researchers through creation of the Nevada climate change portal. Our research will aim to answer two interdisciplinary science questions key to understanding the effects of future climate change on Great Basin mountain ecosystems and the potential management strategies for responding to these changes: 1) How will climate change affect water resources and linked ecosystem resources and human systems? And 2) How will climate change affect disturbance regimes (e.g., wildland fires, invasive species, insect outbreaks, droughts) and linked systems? Infrastructure developed through this project will provide new interdisciplinary capability to detect, analyze, and model effects of regional climate change in mountainous regions of the west and provide a major contribution to existing climate change research and monitoring networks.

Approaches to Climate Literacy at the American Museum of Natural History

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Steiner, R. V.

2015-12-01

The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) offers a suite of courses, workshops and special events in climate change education for audiences ranging from young children to adults and utilizing both online and in-person formats. These offerings are supported by rich digital resources including video, animations and data visualizations. These efforts have the potential to raise awareness of climate change, deepen understandings and improve public discourse and decision-making on this critical issue. For adult audiences, Our Earth's Future offers participants a five-week course at AMNH that focuses on climate change science, impacts and communication, taking advantage of both AMNH expertise and exhibitry. Online versions of this course include both a ten-week course as well as three different three-week thematic courses. (The longer course is now available as a MOOC in Coursera.) These activities have been supported by a grant from IMLS. The results of independent evaluation provide insight into participant needs and how they might be addressed. For K-12 educators, the Museum's Seminars on Science program of online teacher professional development offers, in collaboration with its higher education partners, a graduate course in climate change that is authored by both an AMNH curator and leading NASA scientists. Developed with support from both NASA and NSF, the course provides a semester-equivalent introduction to climate change science for educators, including digital resources, assignments and discussions for classroom use. The results of independent evaluation will be presented. For younger audiences, the presentation will highlight resources from the AMNH Ology site; television programming conducted in partnership with HBO; Science Bulletinsvideos that include current climate change research; resources related to the GRACE mission for tracking water from space; and special event programming at the Museum on climate change. This presentation will address the opportunities and challenges of climate change education in an informal science institution as well as enduring questions of institutional capacity, scale and sustainability.

Integrating World Views, Knowledge and Venues in Climate Science Education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sparrow, E. B.; Chase, M. J.; Demientieff, S.; Brunacini, J.; Pfirman, S. L.

2015-12-01

The Reaching Arctic Communities Facing Climate Change Project integrates traditional and western knowledge and observations in climate science to facilitate dialog and learning among Alaska Native adults about climate change and its impacts on the environment and on Alaskan communities. In one of the models we have tested, the informal education took place at a 4-day camp by the Tanana River in Fairbanks, Alaska. Participants included Alaska Native elders, leaders, educators and natural resource managers, community members and university scientists. Results of pre/post camp surveys showed increased awareness of scientific and technical language used in climate science, improved ability to locate resources, tools, and strategies for learning about climate change, enhanced capacity to communicate climate change in a relevant way to their audiences and communities, confirmed the value of elders in helping them understand, respond and adapt to climate change, and that the camp setting facilitated an in-depth discussion and sharing of knowledge. The camp also enhanced the awareness about weather, climate and the environment of the camp facilitators who also noticed a shift in their own thinking and behavior. After the camp one participant who is an educator shared some of the hands-on tools developed by Polar Learning and Responding Climate Change Education Partnership project and used at the camp, with her 6th grade students, with the other teachers in her school and also at a state conference. Another shared what she learned with her family and friends as well as at a conference sponsored by her faith community where she was an invited speaker. Another camp was scheduled for this past summer but was cancelled due to some unforeseen weather/climate related events. A camp is planned for early summer in 2016; however other models of reaching the adult Native populations in a similar culturally responsive manner as the camps will also be explored and tested.

Climate Change Professional Development Approaches: Design Considerations, Teacher Enactment, and Student Learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Drewes, A.; Henderson, J.; Mouza, C.

2017-12-01

Climate change is one of the most pressing challenges facing society, and climate change educational models are emerging in response. This study investigates the implementation and enactment of a climate change professional development model for science educators and its impact on student learning. Using an intrinsic case study methodology, we focused analytic attention on how one teacher made specific curricular, pedagogical, and content decisions, and the implications of those decisions for student's conceptual learning.The research presented here reports on the instructional design, pedagogical enactment, and subsequent effects on student learning of a climate change professional development (PD) model in the United States. Using anthropological theories of conceptual travel, we traced salient ideas from the PD through instructional delivery and into the evidence of student reasoning. We sought to address the following research questions: 1) How did a middle school teacher integrate climate change concepts into her science curriculum following PD participation? and 2) How did climate change instruction influence student understanding of key climate change constructs?From observation of the classroom instruction, we determined that the teacher effectively integrated new climate change information into her pre-existing schema. Additionally, through retrospective analysis of the PD, we found the design of the PD foregrounded the causes, mechanisms and likely effects of anthropogenic climate change at the expense of mitigation and adaptation strategies, and this differentially shaped how climate change was taught in the teacher's classroom. Analysis of student reasoning evidence showed that students gained an increased understanding of the enhanced greenhouse effect and the implications of human activity on this enhanced effect at statistically significant levels and with moderate effect sizes. However, students demonstrated a limited, though non-significant gain on the likely effects of climate change. Student reasoning on the tangible actions to deal with these problems also remained underdeveloped, reflecting omissions in both professional development and teacher enactment. We discuss implications and considerations for the emerging field of climate change education.

Linking Research, Education and Public Engagement in Geoscience: Leadership and Strategic Partnerships

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Spellman, K.

2017-12-01

A changing climate has impacted Alaska communities at unprecedented rates, and the need for efficient and effective climate change learning in the Boreal and Arctic regions is urgent. Learning programs that can both increase personal understanding and connection to climate change science and also inform large scale scientific research about climate change are an attractive option for building community adaptive capacity at multiple scales. Citizen science has emerged as a powerful tool for facilitating learning across scales, and for building partnerships across natural sciences research, education, and outreach disciplines. As an early career scientist and interdisciplinary researcher, citizen science has become the centerpiece of my work and has provided some of the most rewarding moments of my career. I will discuss my early career journey building a research and leadership portfolio integrating climate change research, learning research, and public outreach through citizen science. I will share key experiences from graduate student to early career PI that cultivated my leadership skills and ability to build partnerships necessary to create citizen science programs that emphasize synergy between climate change research and education.

Energy Literacy: A Natural and Essential Part of a Solutions-Based Approach to Climate Literacy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Inman, M. M.

2011-12-01

As with climate science topics, many Americans have misconceptions or gaps in understanding related to energy topics. Recent literacy efforts are geared to address these gaps in understanding. The U.S. Global Change Research Program's recently published "Energy Literacy: Essential Principles and Fundamental Concepts for Energy Education" offers a welcome complement to the Climate Literacy Essential Principles released in 2008. Research and experience suggest that education, communication and outreach about global climate change and related topics is best done using a solutions-based approach. Energy is a natural and effective topic to frame these solutions around. Used as a framework for designing curricula, Energy Literacy naturally leads to solutions-based approaches to Climate Change education. An inherently interdisciplinary topic, energy education must happen in the context of both the natural and social sciences. The Energy Literacy Essential Principles reflect this and open the door to curriculum that integrates the two.

Solutions-based climate change education for K-Gray: Renewable energy and energy efficiency

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Petrone, C.

2017-12-01

Through the National Science Foundation-funded MADE CLEAR (www.madeclear.org) climate change education project's Informal Climate Change Education (ICCE) Community, funds were received to collaboratively train teachers, informal educators, students, and university docents in climate change basics and solutions, specifically renewable energy and energy efficiency. In all, 10 docents, 50 classroom teachers, over 600 K-16 students, and several hundred science-interested citizens participated in programs and workshops lasting between one and seven hours. Using commercially available kits and other DIY projects, program participants used science content and engineering to develop models of wind turbines, wind mills, solar cells, solar cookers, solar stills, and wind-powered cars. Using thermal imaging cameras, Kill-a-Watt meters, "Carbon Food Print" kit, "Energy Matters" kit, and other tools, program participants learned about energy efficiency as not only a global climate change mitigation strategy, but also a way to save money. ICCE Community members and external partners, such as local electric cooperative personnel, university researchers, and state-sponsored energy efficiency program personnel, provided content presentations, discussions, and hands-on activities to program participants.

Nevada Infrastructure for Climate Change Science, Education, and Outreach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dana, G. L.; Piechota, T. C.; Lancaster, N.; Mensing, S. A.

2009-12-01

The Nevada system of Higher Education, including the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, the University of Nevada, Reno, the Desert Research Institute, and Nevada State College have begun a five year research and infrastructure building program, funded by the National Science Foundation Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (NSF EPSCoR) with the vision “to create a statewide interdisciplinary program and virtual climate change center that will stimulate transformative research, education, and outreach on the effects of regional climate change on ecosystem resources (especially water) and support use of this knowledge by policy makers and stakeholders.” Six major strategies are proposed: 1) Develop a capability to model climate change and its effects at a regional and sub-regional scales to evaluate different future scenarios and strategies (Climate Modeling Component) 2) Develop data collection, modeling, and visualization infrastructure to determine and analyze effects on ecosystems and disturbance regimes (Ecological Change Component) 3) Develop data collection, modeling, and visualization infrastructure to better quantify and model changes in water balance and resources under climate change (Water Resources Component) 4) Develop data collection and modeling infrastructure to assess effects on human systems, responses to institutional and societal aspects, and enhance policy making and outreach to communities and stakeholders (Policy, Decision-Making, and Outreach Component) 5) Develop a data portal and software to support interdisciplinary research via integration of data from observational networks and modeling (Cyberinfrastructure Component) and 6) Develop educational infrastructure to train students at all levels and provide public outreach in climate change issues (Education Component). As part of the new infrastructure, two observational transects will be established across Great Basin Ranges, one in southern Nevada in the Spring Mountains, and the second to be located in the Snake Range of eastern Nevada which will reach bristlecone pine stands. Climatic, hydrologic and ecological data from these transects will be downloaded into high capacity data storage units and made available to researchers through creation of the Nevada climate change portal. Our research will aim to answer two interdisciplinary science questions: 1) How will climate change affect water resources and linked ecosystem resources and human systems? And 2) How will climate change affect disturbance regimes (e.g., wildland fires, invasive species, insect outbreaks, droughts) and linked systems?

Tri-Agency Coordination: Challenges and Successes in Creating a Community of Practice among Climate Change Education Principal Investigators funded by NASA, NOAA, and NSF

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schoedinger, S. E.; McDougall, C.; Karsten, J. L.; Campbell, D.; Pippin, M. R.; Chambers, L. H.

2013-12-01

The effort needed for comprehensive climate change education is far greater than any one institution, education sector, or even federal agency can handle. Recognizing a need to synergistically combine efforts, NSF, NASA, and NOAA have created a collaborative community of their climate change education principal investigators (PIs) through tri-agency coordination. The goals of this tri-agency collaboration are to leverage existing resources, minimize duplicate efforts, and facilitate communication among this emergent community of scientists and educators. NASA, NOAA, and NSF work together to strategically coordinate and support a portfolio of projects focused on climate literacy and education in formal and informal learning environments. The activities of the tri-agency collaboration, including annual meetings for PIs, a catalog of the agencies collective investments in climate change education and the ongoing development of a nascent common evaluation framework, have created a strong national network for effectively engaging diverse audiences with the principles of climate literacy (see Eos Vol. 92, No. 24, 14 June 2011). Last year, after 3 years of active collaboration, similar programs underway at other U.S. Global Change Research Program agencies: the EPA, National Institutes for Environmental Health Sciences, and USDA, were engaged in the collaboration. And, in an attempt to understand the interests of the private sector in this arena, conversations have begun with private philanthropic organizations. This year, as many of the funded projects are maturing, the PI meeting will have a focus on bringing this community together to create a science-theme based tangible outcome that can move the field of climate change education forward. Additional outcomes from this PI meeting will be presented as well as the challenges that were encountered in bringing together institutions with diverse missions, and approaches developed to ensure all parties feel they're benefiting from the collaboration.

Advancing Climate Change Education and Youth Empowerment: Preparing Our Communities with the Skills, Knowledge, and Passion to Push for and Develop Innovative Solutions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Niepold, F., III; Johnston, E.; Rooney-varga, J. N.; Qusba, L.; Staveloz, W.; Poppleton, K.; Cloyd, E. T.; Kretser, J.; Bozuwa, J.; Edkins, M. T.

2016-12-01

Today's youth are the first generation to come of age amid rapid climate change, and they have the most at stake in how society responds to it. Climate change will bring economic and environmental challenges as well as opportunities, and citizens who understand the issues at stake will be better prepared to respond. Climate education is a necessary foundation for them to understand and help tackle the complex issue of climate change. Many will become leaders with the skills, knowledge, and passion to push for and develop innovative solutions. As such, this topic requires interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches from a professionally diverse group of experts to effectively build the solid foundation for a low carbon and sustainable economy. Educators from all disciplines need to be enlisted to contribute their talents in building students knowledge and skills to limit human-induced climate change while being prepared for the projected impacts that will continue, and it will accelerate significantly if global emissions of heat-trapping gases continue to increase. This presentation will discuss the new youth and educator engagement partnerships that developed to achieve ways of addressing the problems and opportunities resulting from climate change. We will describe how the partnerships are helping lift up and raise the profile of effective programs that enable transdisciplinary solutions to societal issues. The #Youth4Climate and #Teach4Climate social media campaigns were organized by a flotilla of federal and non-federal partners to inspire young people around the world to take actions on climate change and inspire teachers to prepare students to be part of the solutions to climate change. The largest one, the #Youth4Climate campaign for COP21 youth engagement had over 33 million impressions and opened a discussion for all to join with youth for climate actions at COP21. Each of these three social media campaigns had a simple ask, give young people a voice and prepare them to succeed in doing something about climate change. We are excited to have new partners join forces and support young people, giving them a voice and an opportunity to lead in Paris and beyond. We know the solutions are here, and are committed to working together to build a climate-friendly world. Join us with #Youth4Climate and #Teach4Climate.

How much should we know about energy to better implement climate change education?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Silva-Send, N.; Anders, S.

2011-12-01

Anthropogenic climate change requires us to understand complex and multidisciplinary aspects of climate science. But without also grasping the connection between our lifestyles, behavior, and energy use, it will be difficult for many of us to make changes to contribute to climate change mitigation and energy conservation. A deeper understanding of the energy-climate relationship related to our behavior is thus warranted because, as the internet-based EnergyLiteracy.org points out, albeit within a different but related context of national security and development, "The vast majority of Americans simply don't adequately understand the magnitude and urgency of our national energy crisis ..." and "That lack of understanding deprives our democracy of the political will that must be generated in order to adequately address...." these issues. Our NSF Climate Change Education Program Project, the San Diego Regional Climate Education Partnership (SDRCEP), has as its overarching aim to inform citizens to make balanced decisions based on climate change and energy literacy. The project targets a selected group of 30 key influential persons in the region, and their audiences, representing, for example, the banking sector, the construction industry, the health sector, and commercial real estate. Interviews carried out so far suggest that the connection between climate change and energy use is not easily made. On the other hand, the interviews indicate that a connection is easily made, in this region, between climate change and water availability. Therefore, the purpose of this presentation is to discuss what specific knowledge about personal and societal energy use might be useful to (a) inform and empower key decision-makers responsible for energy-use decisions that significantly affect our lives in the next decades, and (b) empower people to contribute to reducing the impacts of climate change through behavioral or even life-style changes.

Eye tracking and climate change: How is climate literacy information processed?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Williams, C. C.; McNeal, K. S.

2011-12-01

The population of the Southeastern United States is perceived to be resistant to information regarding global climate change. The Climate Literacy Partnership in the Southeast (CLiPSE) project was formed to provide a resource for climate science information. As part of this project, we are evaluating the way that education materials influence the interpretation of climate change related information. At Mississippi State University, a study is being conducted examining how individuals from the Southeastern United States process climate change information and whether or not the interaction with such information impacts the interpretation of subsequent climate change related information. By observing the patterns both before and after an educational intervention, we are able to evaluate the effectiveness of the climate change information on an individual's interpretation of related information. Participants in this study view figures describing various types of climate change related information (CO2 emissions, sea levels, etc.) while their eye movements are tracked to determine a baseline for the way that they process this type of graphical data. Specifically, we are examining time spent viewing and number of fixations on critical portions of the figures prior to exposure to an educational document on climate change. Following the baseline period, we provide participants with portions of a computerized version of Climate Literacy: The Essential Principles of Climate Sciences that the participants read at their own pace while their eye movements are monitored. Participants are told that they will be given a test on the material after reading the resource. After reading the excerpt, participants are presented with a new set of climate change related figures to interpret (with eye tracking) along with a series of questions regarding information contained in the resource. We plan to evaluate changes that occur in the way that climate change related information is processed based on reading a commonly provided climate change resource. The expectation is that participants will process the figures differently following reading the pamphlet. In addition, we will evaluate which aspects of the resource tend to best correlate with the changes in figure processing.

Online Discovery and Mapping of Great Lakes Climate Change Education and Scientific Research Activities: Building an Online Collaborative Learning Community of Scientists and Educators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tuddenham, P.; Bishop, K.; Walters, H.; Carley, S.

2011-12-01

The Great Lakes Climate Change Science and Education Systemic Network (GLCCSESN) project is an NSF-funded CCEP program awarded to Eastern Michigan University in 2010. The College of Exploration is one of the project partners and has conducted a series of online surveys, workshop and focus group to identify a wide range of organizations, individuals, resources and needs related to climate change education and research activities in and about the Great Lakes Region and to provide information about climate change science to the education community. One of the first steps taken to build this community was to build a web site that features a dynamic online map of individuals and organizations concerned about climate change as well as interested in resources and activities specific to the Great Lakes. Individuals and organizations have been, and are still, invited to put themselves on the map at http://greatlakesclimate.org This map of the Great Lakes region provides both a visual representation of activities and resources as well as a database of climate change activities. This map will grow over time as more people and organizations put themselves on the map. The use of online technologies has helped broaden the participation and representation in the GLCCSESN from all states/provinces in the Great Lakes region, encouraging diverse audiences and stakeholders, including scientists, educators, and journalists, etc.to engage with the project. In the fall of 2011 a combined online professional development workshop and focus group is planned. Educators and scientists working on climate change studies and issues related to the Great Lakes will be sharing their work and expertise in an online workshop and focus group. Following the professional development activity a focus group will be conducted online using a model developed as part of a NSF funded COSEE project. The focus group purpose is to review current educational resources and to identify gaps and needs for further educational programs, materials and resources. The online format will encourage and support widespread participation across the Great Lakes region. Data from the needs assessment surveys will provide a foundation for online focus group discussion questions.

[Confronting the Health-Related Challenges of Climate Change: Nursing Education for the Future].

PubMed

Wu, Pei-Chih; Lee, Chi-Chen

2016-08-01

Climate change is the greatest threat to public health in the 21st century. The increasing health impact of heat waves, the increasing magnitudes and spatial expansions of vector and water-borne diseases epidemics, and the increasing medical burdens of biological allergic illnesses, worsening local air pollution, and other related issues are expected to continue to increase in severity in the near future. All of these issues are global problems that must be faced. Adaptation strategies and action plans related to climate change are needed and emerging. Moreover, integrating the basic concepts, scientific evidences, and new technology into public and professional education systems is already recognized as a priority in the national adaptation program. Nurses stand on the frontlines of medical care and health communication. The integration of climate change and adaptation to climate change into nursing education and training is become increasingly important. This article reviews both the expected health impacts of climate change and the mitigation and adaptation strategies that have been proposed / adopted by medical care facilities around the world. Further, we outline the current, priority needs for action in medical care facilities in Taiwan in order to mitigate and adapt to climate-change-related healthcare issues. Additionally, we present an integrated strategic plan for educating healthcare professionals, including nurse, in the future. We hope that the ideas that are presented in this paper encourage multidisciplinary cooperation and help bridge the gap between technology development and practical application in Taiwan's medical care system.

Now what do people know about global climate change? Survey studies of educated laypeople.

PubMed

Reynolds, Travis William; Bostrom, Ann; Read, Daniel; Morgan, M Granger

2010-10-01

In 1992, a mental-models-based survey in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, revealed that educated laypeople often conflated global climate change and stratospheric ozone depletion, and appeared relatively unaware of the role of anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions in global warming. This study compares those survey results with 2009 data from a sample of similarly well-educated laypeople responding to the same survey instrument. Not surprisingly, following a decade of explosive attention to climate change in politics and in the mainstream media, survey respondents in 2009 showed higher awareness and comprehension of some climate change causes. Most notably, unlike those in 1992, 2009 respondents rarely mentioned ozone depletion as a cause of global warming. They were also far more likely to correctly volunteer energy use as a major cause of climate change; many in 2009 also cited natural processes and historical climatic cycles as key causes. When asked how to address the problem of climate change, while respondents in 1992 were unable to differentiate between general "good environmental practices" and actions specific to addressing climate change, respondents in 2009 have begun to appreciate the differences. Despite this, many individuals in 2009 still had incorrect beliefs about climate change, and still did not appear to fully appreciate key facts such as that global warming is primarily due to increased concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and the single most important source of this carbon dioxide is the combustion of fossil fuels. © 2010 Society for Risk Analysis.

Developing Climate Change Literacy With the Humanities: A Narrative Approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Siperstein, S.

2015-12-01

Teaching the science and policy of climate change is necessary but insufficient for helping students to develop a robust climate literacy. Climate change educators must also teach students how to evaluate historical trends, to unpack the assumptions in shared cultural narratives, to grapple with ethical dilemmas, and more generally to traverse the turbulence of feeling that is a hallmark of living in a time of global climate chaos. In short, climate literacy must include the skills and strategies of the humanities, and specifically literary and cultural studies. After providing an overview of how literary and cultural studies scholars from around the world are developing innovative pedagogical methods for addressing climate change (drawing on the presenter's experience editing the forthcoming volume Teaching Climate Change in the Humanities), the presentation will then report on a specific Literary Genres course taught at the University of Oregon. The course, offered to undergraduate non-majors who entered the class with little or no knowledge of climate change, constituted a case study of action research into the transdisciplinary teaching of climate change. The presentation will thus draw on quantitative course assessments, student coursework, and the instructor's own experiences in arguing that three key narratives underpin the work we do as multidisciplinary climate change educators: narratives of observation, narratives of speculation, and narratives of conversion. That is, we guide students through the processes of witnessing climate change, imagining more just and sustainable futures, and by so doing, transforming themselves and their communities. In the particular Literary Genres course under consideration, students used the tools of literary and cultural studies first to analyze existing versions of these narratives and then to compose their own versions of these narratives based on their local communities and ecologies. In the context of multidisciplinary climate change education, one of the most important roles of the humanities is to empower students by giving them the critical and creative tools to tell their own climate stories.

Development of an Empirically-Based Conditional Learning Progression for Climate Change

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Breslyn, Wayne; Drewes, Andrea; McGinnis, J. Randy; Hestness, Emily; Mouza, Chrystalla

2017-01-01

Climate change encompasses a broad and complex set of concepts that is often challenging for students and educators. Using a learning progressions (LPs) knowledge system, we developed a LP that described student learning of climate change. In this exploratory study, we present findings from written assessments of climate change (n = 294) and…

Ways to Include Global Climate Change in Courses for Prospective Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

van Zee, Emily; Grobart, Emma; Roberts-Harris, Deborah

2016-01-01

What responsibility do science teacher educators have for engaging students in learning about global climate change in courses? How can the topic of global climate change be added to an already packed course curriculum? The authors have begun assembling instructional resources and learning ways others have incorporated global climate change in…

Making the Earth to Life Connection Using Climate Change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Haine, D. B.; Berbeco, M.

2016-12-01

From ocean acidification to changes in air quality to shifts in the range of disease vectors, there are many opportunities for educators to make the earth science to life science connection by incorporating the impacts of climate change on organisms and entire ecosystems and by describing how living organisms impact climate. NCSE's study in Science found that 86% of life science teachers are teaching climate, but few admit they have any formal climate science training. This session will introduce activities we developed that utilize the 2014 National Climate Assessment, data visualizations, technology tools and models to allow students to explore the evidence that climate change is impacting life. Translating the NCA into classroom activities is an approach that becomes more pertinent with the advent of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). Using the NCA and the NGSS we demonstrate strategies for weaving the concept of climate change into an already packed life science curriculum by enhancing rather than displacing content and ultimately promoting integration of science and engineering practices into instruction. Since the fall of 2014 we have engaged approximately 200 K-12 educators at local, state, regional and national teacher professional development events. Here we will summarize what we have learned from science teachers about how they address life science impacts of climate change and we will summarize evaluation data to inform future efforts to engage life science educators in light of the recent USGCRP Climate and Health Assessment and the upcoming 4th National Climate Assessment.

SLICEIT and TAHMO Partnerships: Students Local and International Collaboration for Climate and Environmental Monitoring, Technology Development, Education, Adaptation and Mitigation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aishlin, P. S.; Selker, J. S.

2015-12-01

Climate change understanding and impacts vary by community, yet the global nature of climate change requires international collaboration to address education, monitoring, adaptation and mitigation needs. We propose that effective climate change monitoring and education can be accomplished via student-led local and international community partnerships. By empowering students as community leaders in climate-environmental monitoring and education, as well as exploration of adaptation/mitigation needs, well-informed communities and young leadership are developed to support climate change science moving forward. Piloted 2013-2015, the SLICEIT1 program partnered with TAHMO2 to connect student leaders in North America, Europe and Africa. At the international level, schools in the U.S.A and Netherlands were partnered with schools in Ghana, Kenya, and Uganda for science and cultural exchange. Each school was equipped with a climate or other environmental sensing system, real-time data publication and curricula for both formal and informal science, technology, engineering and math education and skill development. African counterparts in TAHMO's School-2-School program collect critically important data for enhanced on-the-ground monitoring of weather conditions in data-scarce regions of Africa. In Idaho, student designed, constructed and installed weather stations provide real time data for classroom and community use. Student-designed formal educational activities are disseminated to project partners, increasing hands-on technology education and peer-based learning. At the local level, schools are partnered with a local agency, research institute, nonprofit organization, industry and/or community partner that supplies a climate science expert mentor to SLICEIT program leaders and teachers. Mentor engagement is facilitated and secured by program components that directly benefit the mentor's organization and local community via climate/environment monitoring, student workforce skill development, community education, and/or adaptation/mitigation activities. Students are motivated by advanced real-world skill development, leadership opportunity, internship, community service and opportunity for international peer communication.

The Practical Integration of Action Research into Building Climate Literacy and Partnership with Key Influentials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Estrada, M.

2015-12-01

Climate Education Partners (CEP) has been using an action research approach to build climate literacy and partnership with key influential (KI) leaders in the San Diego community. After identifying 6 key sectors that either (a) could reduce green house gas emissions and adapt to impacts, or (b) would be highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, we conducted 89 interviews with KIs from the San Diego region -- including elected officials, academics, laborers, and representatives from local businesses, non-profits, ethnic and cultural communities, faith-based groups, and special interest groups -- to assess their science knowledge and opinions about climate change and the impacts of climate change. Other questions asked were about KIs' personal efficacy, identity, values and engagement in pro-environmental behaviors related to climate change. The results of the interviews contributed to CEP's action research approach in two ways: 1) it provided critical data regarding which leaders wanted further engagement with CEP and what that engagement should entail (e.g., being a connector to other leaders, a spokesperson, or a participant in future educational activities), and 2) it provided key information about the extent to which "knowledge deficit" is related to use of climate change knowledge to inform engagement in mitigation and adaptive behaviors. Practically, the results were used to create a database that is being used to inform the contact and education of KIs. We were able to show, consistent with previous research and identity theory, that liberal leaders were more likely than conservatives to believe in, feel concern for, and be knowledgeable about climate change. However, engagement in mitigation behaviors- specifically making decisions that would reduce electricity, gas, or water use- were similar for both groups. These results are being used to create resources and direct climate education activities going forward.

Integrating Media Production By Students Into Climate Change Education: Within and Beyond the Classroom

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rooney-Varga, J. N.; Brisk, A. A.; Grogan, M.; Ledley, T. S.

2012-12-01

Through the Climate Education in an Age of Media (CAM) Project (http://cleanet.org/cced_media/), we have developed approaches to integrate media production by students into climate change education in ways that are engaging, empowering, and can be readily adopted in a wide range of instructional environments. These approaches can be used to overcome many of the challenges that climate change education presents and provide a means to evoke experiential, affective, and social learning pathways. Video production combines many key twenty-first century literacy skills, including content research, writing, an understanding of the power of images and sounds, the ability to use that power, and the ability to manipulate, transform, and distribute digital media. Through collaboration, reflection, and visual expression of concepts, video production facilitates a deeper understanding of material and, potentially, shifts in mental models about climate change. Equally importantly, it provides a means to bridge formal and informal learning by enabling students to educate those beyond the classroom. We have piloted our approach in two intensive summer programs (2011 and 2012) for high school students, during which students learned about climate change science content in lessons that were paired with the production of short media pieces including animations, public service announcements, person-on-the-street interviews, mock trailers, mock news programs, and music videos. Two high school teachers were embedded in the program during the second year, providing feedback and assessment of the feasibility, accessibility, and utility of the approach. The programs culminated with students presenting and discussing their work at public screening events. The media lessons and climate change science content examples used in these programs form the backbone of a toolkit and professional development workshops for middle and high school teachers, in which teachers learn how to incorporate student media-making into their science classes. Here, we share the toolkit, describe the scope and structure of the teacher professional development workshops, and share several of the media products created by YEP participants. The confluence of falling financial and technological barriers to producing media; the need for innovative approaches to meet climate change education challenges; and the potential for media literacy to empower young people to add their voice to the societal discourse about climate change science creates an ideal opportunity for integration of science and media production in education.

Weathercasters' views on climate change: A state-of-the-community review

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Timm, K.; Perkins, D. R., IV; Myers, T.; Maibach, E.

2017-12-01

As a community of practice, TV weathercasters are positioned at a crucial intersection between climate scientists and the general public. Weathercasters have the opportunity to use their scientific training and public communication skills to educate viewers about climate change. Though early research found high rates of skepticism about climate change among TV weathercasters, the most current and comprehensive analysis to date of TV weathercasters' views on climate change suggests that their views have evolved in several important ways. Surveys of all working TV weathercasters in the United States conducted in 2015, 2016 and 2017 show that the weathercaster community now holds views of climate change that are similar to that of climate scientists—in particular, that human-caused climate change is happening today and it is impacting American communities in many harmful ways. Ninety-five percent of TV weathercasters now believe that climate change (as defined by the American Meteorological Society) is occurring, and certainty in that belief has grown. Nearly 50% of TV weathercasters believe the climate change that has occurred over the past 50 years has been caused mostly (34%), or largely to entirely (15%), by human activity. Additionally, surveys suggest that weathercasters tend to underestimate the scientific consensus on climate change. Weathercasters, on average, estimate 75% of climate scientists believe humans have caused the majority of recent climate change as compared to the actual value of 97%. Despite convergence in weathercasters' climate change beliefs, this analysis suggests that opportunities remain for building climate literacy among America's TV weathercasters. Increasing this personal knowledge of climate change is one of several factors that empower weathercasters to become public climate educators to increase understanding of climate change causes in communities around the country.

Barriers to Incorporating Climate Change Science into High School and Community College Energy Course Offerings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Howell, C.

2013-05-01

In reviewing studies evaluating trends in greenhouse gasses, weather, climate and/or ecosystems, it becomes apparent that climate change is a reality. It has also become evident that the energy sector accounts for most of the greenhouse gas emissions with worldwide emissions of carbon dioxide increasing by 31 percent from 1990 to 2005, higher than in the previous thousands of years. While energy courses and topics are presented in high school and community college classes the topic of Climate Change Science is not always a part of the conversation. During the summer of 2011 and 2012, research undergraduates conducted interviews with a total of 39 national community college and 8 high school instructors who participated in a two week Sustainable Energy Education Training (SEET) workshop. Interview questions addressed the barriers and opportunities to the incorporation of climate change as a dimension of an energy/renewable energy curriculum. Barriers found included: there is not enough instruction time to include it; some school administrators including community members do not recognize climate change issues; quality information about climate change geared to students is difficult to find; and, most climate change information is too scientific for most audiences. A Solution to some barriers included dialogue on sustainability as a common ground in recognizing environmental changes/concerns among educators, administrators and community members. Sustainability discussions are already supported in school business courses as well as in technical education. In conclusion, we cannot expect climate change to dissipate without humans making more informed energy and environmental choices. With global population growth producing greater emissions resulting in increased climate change, we must include the topic of climate change to students in high school and community college classrooms, preparing our next generation of leaders and workforce to be equipped to find solutions, (such as renewable energy and sustainability practices), to climate change and environmental sustainability.

Introducing a New Concept Inventory on Climate Change to Support Undergraduate Instruction, Teacher Education, Education Research, and Project Evaluation (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Morrow, C. A.; Monsaas, J.; Katzenberger, J.; Afolabi, C. Y.

2013-12-01

The Concept Inventory on Climate Change (CICC) is a new research-based, multiple-choice 'test' that provides a powerful new assessment tool for undergraduate instructors, teacher educators, education researchers, and project evaluators. This presentation will describe the features and the development process of the (CICC). This includes insights about how the development team (co-authors) integrated and augmented their multi-disciplinary expertise. The CICC has been developed in the context of a popular introductory undergraduate weather and climate course at a southeastern research university (N~400-500 per semester). The CICC is not a test for a grade, but is intended to be a useful measure of how well a given teaching and learning experience has succeeded in improving understanding about climate change and related climate concepts. The science content addressed by the CICC is rooted in the national consensus document, 'Climate Literacy: The Essential Principles of Climate Science'. The CICC has been designed to support undergraduate instruction, and may be valuable in comparable contexts that teach about climate change. CICC results can help to inform decisions about the effectiveness of teaching strategies by 1) flagging conceptual issues (PRE-instruction); and 2) detecting conceptual change (POST-instruction). Specific CICC items and their answer choices are informed by the research literature on common misunderstandings about climate and climate change. Each CICC item is rated on a 3-tier scale of the cognitive sophistication the item is calling for, and there is a balance among all three tiers across the full instrument. The CICC development process has involved data-driven changes to successive versions. Data sources have included item statistics from the administration of progressively evolved versions of the CICC in the weather and climate course, group interviews with students, and expert review by climate scientists, educators, and project evaluators based primarily in the US and Canada. The development team provided an exceptionally well integrated, multi-disciplinary expertise in climate science, climate education, education research, and psychometrics. The valuable integration of the team's expertise was driven by: 1) the prior interdisciplinary inclinations of key team members, which made it natural to openly inquire and learn across boundaries of expertise; and 2) the willingness of key team members to become respectful teachers of essential knowledge to other team members. These qualities, in combination with reviewer contributions, have brought the leading edges of natural and social science research together to produce the CICC. This work has been partially supported by a NASA award to the Georgia State University Research Foundation (NNX09AL69G).

A Review of the Foundational Processes that Influence Beliefs in Climate Change: Opportunities for Environmental Education Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brownlee, Matthew T.J.; Powell, Robert B.; Hallo, Jeffery C.

2013-01-01

Recently, many organizations involved in environmental education have initiated programs that aim to educate visitors or other publics who interact with nature-based resources about the impacts and landscape transformations occurring because of climatic changes. However, many psychological, human-evolutionary, and social-ecological processes that…

Does Polar Research Matter? (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Holmes, R.

2009-12-01

Climate change is one of the most serious challenges facing humanity. The polar regions are being disproportionately impacted, particularly in the Arctic where warming is greatly amplified. Moreover, there are strong feedbacks from the polar regions to the global climate system and sea level, so changes at the poles have global ramifications. Not surprisingly, polar research is often justified because of its relevance to global climate change. In spite of this, where are the “solutions” in the polar regions? For example, a scientist interested in climate change who studies tropical forests can work toward preserving the forests since deforestation is one of the main contributors to anthropogenic climate change. Are there similar direct solutions in polar regions? I will suggest that the answer is no, since the human controlled causes of climate change take place far removed from the poles. On the other hand, polar research has been absolutely essential for educating the public about climate change: the combination of important science and dramatic stories and images have captured the public’s attention more than for science originating in other regions. I will draw examples from several IPY projects that reached a broad public audience, and suggest that public education and outreach is the most important thing polar scientists can do to “make a difference” with respect to solving the climate crisis because environmental literacy (and an educated electorate) has been the factor that has most limited progress.

Addressing Value and Belief Systems on Climate Literacy in the Southeastern United States

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McNeal, K. S.

2012-12-01

The southeast (SEUS; AL, AR, GA, FL, KY, LA, NC, SC, TN, E. TX) faces the greatest impacts as a result of climate change of any region in the U.S. which presents considerable and costly adaptation challenges. Paradoxically, people in the SEUS hold attitudes and perceptions that are more dismissive of climate change than those of any other region. An additional mismatch exists between the manner in which climate science is generally communicated and the underlying core values and beliefs held by a large segment of people in the SEUS. As a result, people frequently misinterpret and/or distrust information sources, inhibiting efforts to productively discuss and consider climate change and related impacts on human and environmental systems, and possible solutions and outcomes. The Climate Literacy Partnership in the Southeast (CLiPSE) project includes an extensive network of partners throughout the SEUS from faith, agriculture, culturally diverse, leisure, and K-20 educator communities that aim to address this educational need through a shared vision. CLiPSE has conducted a Climate Stewardship Survey (CSS) to determine the knowledge and perceptions of individuals in and beyond the CLiPSE network. The descriptive results of the CSS indicate that religion, predominantly Protestantism, plays a minor role in climate knowledge and perceptions. Likewise, political affiliation plays a minimal role in climate knowledge and perceptions between religions. However, when Protestants were broken out by political affiliation, statistically significant differences (t(30)=2.44, p=0.02) in knowledge related to the causes of climate change exist. Those Protestants affiliated with the Democratic Party (n=206) tended to maintain a statistically significant stronger knowledge of the causes of global climate change than their Republican counterparts. When SEUS educator (n=277) group was only considered, similar trends were evidenced, indicating that strongly held beliefs potentially influence classroom climate instruction. In order to assist this educator group, CLiPSE has aligned a sub-set of the Climate and Energy Awareness Network (CLEAN) education resources to 11 SEUS state standards in order to better enable educators to implement climate topics in their classrooms. As a potential method to address the unique belief systems in the SEUS, CLiPSE has determined that the best way to engage individuals in the SEUS on the topic of climate change is to invite them into an honest dialogue surrounding climate. To facilitate these conversations effectively, CLiPSE utilizes a dialogical community model that values diversity, encourages respect for one another, recognizes and articulates viewpoints, and prioritizes understanding over resolution. CLiPSE emphasizes people's values and beliefs as they relate to climate change information. Results from pilot studies indicate that this is a promising method to bring together diverse individuals on the climate change topic and initiate the conversation about this very important issue that can often be considered "taboo" in the SEUS.

A Comprehensive Climate Science and Solutions Education Curriculum

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Byrne, J. M.; Cook, J.; Little, L. J.; Peacock, K.; Sinclair, P.; Zeller, C.

2016-12-01

We are creating a broadly based curriculum for a multidisciplinary University/College course on climate change science and solutions. Climate change is a critical topic for all members of society and certainly for all students in postsecondary education. The curriculum will feature a wide range of topic presentations on the (i) science of climate change; and (ii) multidisciplinary solutions to climate change challenges. The end result will be an online textbook featuring short contributions from session participants and other invited specialists. First authors in this AGU Education Session will provide a 20-minute comprehensive lecture that will be recorded and shared as part of the online textbook. The recorded talks will be merged with author provided PowerPoint slides and appropriate high definition video footage to support the discussion, where possible. Authors will be asked to sign a waiver allowing the video recording to be part of the online textbook. Access to the videos and textbook chapters will be provided online to students registered in recognized university classes on climate change science and solutions for a modest fee.

Climate Change Community Outreach Initiative (CCCOI)--A Gulf of Mexico Education Partnership

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Walker, S. H.; Stone, D.; Schultz, T.; LeBlanc, T.; Miller-Way, T.; Estrada, P.

2012-12-01

This five-year, Gulf of Mexico regional collaborative is funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)-Office of Education and represents a successful grant submitted by the FL Aquarium as a member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). This climate change effort focuses on enhanced content knowledge and the manner in which personal actions and behaviors contribute to sustainability and stewardship. Diverse audiences—represented by visitors at the informal centers listed above—have been and are involved in the following activities: social networking via responses to climate change surveys; an "ocean and climate change defender" computer game, specifically designed for this project; an average of 10 annual outreach events implemented by these facilities at community festivals; climate change lectures provided to family audiences; and professional development workshops for informal and formal educators. This presentation will provide opportunities and challenges encountered during the first two years of implementation. This regional effort is also aligned with both the Ocean Literacy: Essential Principles and the Climate Literacy: Essential Principles. Additional partners include: Normandeau Associates, Conservation Enterprises, Unlimited, and Mindclay Creative.

Beyond Knowledge: Service Learning and Local Climate Change Research Engagement Activities that Foster Action and Behavior Change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Low, R.; Mandryk, C.; Gosselin, D. C.; Haney, C.

2013-12-01

Climate change engagement requires individuals to understand an abstract and complex topic and realize the profound implications of climate change for their families and local community. In recent years federal agencies have spent millions of dollars on climate change education to prepare a nation for a warming future. The majority of these education efforts are based on a knowledge deficit model. In this view 'educate' means 'provide information'. However cognitive and behavioral research and current action demonstrate that information alone is not enough; knowledge does not necessarily lead to action. Educators are speaking to deaf ears if we rely on passive and abstract information transfer and neglect more persuasive and affective approaches to communication. When climate change is presented abstractly as something that happens in the future to people, environments, animals somewhere else it is easy to discount. People employ two separate systems for information processing: analytical-rational and intuitive-experiential Authentic local research experiences that engage both analytical and experiential information processing systems not only help individuals understand the abstraction of climate change in a concrete and personally experienced manner, but are more likely to influence behavior. Two on-line, graduate-level courses offered within University of Nebraska's Masters of Applied Science program provide opportunities for participants to engage in authentic inquiry based studies climate change's local impacts, and work with K-12 learners in promoting the scientific awareness and behavioral changes that mitigate against the negative impacts of a changing climate. The courses are specifically designed to improve middle and high school (grades 6-12) teachers' content knowledge of climate processes and climate change science in the context of their own community. Both courses provide data-rich, investigative science experiences in a distributed digital environment and support teachers in the creation of lessons and units that promote both inquiry science and service learning in the community. Course participants connect the dots from their newly acquired theoretical science knowledge to concrete examples of change taking place locally, and see the value of promoting awareness as well as behavioral changes that contribute to adaptation and mitigation of local climate change impacts. We describe the assessments used and the research outcomes associated with NRES 832, Human Dimensions of Climate Change, where participants conduct archival research to create a climate change chronicle for their community, and NRES 830 Climate Research Applications, where teachers lead and evaluate the impacts of student-designed service learning activities as a capstone project for a unit on climate change. We also showcase community-based initiatives resulting from this work that seed the behavioral changes we need to live sustainably in our communities and on our planet.

The building of knowledge, language, and decision-making about climate change science: a cross-national program for secondary students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arya, Diana; Maul, Andrew

2016-04-01

The United Nations' declaration on climate change education in December 2014 has sparked a renewal of policies and programs initiated during the 'Decade of Education for Sustainable Development' (DESD, 2005-2014), aimed at promoting awareness, understanding, and civic action for environmental sustainability within learning communities all around the world. We present findings from a dialogic, multimodal, and literacies-based educational project designed to provide secondary students (N = 141) from four countries with the resources to read about and discuss evidence regarding climate change from seminal studies with peers and a core group of scientists (N = 7). Post-program interviews revealed a significant increase in language use related to evidence-based reasoning. Students also demonstrated an increased propensity to recycle. These findings support the hypothesis that providing opportunities for students to read and discuss seminal scientific sources incites positive changes in beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors related to climate change and climate science, and understandings of the nature of scientific evidence and argumentation.

Assessing Climate Change Education on a Midwestern College Campus

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wodika, Alicia; Schoof, Justin

2017-01-01

Multiple disciplines address climate change; however, despite statements of consensus from professional societies, it is unclear whether the correct information is being conveyed to students. The purpose of this study was to survey student's (n = 264) knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors behind climate science and climate change related principles.…

Saving Grace - A Climate Change Documentary Education Program

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Byrne, J. M.; McDaniel, S.; Graham, J.; Little, L.; Hoggan, J. C.

2012-12-01

Saving Grace conveys climate change knowledge from the best international scientists and social scientists using a series of new media formats. An Education and Communication Plan (ECP) has been developed to disseminate climate change knowledge on impacts, mitigation and adaptation for individuals, and for all sectors of society. The research team is seeking contacts with science and social science colleagues around the world to provide the knowledge base for the ECP. Poverty enslaves…and climate change has, and will, spread and deepen poverty to hundreds of millions of people, primarily in the developing world. And make no mistake; we are enslaving hundreds of millions of people in a depressing and debilitating poverty that in numbers will far surpass the horrors of the slave trade of past centuries. Saving Grace is the story of that poverty - and minimizing that poverty. Saving Grace stars the best of the world's climate researchers. Saving Grace presents the science; who, where and why of greenhouse gases that drive climate change; current and projected impacts of a changing climate around the world; and most important, solutions to the climate change challenges we face.

Investigating the Connections between Oil and Gas Industry Affiliation and Climate Change Concerns

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schrader, S. M.; Bunnell, D.; Danielson, C.; Borglum, S.

2012-12-01

In addition to the research on scientific aspects of climate change, significant work has also been done on the perception of climate change among various sectors of the population. This is an important area of research as in many cases the science policy of a country is a function of the popular sentiment. One area of interest is the relationship between education, specifically in related areas such as earth sciences and engineering, to one's views on climate change. While research has shown that there is a correlation between higher education and an acceptance of human caused climate change, this work looks into the question more specifically. The question asked here is: given a group of people with education and experience in the earth sciences, does the area of employment affect how they view the issue? In other words, does an engineer or geoscientist working in the oil and gas industry look at the data relating to climate change in the same way an equivalently educated engineer or geoscientist working in another field does? An understanding of whether or not employment in the oil and gas industry has a similar effect on views of climate change as political or religious ideologies may help in fostering communication between disciplines and working together for solutions. In order to look at this question, a survey is being conducted of members in the petroleum engineering community. The survey is designed along the lines of similar surveys to measure the respondents understanding of, concern with, and beliefs about climate change. It also includes other correlating factors such as political and religious views. A second group of engineers in fields that typically place them outside of the oil and gas industry are being surveyed as a control group. The results will determine whether individuals with similar educational backgrounds look at the data connected with climate change differently based on the field in which they work, and if so, are there other confounding issues related to political and religious background and ideology.

From Theory to Practice: How Mass Audubon Is Incorporating Strategic Framing about Climate Change

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fleischer, Amy

2013-01-01

Mass Audubon recognized that climate change was significantly impacting bird species distribution and seasonality. Unsure of how and when to engage visitors to their network of wildlife sanctuaries on the topic of climate change, its educators turned to the National Network of Ocean and Climate Change Interpreters' Study Circle (NNOCCI). Through…

Climate Change Education on Public Health Consequences and Impacts to the Human System - An Interdisciplinary Approach to Promoting Climate Literacy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Matiella Novak, M.; Paxton, L. J.

2012-12-01

In this talk we will discuss our approach to translating an abstract, difficult to internalize idea ("climate change") into knowledge that speaks to people directly in terms of their own lives. Recent research suggests that communicating climate change in the context of public health impacts, and even national security risks, is a more effective method of reaching communities that are currently disengaged or nonresponsive to climate change science than the approaches currently being used. Understanding that these new perspectives might reach a broader audience, the Global Assimilation of Information for Action (GAIA) project has proposed implementing a suite of education activities that focus on the public health consequences that will arise and/or becoming exacerbated by climate change. Reaching the disparate communities that must be brought together to create a workable approach is challenging. GAIA has developed a novel framework for sharing information and developing communities of interest that cross boundaries in what is otherwise a highly disciplinary approach to climate change studies. Members of the GAIA community include climate change, environmental and public health experts, as well as relevant stakeholders, policy makers and decision makers. By leveraging the existing expertise within the GAIA community, an opportunity exists to present climate change education (CCE) in a way that emphasizes how climate change will affect public health, and utilizes an approach that has been shown to engage a broader and more diverse audience. Focusing CCE on public health effects is a new and potentially transformative method since it makes the results more tangible and less "random". When CCE is focused on what will happen to the Earth's climate and associated meteorological hazards one might be tempted to view this as something that can be coped with thus enabling the individualist entrepreneur point of view. Weather disasters always seem to happen to someone else - someone not like you. On the other hand, public health impacts are felt by millions and lead to very high costs and those impacts are something with which most people have direct experiences. We will discuss, for example, how climate change can be framed as a cost/benefit problem by looking at the long term costs of increase in disease and illness such as the startling trends in childhood asthma. Changes in water availability, and water and air quality, will result from a warming climate, with measureable consequences for public health: disease spread, food and water security, respiratory health, etc. By integrating this information with education efforts, society, educators and decision makers will have a better understanding of how climate change affects the human system, and what decisions can be made at the individual and community levels to mitigate and adapt to climate change. We will show how this can be achieved.

Aiding cities in their work on climate change adaptation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hamilton, P.

2013-12-01

Urban areas around the world are at the frontlines of climate change because of their enormous aggregate populations and because of their vulnerability to multiple climate change stressors. Half of our planet's 7.1 billion inhabitants currently reside in cities with six billion people projected to call cities home by 2050. In the U.S. and much of the rest of the world, cities are warming at twice the rate of the planet. Superimposed on urban climate changes driven by global warming are the regional effects of urban heat domes driven by large differences in land use, building materials, and vegetation between cities and their rural surroundings. In megacities - those with populations exceeding 10 million people - such as Tokyo - urban heat domes can contribute to daytime temperatures that soar to more than 11°C higher than their rural surroundings. In addition, the localized warming can alter patterns of precipitation in metropolitan regions and perhaps even influence the frequency and severity of severe weather. Municipal officials need to accelerate their efforts to prepare and implement climate change adaptation strategies but what are the institutions that can help enable this work? Informal science education centers can play vital roles because they are overwhelmingly in urban settings and because they can act as ';competent outsiders.' They are neither responsible for conducting climate change research nor accountable for implementing public policies to address climate change. They instead can play an essential role of ensuring that solid science informs the formulation of good practices and policies. It is incumbent, therefore, for informal science education centers to accelerate and enhance their abilities to help translate scientific insights into on-the-ground actions. This session will explore the potential roles of informal science education centers to advance climate change adaptation through a review of the urban climate change education initiatives for municipal officials that the Science Museum of Minnesota has implemented over the past two years.

The Process of Change Experimented by Teachers and Students when Voluntarily Trying Environmental Behaviors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pruneau, Diane; Doyon, Andre; Langis, Joanne; Vasseur, Liette; Martin, Gilles; Ouellet, Eileen; Boudreau, Gaston

2006-01-01

During a training program on climate change education, teachers were invited to experiment with environmental behaviors in their personal lives. They then created their own climate change education model, with which they experimented in their classroom. Through teachers' and students' work, individual interviews, and questionnaires, researchers…

Overcoming Barriers: Tailoring Climate Education for Latino and non-Latino Citizen to Impact Decision Making

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Estrada, M.; Boudrias, M. A.; Silva-Send, N. J.; Gershunov, A.; Anders, S.

2013-12-01

Culture has been shown to be an important determinant of Latino/Hispanic American environmental attitudes (Schultz, Unipan, & Gamba, 2000), which might help to explain the underrepresentation of Latinos in the U.S. 'environmental' movement. With shifting U.S. demographics, however, there is increased urgency to understand how Latinos integrate into the community that is concerned and literate about climate change. As part of the Climate Education Partners (CEP) work in San Diego, we investigated how to address this ethnic group disparity. In this paper, we describe a study of how climate change science knowledge relates to Latino and Non-Latino citizen (a) engagement in conservation behaviors and (b) more informed decision-making. Drawing upon previous work on the Tripartite Integration Model of Social Influence (TIMSI) (Estrada et al., 2011), we hypothesized that climate change knowledge that promotes efficacy (i.e., a sense that one can do something) would relate to greater engagement in conservation behaviors and more informed decision-making (both common of community members concerned about climate change). To test this model, 1001 San Diego residence participated in a telephone survey in which the attitudes towards climate change were assessed using '6 Americas' segmentation (Leiserowitz et al., 2011), in addition to climate change science knowledge, efficacy, values, and engagement in weekly and yearly climate change friendly behaviors (e.g., conservation, transportation, community engagement behaviors). Results showed that there were significant differences in the 6 America segmentation distributions, knowledge, efficacy and behavioral engagement with Latinos significantly more concerned than Non-Latinos, and reporting greater knowledge, efficacy and engagement in behaviors. However, data from both groups showed support for the TIMSI theoretical framework, such that efficacy mediated the relationship between climate change knowledge and behavior. Thus, for both groups, climate change science knowledge was more likely to result in behavioral engagement when the science knowledge was accompanied with the belief that one has the ability to engage in behaviors that mitigate or adapt to climate change (i.e., efficacy). Implications for how to improve both Latino and Non-Latino climate change education that results in informed decision-making and greater integration into the community concerned about climate change will be discussed.

Recent Trends in National Policy on Education for Sustainable Development and Climate Change Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Laessøe, Jeppe; Mochizuki, Yoko

2015-01-01

Climate change education (CCE) is a new phenomenon which is gaining increasing significance in the work of international organizations and international non-governmental organizations. Based primarily on a cross-national desk study of national policy documents relevant to CCE in 17 countries, which was commissioned by UNESCO to gain a robust…

Civic Engagement about Climate Change: A Case Study of Three Educators and Their Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chandler, Thomas; Marri, Anand R.

2012-01-01

This collective case study examined how three educators (a high school social studies teacher, a university social studies teacher educator, and minister teaching an adult population) used a multimedia based curriculum guide, "Teaching the Levees", to teach about climate change to examine public priorities in relation to the environment.…

Facing Anxiety in Climate Change Education: from Therapeutic Practice to Hopeful Transgressive Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ojala, Maria

2016-01-01

This article discusses the need for critical emotional awareness in environmental and sustainability education that aspires to result in transgressive learning and transformation. The focus is on the emotions of anxiety/worry and hope, and their role in climate change education. By disrupting unsustainable norms and habits, hope for another way of…

Chemistry Teachers' Views on Teaching "Climate Change"--An Interview Case Study from Research-Oriented Learning in Teacher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Feierabend, Timo; Jokmin, Sebastian; Eilks, Ingo

2011-01-01

This paper presents a case study from research-oriented learning in chemistry teacher education. The study evaluates the views of twenty experienced German chemistry teachers about the teaching of climate change in chemistry education. Data was collected using semi-structured interviews about the teachers' experiences and their views about…

LGBT Students Want Educators to Speak up for Them

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Young, Abe Louise

2011-01-01

Changing a school's culture with regard to how it treats lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students can seem impossible, the author says. Educators must take the temperature of a school climate, map a route, establish rules, and hand out safety gear. Mostly, changing that climate will require educators to listen closely to students and hear…

A Curriculum Experiment in Climate Change Education Using an Integrated Approach of Content Knowledge Instruction and Student-Driven Research, Year 2

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adams, P. E.; Heinrichs, J. F.

2010-12-01

One of the greatest challenges facing the world is climate change. Coupled with this challenge is an under-informed population that has not received a rigorous education about climate change other than what is available through the media. Fort Hays State University is in a second year of piloting a course on climate change targeted to students early in their academic careers. The course is modeled after our past work (NSF DUE-0088818) of integrating content knowledge instruction and student-driven research where there was a positive correlation between student research engagement and student knowledge gains. The second pilot offering utilizes a mix of inquiry-based instruction, problem-based learning, and student-driven research to educate and engage the students in understanding climate change. The course was collaboratively developed by a geoscientist and science educator both of whom are active in citizen science programs. The course model is unique in that 50% of the course is dedicated to developing core knowledge and technical skills (e.g. global climate change, critical analysis, writing, data acquisition, data representation, and research design), and 50% to conducting a research project using available data sets from federal agencies and research groups. A key element of the course is a focus on data sets to make climate change relevant to the students. The research serves as a means of civic engagement by the students as they are tasked to understand their role in communicating their research findings to the community and coping with the local and regional changes they find through their research. The impacts of course changes from the first offering to the second offering of the course will be reported, as well as the structure of the course.

The Nevada NSF EPSCoR infrastructure for climate change science, education, and outreach project: highlights and progress on investigations of ecological change and water resources along elevational gradients

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saito, L.; Biondi, F.; Fenstermaker, L. F.; Arnone, J.; Devitt, D.; Riddle, B.; Young, M.

2010-12-01

In 2008, the Nevada System of Higher Education received a 5-year, $15 million grant from the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR). The mission of the project is to create a statewide interdisciplinary program to stimulate transformative research, education, and outreach about the effects of regional climate change on ecosystem services (especially water resources), and support use of this knowledge by policy makers and stakeholders. The overarching question that this effort will address is: how will climate change affect water resources, disturbance regimes and linked ecosystem and human services? While the overall project includes cyberinfrastructure, policy, education and climate modeling, this presentation will focus on the ecological change and water resources components. The goals of these two components are: 1) improving understanding of processes controlling local- and basin-wide impacts of climate on species dynamics, disturbance regimes, and water recharge rates; 2) evaluating interactions between landscape-level processes and biophysical indicators; 3) evaluating interactions between surface and groundwater systems; 4) predicting changes in wildfire regime, primary productivity, and biodiversity (including invasive species); and 5) assessing how interactions between water and ecology will differ under climate change and/or climate variability scenarios. To achieve these goals, the two components will quantify present-day climate variability at multiple temporal and spatial scales, including at multiple elevations within Nevada’s Basin and Range ecosystem continuum. This presentation will discuss key elements for achieving these goals, including the establishment of instrumented transects spanning a range of elevations and vegetation zones in eastern and southern Nevada.

Examining Educational Climate Change Technology: How Group Inquiry Work with Realistic Scientific Technology Alters Classroom Learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bush, Drew; Sieber, Renee; Seiler, Gale; Chandler, Mark

2018-04-01

This study with 79 students in Montreal, Quebec, compared the educational use of a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) global climate model (GCM) to climate education technologies developed for classroom use that included simpler interfaces and processes. The goal was to show how differing climate education technologies succeed and fail at getting students to evolve in their understanding of anthropogenic global climate change (AGCC). Many available climate education technologies aim to convey key AGCC concepts or Earth systems processes; the educational GCM used here aims to teach students the methods and processes of global climate modeling. We hypothesized that challenges to learning about AGCC make authentic technology-enabled inquiry important in developing accurate understandings of not just the issue but how scientists research it. The goal was to determine if student learning trajectories differed between the comparison and treatment groups based on whether each climate education technology allowed authentic scientific research. We trace learning trajectories using pre/post exams, practice quizzes, and written student reflections. To examine the reasons for differing learning trajectories, we discuss student pre/post questionnaires, student exit interviews, and 535 min of recorded classroom video. Students who worked with a GCM demonstrated learning trajectories with larger gains, higher levels of engagement, and a better idea of how climate scientists conduct research. Students who worked with simpler climate education technologies scored lower in the course because of lower levels of engagement with inquiry processes that were perceived to not actually resemble the work of climate scientists.

Two Challenges to Communicating Climate Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oreskes, N.; Evans, J. H.; Feng, J.

2011-12-01

Climate scientists have been frustrated by the persistence of public opinion at odds with established scientific evidence about anthropogenic climate change. Traditionally, scientists have attributed the gap between scientific knowledge and public perception to scientific illiteracy, which could be remedied by a better and more abundant supply of well-communicated scientific information. Social scientific research, however, illustrates that this "deficit model" is insufficient to explain the current state of affairs: many individuals who reject the conclusions of climate scientists are highly educated, and some evidence suggests that, among certain demographics, more educated people are more likely than less educated ones to reject climate science. This talk explores two possible sources of resistance to, or outright rejection of, scientific conclusions about climate change: 1) the effects of long-standing organized efforts to challenge climate science and the credibility of climate scientists; 2) conservative Protestant religious beliefs concerning how factual claims about the earth are determined and how their significance is judged.

(Climate) Change in young people's minds - From categories towards interconnections between the anthroposphere and natural sphere.

PubMed

Körfgen, Annemarie; Keller, Lars; Kuthe, Alina; Oberrauch, Anna; Stötter, Hans

2017-02-15

The grand challenges of the 21st century will increasingly require societies to reconsider the pathways taken thus far. Engagement with climate change is of ever-growing importance to young people. They will be confronted with the effects of climate change throughout their entire lives and, as future decision-makers, they will vitally shape societal developments. Education will thus play a crucial role in the transformation to a sustainable society. In terms of awareness-raising, an important first step in preparing young people for the challenges of the 21st century is to understand what content is connected with climate change. As complex challenges, such as climate change, demand ways of thinking that go beyond categories, interconnections between the anthroposphere and the natural sphere have to be taken into consideration. This study provides an insight into the questions and topics young people develop whilst becoming involved in climate change in an in-school learning setting and in an out-of-school learning setting (a high mountain environment). The analysis focuses on the question of in which spheres students predominantly make their thematic choices and how far the interconnections between different spheres are formed. Our results show that the choice of the learning setting influences the topics students connect with climate change. Interconnections between sub-spheres of the anthroposphere and natural sphere are made only occasionally. These findings serve as a basis for reconsidering the content and foundation of climate change communication with young people. We recommend that climate change educational programmes should include phases that allow the following: a) involvement with climate change issues related to single spheres in the first phase, and b) consideration of the interconnections between spheres when becoming involved with climate change issues in the second phase. As the educational setting can considerably influence the focus of the learning process, it should be chosen thoughtfully. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Secondary School Students' Views of Climate Change in Hong Kong

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jackson, Liz; Pang, Ming-Fai

2017-01-01

Though there has been an increased focus on climate change in Hong Kong's educational policy and curriculum over the last decade, little is known about the impact of curricular implementation on young people's environmental and climate change-related views, attitudes, awareness, or behaviors. This paper examines the state of climate change…

Understandings of Climate Change Articulated by Swedish Secondary School Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Holmqvist Olander, Mona; Olander, Clas

2017-01-01

This study investigated beliefs about climate change among Swedish secondary school students at the end of their K-12 education. An embedded mixed method approach was used to analyse 51 secondary school students' written responses to two questions: (1) What implies climate change? (2) What affects climate? A quantitative analysis of the responses…

Climate Cases: Learning about Student Conceptualizations of Global Climate Change

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tierney, Benjamin P.

2013-01-01

The complex topic of global climate change continues to be a challenging yet important topic among science educators and researchers. This mixed methods study adds to the growing research by investigating student conceptions of climate change from a system theory perspective (Von Bertalanffy, 1968) by asking the question, "How do differences…

Climate Literacy: STEM and Climate Change Education and Remote Sensing Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reddy, S. R.

2015-12-01

NASA Innovations in Climate Education (NICE) is a competitive project to promote climate and Earth system science literacy and seeks to increase the access of underrepresented minority groups to science careers and educational opportunities. A three year funding was received from NASA to partnership with JSU and MSU under cooperative agreement "Strengthening Global Climate Change education through Remote Sensing Application in Coastal Environment using NASA Satellite Data and Models". The goal is to increase the number of highschool and undergraduate students at Jackson State University, a Historically Black University, who are prepared to pursue higher academic degrees and careers in STEM fields. A five Saturday course/workshop was held during March/April 2015 at JSU, focusing on historical and technical concepts of math, enginneering, technology and atmosphere and climate change and remote sensing technology and applications to weather and climate. Nine students from meteorology, biology, industrial technology and computer science/engineering of JSU and 19 high scool students from Jackson Public Schools participated in the course/workshop. The lecture topics include: introduction to remote sensing and GIS, introduction to atmospheric science, math and engineering, climate, introduction to NASA innovations in climate education, introduction to remote sensing technology for bio-geosphere, introduction to earth system science, principles of paleoclimatology and global change, daily weather briefing, satellite image interpretation and so on. In addition to lectures, lab sessions were held for hand-on experiences for remote sensing applications to atmosphere, biosphere, earth system science and climate change using ERDAS/ENVI GIS software and satellite tools. Field trip to Barnett reservoir and National weather Service (NWS) was part of the workshop. Basics of Earth System Science is a non-mathematical introductory course designed for high school seniors, high school teachers and undergraduate students who may or may not have adequate exposure to fundamental concepts of the key components of the modern earth system and their interactions. This is an online course that will be delivered using Blackboard platform available at Jackson State University.

Evaluation of the Alliance for Climate Education's national high school edutainment program (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lappe, M.; Flora, J.; Saphir, M.; Roser-Renouf, C.; Maibach, E.; Leiserowitz, A.

2013-12-01

The Alliance for Climate Education educates high school students on the science of climate change and inspires them to create effective solutions. Since 2009, ACE has reached over 1.6 million students nationwide with its multi media assembly presentation. In this paper, we evaluate the climate science knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, behavior and communication impact of the ACE Assembly program in a random sample of 49 schools (from population of 779) and a panel of 1,241 high school students. Pre and post assembly surveys composed of questions from the Global Warming Six Americas segmentation and intervention specific questions were administered in classrooms. We demonstrate that exposure to climate science in an engaging edutainment format changes youths' beliefs, involvement, and behavior positively and moves them to more climate science literate audience segments. The net impact of scaled and engaging programs for youth could be a population shift in climate science literacy and positive engagement in the issue of climate change. In addition, such programs can empower youth for deeper engagement in school programs, personal action, political and consumer advocacy.

Framing Climate Change to Account for Values

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hassol, S. J.

2011-12-01

Belief, trust and values are important but generally overlooked in efforts to communicate climate change. Because climate change has often been framed too narrowly as an environmental issue, it has failed to engage segments of the public for whom environmentalism is not an important value. Worse, for some of these people, environmentalism and the policies that accompany it may be seen as a threat to their core values, such as the importance of personal freedoms and the free market. Climate science educators can improve this situation by more appropriately framing climate change as an issue affecting the economy and our most basic human needs: food, water, shelter, security, health, jobs, and the safety of our families. Further, because people trust and listen to those with whom they share cultural values, climate change educators can stress the kinds of values their audiences share. They can also enlist the support of opinion leaders known for holding these values. In addition, incorporating messages about solutions to climate change and their many benefits to economic prosperity, human health, and other values is an important component of meeting this challenge. We must also recognize that local impacts are of greater concern to most people than changes that feel distant in place and time. Different audiences have different concerns, and effective educators will learn what their audiences care about and tailor their messages accordingly.

Teaching Earth System Science Using Climate Educational Modules Based on NASA and NOAA Resources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ramirez, P. C.; LaDochy, S.; Patzert, W. C.; Willis, J. K.

2011-12-01

The Earth System Science Education Alliance (ESSEA) recently developed a set of climate related educational modules to be used by K-12 teachers. These modules incorporate recent NASA and NOAA resources in Earth Science education. In the summer of 2011, these modules were tested by in-service teachers in courses held at several college campuses. At California State University, Los Angeles, we reviewed two climate modules: The Great Ocean Conveyer Belt and Abrupt Climate Change (http://essea.strategies.org/module.php?module_id=148) and Sulfur Dioxide: Its Role in Climate Change (http://essea.strategies.org/module.php?module_id=168). For each module, 4-6 teachers formed a cohort to complete assignments and unit assessments and to evaluate the effectiveness of the module for use in their classroom. Each module presented the teachers with a task that enabled them to research and better understand the science behind the climate related topic. For The Great Ocean Conveyer Belt, teachers are tasked with evaluating the impacts of the slowing or stopping of the thermohaline circulation on climate. In the same module teachers are charged with determining the possibilities of an abrupt climate shift during this century such as happened in the past. For the Sulfur Dioxide module teachers investigated the climate implications of the occurrence of several major volcanic eruptions within a short time period, as well as the feasibility of using sulfates to geoengineer climate change. In completing module assignments, teachers must list what they already know about the topic as well as formulate questions that still need to be addressed. Teachers then model the related interactions between spheres comprising the earth system (atmosphere-lithosphere, for example) to evaluate possible environmental impacts. Finally, teachers applied their research results to create lesson plans for their students. At a time when climate change and global warming are important topics in science education, these climate modules provide valuable learning experiences and resources for K-12 teachers.

Role-play simulations for climate change adaptation education and engagement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rumore, Danya; Schenk, Todd; Susskind, Lawrence

2016-08-01

In order to effectively adapt to climate change, public officials and other stakeholders need to rapidly enhance their understanding of local risks and their ability to collaboratively and adaptively respond to them. We argue that science-based role-play simulation exercises -- a type of 'serious game' involving face-to-face mock decision-making -- have considerable potential as education and engagement tools for enhancing readiness to adapt. Prior research suggests role-play simulations and other serious games can foster public learning and encourage collective action in public policy-making contexts. However, the effectiveness of such exercises in the context of climate change adaptation education and engagement has heretofore been underexplored. We share results from two research projects that demonstrate the effectiveness of role-play simulations in cultivating climate change adaptation literacy, enhancing collaborative capacity and facilitating social learning. Based on our findings, we suggest such exercises should be more widely embraced as part of adaptation professionals' education and engagement toolkits.

Strengthening education in human values - The Link between Recycling and Climate Change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kastanidou, Sofia

2014-05-01

This work is an environmental education program of 50 hours- off curriculum, currently run by High school of Nikaia - Larissas. I as coordinator teacher, another two teachers and 24 students participate in this program. Intended learning outcomes: students will be able to define the importance of climate change, to evaluate the effect of human activities on climate, and to recognize the role of recycling in preventing global climate change. It is an environmental program with social goals. That means students have to understand the link between human and environment and learn how to combine environmental protection with human help. As a consequence collaboration has already begun between High school of Nikaia and the Paraplegic & Physically Disabled Association of Pella-Greece. This is a nonprofit association that collects plastic caps; with the contribution of a recycling company the Paraplegic Association converts plastic caps in wheelchairs and gives them to needy families. So, recycling caps becomes a meaningful form of environmental and social activism. Students are educated about the meaning of recycling and encouraged to collect all types of plastic caps; they are also educated in the meaning of helping people. Further, this environmental education program consists of two parts, a theoretical and a practical one: a) Theoretical part: education is an essential element of the global response to climate change, so students have to research on climate change; they visit the Center for Environmental Education in Florina and experience the aquatic ecosystem of Prespa lakes; specialists of the Centre inform students about the effects of climate change on wetlands; students have further to research how recycling can help fight global climate change as well as examine how recycling a key component of modern waste reduction is, as the third component of the "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" waste hierarchy; they discover the interdependence of society, economy and the natural environment; they visit the City Cleaning-Recycling Services; scientists visit our school and engage students in the climate change issue; students are educated in developing ecological consciousness paths to a sustainable future. b) Practical part: students use recycled materials to build containers where everyone can put the plastic caps; they decorate containers with other recyclable materials such as magazine clippings, ribbons etc.; students are encouraged to contact local organizations (municipality, post office, and banks), sports clubs and shops, to inform people about their action and to put the containers for plastic caps in the place they work or in their houses; they collect plastic caps frequently at school; at the end of the environmental education program all the students visit Paraplegic & Physically Disabled Association in Pella-Yannitsa and deliver the collected caps. We hope that students will leave the program with new skills, experiences and knowledge that can be used to help themselves, their communities, their environment and future generations. "Our changing planet - our changing society for a better future".

Getting Decision Makers to the Table: Digestible Facts, a Few Good Friends and Sharing Recipes for Solutions to Climate Change Impacts.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boudrias, M. A.; Estrada, M.; Gershunov, A.; Silva-Send, N. J.; Young, E.

2014-12-01

Decision makers and community leaders are key audiences to engage in our efforts to improve climate literacy. Climate Education Partners has been working with business leaders, elected officials, tribal leaders, and other Key Influentials in the San Diego Region to enhance the channels of communication outside traditional settings. Over the past year we have interviewed over 90 Key Influential San Diego leaders asking them about their knowledge of climate change and their personal and professional efforts to adapt to and/or mitigate the impacts of climate change. We also engaged them directly in the creation of an innovative educational resource called "San Diego, 2050 is Calling. How will we answer?" Results of the interviews indicate that 90% of these leaders are concerned about climate change, more than 50% are already doing something about the impacts, and the majority of them want more information, greater dialogue and examples of actions taken by other community leaders. We found that repeated engagement of leaders at the San Diego County Water Authority went from basic collaboration in our water tours, to greater participation of their top leaders in a water tour for top decision makers from the City of San Diego, finally culminating with full support of and participation in the 2050 report. The 2050 report represents an integrated approach blending local climate change science, social science education theory and presentation of a suite of solution-driven opportunities for local leaders. The report includes science infographics that illustrate rigorous scientific facts, statements from expert scientists and direct quotes from decision makers, and examples of successful climate change adaptation actions from companies, government groups and others. The video and photography sessions for the 2050 report led to many unexpected discussion among leaders with differing opinions on climate change, greater enthusiasm to participate in outreach activities with other leaders and an increased willingness to share their successes publicly. Climate Education Partners is finding that linking excellent local science with healthy community dialogue is resulting in San Diego leaders and their communities making more informed decisions on how to adapt to climate change now and for all future generations.

As the Climate Changes: Intergenerational Action-Based Learning in Relation to Flood Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Williams, Sara; McEwen, Lindsey J.; Quinn, Nevil

2017-01-01

It is a concern that children represent an under-researched group in flood education and preparedness because as adults they are more likely to experience flooding as the climate changes, and because it suggests their potential today, as agents of change, is being undervalued. Using action-based, participatory methodology with seven to…

A systems-based approach to transform climate education in the U.S. Affiliated Pacific islands (USAPI)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sussman, A.; Fletcher, C. H.; Sachs, J. P.

2011-12-01

The USAPI has a population of about 1,800,000 people spread across 4.9 million square miles of the Pacific Ocean. The Pacific Islands are characterized by a multitude of indigenous cultures and languages. English is the common language of instruction in all jurisdictions, but is not the language spoken at home for most students outside of Hawai'i. Many USAPI students live considerably below the poverty line. The Pacific Island region is projected to experience some of the most profound negative impacts considerably sooner than other regions. Funded by the National Science Foundation, the Pacific Islands Climate Education Partnership (PCEP) aims to educate the region's students and citizens in ways that exemplify modern science and indigenous environmental knowledge, address the urgency of climate change impacts, and honor indigenous cultures. Students and citizens within the region will have the knowledge and skills to advance their and our understanding of climate change, and to adapt to its impacts. PCEP has developed a regional network, tools, and an emerging plan to systemically transform K-14 climate education in the USAPI. More than 50 organizations and networks have joined the partnership. These partners include all of the region's state departments of education, major universities, and community colleges, and a wide range of local partners, particularly conservation organizations. One of PCEP's major tools is general, multidisciplinary K-14 climate science education framework that organizes major underlying concepts and skills within appropriate grade-span progressions. This framework is based largely upon prior national science and climate literacy work and the National Research Council's recent document "A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas." The PCEP climate education framework has an Earth System Science foundation that is directly applicable in all locations, and it also has orientations that are particularly relevant to the USAPI context. PCEP is working with the Micronesia Conservation Trust and The Nature Conservancy to combine the climate education work with local community climate adaptation projects. This work combines the PCEP climate education framework with the Micronesia Challenge community training plans and materials, particularly the Pacific-oriented community booklet "Adapting to a Changing Climate." Combining pre-college education with community climate adaptation has the potential to yield major synergistic benefits for both efforts. Another key PCEP tool is an interactive web-based environment (http://pcep.dsp.wested.org) that interlinks the region's locations, organizations and people with information about climate science and climate impacts. This system enables the region's diverse stakeholders to access and contribute to the same information pool, and to collectively develop, and disseminate our work. This web-based environment can be configured for other climate education projects or regions.

NASA Climate Days: Promoting Climate Literacy One Ambassador and One Event at a Time

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weir, H. M.; Lewis, P. M.; Chambers, L. H.; Millham, R. A.; Richardson, A.

2012-12-01

With so many informal outreach and education venues across the world, leveraging them for climate education allows vast amounts of information to be translated to the public in a familiar setting through trusted local sources. One of the challenges is the development of an effective process for training informal educators and providing them with adequate support materials. The 'NASA Climate Day Kit', and its related training strategy for Earth Ambassadors, is designed to address some of these issues. The purpose of the NASA Climate Day project is to collect existing NASA climate education materials, assemble a cadre of informal educators, and provide professional development on the subject of climate change. This training is accomplished through a series of exercises, games, science talks and place-based training. After their training and immersion in climate-related content, participants develop and implement a climate event at their local informal education venue. Throughout their training the Earth Ambassadors are exposed to a wide array of climate related exercises and background content. Some of these include one-on-one science content talks with NASA scientists who study climate on a daily basis. This allows the Ambassador to have direct access to new cutting edge data and information. To complement the science talks, participants explore activities and games that can engage all ages at their climate event. During their training, they also explore the 'Climate Day Kit'. This Kit is an assemblage of climate-related materials created by various NASA groups. Key components of this Kit include data visualizations, articles, electronic reference material, science talks, NASA Education and Public Outreach (E/PO) climate materials, and examples of Climate Day events that have been conducted in the past. As an on-going resource and to use for their own climate event, each group of Earth Ambassadors has access to a dynamic website that hosts all of the science presentations from the training, along with downloadable Climate Day Kit materials. Utilizing informal educators from museums, aquariums, libraries and other similar venues allow the hard-to-understand, sometimes-controversial, topic of climate change to be presented to the public in tailored events that suit an individual community's needs. Included in the process of scheduling and executing these climate events, the Ambassadors participate in virtual conferences to discuss progress, to ensure proper evaluation and to allow ample time for questions from the trainers and scientists. This ensures an accurate stream of information from the scientist to the public in a fashion that can be understood and digested by the layperson, helping them to make better-informed decisions about societal issues related to global climate change. Through a series of local Climate Day events, it is hoped that the public will have the opportunity to have first hand experience with the topic of climate change, leaving with a better understanding of its scientific basis. Outcome: This paper will summarize the various methods and strategies used in the Climate Day training events. A discussion of methods that work and those that do not for informal education will help provide a better understanding of the challenges faced in educating the public on such a controversial and hard-to-understand topic.

Assessment of 6- to 20-Grade Educators' Climate Knowledge and Perceptions: Results from the Climate Stewardship Survey

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McNeal, Karen S.; Walker, Scott L.; Rutherford, David

2014-01-01

The southeastern United States (SEUS) faces numerous potential impacts from a changing climate; however, the population has been characterized with a predominance of naysayers and few climate policies have been implemented by state governments in the region. As such, public education is an important avenue for achieving a climate literate…

Greenhouse Gas-ette Fall 1988, Spring, Fall 1989, Winter, Spring, Fall 1990.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Greenhouse Gas-ette, 1990

1990-01-01

This newsletter is for educators interested in developing lessons related to global climate change. The newsletter contains sample lessons, news items involving global climate change on an international scale, and background information on issues related to global climate change. (CW)

Groundwater and climate change: mitigating the global groundwater crisis and adapting to climate change model

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

To better understand the effects of climate change on global groundwater resources, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) International Hydrological Programme (IHP) initiated the GRAPHIC (Groundwater Resources Assessment under the Pressures of Humanity and Cl...

Farmers' perceptions of and adaptation strategies to climate change and their determinants; the case of Punjab province, Pakistan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abid, M.; Scheffran, J.; Schneider, U. A.; Ashfaq, M.

2014-10-01

Climate change is a global environmental threat to all economic sectors, particularly the agricultural sector. Pakistan is one of the negatively affected countries from climate change due to its high exposure to extreme events and low adaptive capacity. In Pakistan, farmers are the primary stakeholders in agriculture and are more at risk due to climate vulnerability. Based on farm household data of 450 households collected from three districts in three agro-ecological zones in Punjab province of Pakistan, this study examined how farmers perceive climate change and how they adapt their farming in response to perceived changes in climate. The results demonstrate that awareness to climate change persists in the area, and farm households make adjustments to adapt their agriculture in response to climatic change. Overall 58% of the farm households adapted their farming to climate change. Changing crop varieties, changing planting dates, plantation of trees and changing fertilizer were the main adaptation methods implemented by farm households in the study area. Results from the binary logistic model revealed that education, farm experience, household size, land area, tenancy status, ownership of tube-well, access to market information, information on weather forecasting and extension all influence the farmers' choice of adaptation measures. Results also indicate that adaptation to climate change is constrained by several factors such as lack of information; lack of money; resource constraint and shortage of irrigation water in the study area. Findings of the study suggest the need of greater investment in farmer education and improved institutional setup for climate change adaptation to improve farmers' wellbeing.

Toward Collective Impact for Climate Resilience: Maximizing Climate Change Education for Preparedness, Adaptation, and Mitigation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ledley, T. S.; Niepold, F., III; McCaffrey, M.

2014-12-01

Increasing the capacity of society to make informed climate decisions based on scientific evidence is imperative. While a wide range of education programs and communication efforts to improve understanding and facilitate responsible effective decision-making have been developed in recent years, these efforts have been largely disconnected. The interdisciplinary and trans-disciplinary nature of the problems and potential responses to climate change requires a broad range of expertise and a strategy that overcomes the inherent limitations of isolated programs and efforts. To extend the reach and impact of climate change education and engagement efforts, it is necessary to have a coordination that results in greater collective impact. The Collective Impact model, as described by Kania & Kramer (2011), requires five elements: 1) a common agenda; 2) shared measurement systems; 3) mutually reinforcing activities; 4) continuous communication; and 5) a well-funded backbone support organization. The CLEAN Network has facilitated a series of discussions at six professional meetings from late 2012 through spring 2014 to begin to develop and define the elements of collective impact on climate change education and engagement. These discussions have focused on getting input from the community on a common agenda and what a backbone support organization could do to help extend their reach and impact and enable a longer-term sustainability. These discussions will continue at future meetings, with the focus shifting to developing a common agenda and shared metrics. In this presentation we will summarize the outcomes of these discussions thus far, especially with respect to what activities a backbone support organization might provide to help increase the collective impact of climate change education effort and invite others to join the development of public-private partnership to improve the nations climate literacy. The cumulative input into this evolving discussion on collective impact on climate literacy can be viewed at http://tinyurl.com/mgwndtr.

Defending climate science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Showstack, Randy

2012-01-01

The National Center for Science Education (NCSE), which has long been in the lead in defending the teaching of evolution in public schools, has expanded its core mission to include defending climate science, the organization announced in January. “We consider climate change a critical issue in our own mission to protect the integrity of science education,” said NSCE executive director Eugenie Scott. “Climate affects everyone, and the decisions we make today will affect generations to come. We need to teach kids now about the realities of global warming and climate change so that they're prepared to make informed, intelligent decisions in the future.”

Cool Science: Year 2 of Using Children's Artwork about Climate Change to Engage Riders on Mass Transit

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lustick, D. S.; Lohmeier, J.; Chen, R. F.

2014-12-01

A team of educators and scientists from the University of Massachusetts Lowell and the University of Massachusetts Boston will report on the second year of an informal science learning research project using mass transit spaces in Lowell, MA. Cool Science (CS) conducts a statewide art competition for K-12 students in the fall challenging them to express climate science understanding through the visual arts. An inter-disciplinary panel of judges evaluates entries and identifies the top 24 works of art. The best six student works of art are then put on public display throughout the spring on the Lowell Regional Transit Authority (LRTA). Displaying student artwork in Out of Home Multi-Media (OHMM) such as bus placards and posters is intended to engage riders with opportunities to learn informally. CS aims to promote and evaluate learning about climate change science among the general public and k-12 students/teachers. The goals of CS are: 1) Engage teachers, students, and parents in a climate change science communication competition. 2) Display the winning 6 artworks from K-12 students throughout the LRTA. 3) Assess the impact of Cool Science on the teaching and learning of climate science in K-12 formal education. 4) Assess the impact of Cool Science artwork on attitudes, awareness, and understanding of climate change among adult bus riders. A naturalistic inquiry employing a mixed methodology approach best describes our research design. The evaluation focuses on providing feedback regarding the potential learning outcomes for the K-12 students who create the media for the project and the general riding public who engage with the student artwork. To identify possible outcomes, data was collected in the several forms: survey, interviews, and online analytics. We see an urgent need to improve both the public's engagement with climate change science and to the profile of climate change science in formal education settings. The Cool Science (CS) project is an opportunity to bring formal and informal science learning settings together for mutual engagement in the science of climate change. The research that will be presented should be of interest to both informal and formal science educators, art and science educators, and environmental education advocates.

Tracking Public Beliefs About Anthropogenic Climate Change.

PubMed

Hamilton, Lawrence C; Hartter, Joel; Lemcke-Stampone, Mary; Moore, David W; Safford, Thomas G

2015-01-01

A simple question about climate change, with one choice designed to match consensus statements by scientists, was asked on 35 US nationwide, single-state or regional surveys from 2010 to 2015. Analysis of these data (over 28,000 interviews) yields robust and exceptionally well replicated findings on public beliefs about anthropogenic climate change, including regional variations, change over time, demographic bases, and the interacting effects of respondent education and political views. We find that more than half of the US public accepts the scientific consensus that climate change is happening now, caused mainly by human activities. A sizable, politically opposite minority (about 30 to 40%) concede the fact of climate change, but believe it has mainly natural causes. Few (about 10 to 15%) say they believe climate is not changing, or express no opinion. The overall proportions appear relatively stable nationwide, but exhibit place-to-place variations. Detailed analysis of 21 consecutive surveys within one fairly representative state (New Hampshire) finds a mild but statistically significant rise in agreement with the scientific consensus over 2010-2015. Effects from daily temperature are detectable but minor. Hurricane Sandy, which brushed New Hampshire but caused no disaster there, shows no lasting impact on that state's time series-suggesting that non-immediate weather disasters have limited effects. In all datasets political orientation dominates among individual-level predictors of climate beliefs, moderating the otherwise positive effects from education. Acceptance of anthropogenic climate change rises with education among Democrats and Independents, but not so among Republicans. The continuing series of surveys provides a baseline for tracking how future scientific, political, socioeconomic or climate developments impact public acceptance of the scientific consensus.

Tracking Public Beliefs About Anthropogenic Climate Change

PubMed Central

Hamilton, Lawrence C.; Hartter, Joel; Lemcke-Stampone, Mary; Moore, David W.; Safford, Thomas G.

2015-01-01

A simple question about climate change, with one choice designed to match consensus statements by scientists, was asked on 35 US nationwide, single-state or regional surveys from 2010 to 2015. Analysis of these data (over 28,000 interviews) yields robust and exceptionally well replicated findings on public beliefs about anthropogenic climate change, including regional variations, change over time, demographic bases, and the interacting effects of respondent education and political views. We find that more than half of the US public accepts the scientific consensus that climate change is happening now, caused mainly by human activities. A sizable, politically opposite minority (about 30 to 40%) concede the fact of climate change, but believe it has mainly natural causes. Few (about 10 to 15%) say they believe climate is not changing, or express no opinion. The overall proportions appear relatively stable nationwide, but exhibit place-to-place variations. Detailed analysis of 21 consecutive surveys within one fairly representative state (New Hampshire) finds a mild but statistically significant rise in agreement with the scientific consensus over 2010–2015. Effects from daily temperature are detectable but minor. Hurricane Sandy, which brushed New Hampshire but caused no disaster there, shows no lasting impact on that state’s time series—suggesting that non-immediate weather disasters have limited effects. In all datasets political orientation dominates among individual-level predictors of climate beliefs, moderating the otherwise positive effects from education. Acceptance of anthropogenic climate change rises with education among Democrats and Independents, but not so among Republicans. The continuing series of surveys provides a baseline for tracking how future scientific, political, socioeconomic or climate developments impact public acceptance of the scientific consensus. PMID:26422694

Exploring Science Teachers' Argumentation and Personal Epistemology About Global Climate Change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Shiyu; Roehrig, Gillian

2017-06-01

This case study investigated the nature of in-service science teachers' argumentation and personal epistemology about global climate change during a 3-year professional development program on climate change education. Qualitative analysis of data from interviews and written assessments revealed that while these teachers grounded their arguments on climate issues in evidence, the evidence was often insufficient to justify their causal claims. Compared with generating arguments for their own views, teachers had more difficulties in constructing evidence-based arguments for alternative perspectives. Moreover, while these teachers shared some similarities in their epistemology about climate science, they varied in their beliefs about specific aspects such as scientists' expertise and the credibility of scientific evidence. Such similarities and distinctions were shown to relate to how teachers used evidence to justify claims in their arguments. The findings also suggested a mismatch between teachers' personal epistemology about science in general and climate science, which was revealed through their argumentation. This work helps to further the ongoing discussions in environmental education about what knowledge and skills teachers need in order to teach climate issues and prepare students for future decision making. It constitutes first steps to facilitate reasoning and argumentation in climate change education and provides important implications for future design of professional development programs.

Engaging informal audiences in learning about and responding to climate change through a portfolio of innovative approaches

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pfirman, S. L.; Brunacini, J.; Orlove, B. S.; Bachrach, E.; Hamilton, L.

2017-12-01

Informal learners have many different backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. How can informal educators effectively reach such diverse audiences, meeting people where they are with regard to climate change? The Polar Learning and Responding: PoLAR Climate Change Education Partnership, supported by NSF, employs surveys, resource development, and research to develop innovative, evidence-based approaches that engage lifelong learners. General-public surveys on climate change yield insights on the knowledge and perceptions that informal learners bring to the table. That helps guide the creation of new tools for effective communication. For example, many people are unsure what causes sea level to rise. The Polar Explorer: Sea Level app uses a data and question-based approach guiding people through interactive maps to learn about melting land ice. In addition, people also tend to believe that climate impacts will happen in the future. Polar Voices podcasts feature Arctic Indigenous communities sharing first-hand experiences with climate change. Prior knowledge can be harnessed to enhance learning. Arctic SMARTIC engages people in role-playing negotiations with others to create a marine management plan. Climate game jams provide collaborative, creative spaces where participants learn as they interact with others. In each case participants, with all their knowledge and experience, are brought into group problem-solving. Understanding whom people trust for climate-change information offers insights that help them become climate communicators. Even those who are concerned about climate often do not discuss it with family and friends (Maibach et al. 2016), yet our research shows that family and friends are second only to scientists as trusted sources of climate information (Hamilton 2016). Fun and novel educational tools such as the EcoChains card game and the EcoKoin social networking app serve as conversation starters.

Creating a Library of Climate Change Education Resources for Audiences in the Southeast United States

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carroll, J.; McNeal, K. S.; Williams, C. C.; Paz, J. O.; Cho, H. "; Nair, U. S.; Geroux, J.; Guthrie, C.; Wright, K.; Hill, J.

2011-12-01

The Climate Literacy Partnership in the Southeast (CLiPSE) is a part of the Climate Change Education Program supported by the National Science Foundation (http://CLiPSE-project.org). The established CLiPSE partnership is dedicated to improving climate literacy in the southeast and promoting scientifically accurate, formal educational resources for the K-12 classroom audience, as well as informal educational resources for audiences such as agriculture, education, leisure, and religious organizations, to name a few. The CLiPSE project has been successful in creating partnerships with the National Geographic Alliances, Departments of Education, and Mississippi Environmental Education Alliance, among others, to determine an effective strategic plan for reaching K-12 audiences. One goal in the strategic plan is to create a catalog of climate change education resources that are aligned to state standards in the SE. Eighty-seven resources from the Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network (http://cleanet.org) have been aligned with the state education standards for grades six through twelve in the southeast, beginning with science in Mississippi and expanding to include science and math in the remaining SE states. The criteria for aligning the existing resources includes: matching key terms, topics, and lesson activities with the content strands and essential skills included in the state science framework. By developing a searchable database containing climate resources already aligned with state standards, CLiPSE will have made these resources more appealing to educators in the SE, increasing the likelihood of resources being implemented in the classroom. The CLiPSE Climate Science Team has also created an inventory of scientifically sound, informal resources, which will be available for dispersion to appropriate audiences and communities. Cataloged resources, both formal and informal, grouped by a variety of means, to include audience, grade level, and resource origin (e.g. government agency, organization, museum, climate-related websites, etc.), will be made available to the public through the CLiPSE website, promoting accessibility of these resources to the various CLiPSE publics. The process of alignment and vetting will be discussed in this paper, along with the information and education "gaps" that exist for the specific CLiPSE audiences in the SE US.

Animating the Discussion about Climate Change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ratner, A.

2016-12-01

Abstract concepts such as climate change are extremely difficult for both students and adults to grasp. Given that many of these concepts involve issues at global scales or at a microscopic level, photos and video are simply insufficient much of the time. Through an innovative partnership between The Marine Mammal Center, a marine mammal hospital and education facility, and the California College of the Arts Animation Department, we have been able to provide animation students real-world experience in producing scientific animations, and the Center has been able to create an animated video highlighting the science of climate change and effects on marine mammals. Using the science direct from our veterinary and research teams, along with scientifically tested communication strategies related to climate change from the National Network of Ocean and Climate Change Interpretation and Frameworks Institute, this video enables us to teach students and adults of all ages these complex scientific concepts in a fun, engaging, and easily understandable way. Utilizing the skill set and expertise of the College professor as director (currently a lead animator at Pixar Animation), this video provided animation students critical experience in the animation field, exposure and engagement in a critical environmental issue, and an understanding of the opportunities available within the field of animation for educational and scientific purposes. This presentation will highlight the opportunities to utilize animation for educational purposes and provide resources surrounding climate change that could be beneficial to educators at their own organizations.

Using Climate Change for Teaching Experimental Sciences in Teacher Education through Research Projects on Recycling at the University of Lleida (Western Catalonia)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sebastia, M. T.; Verdú, N.

2016-12-01

Although climate change is one of the most pressing challenges faced by humankind, climate change illiteracy is frequent among primary school teacher college students reaching the second school year at the University of Lleida (UdL). Climate change was chosen to structure the course on Experimental Sciences of the bilingual group because this topic involves all sciences, and because of the importance of the subject for future educators. In the bilingual group of the Education Faculty, Experimental Sciences is taught in English, and there are usually 1-2 international students in addition to around 20 local students. To increase the awareness about climate change and make this topic closer to the students' daily experience, a research project on recycling at the University of Lleida was assigned per groups of 4 students. The assignment was semi-structured, the students received a reduced set of instructions and large freedom to focus their particular projects. Additional instructions were provided along the way. We present results from the comparisons among faculties at UdL, and among the different users: students, professors and researchers, and administration staff. We also discuss the impact that this project had in the learning ability of the students and their awareness about climate change.

Heating up Climate Literacy Education: Understanding Teachers' and Students' Motivational and Affective Response to Climate Change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sinatra, G. M.

2011-12-01

Changing students' ideas about controversial scientific issues, such as human-induced climate change, presents unique challenges for educators (Lombardi & Sinatra, 2010; Sinatra & Mason, 2008). First, climate science is complex and requires "systems thinking," or the ability to think and reason abstractly about emergent systems (Goldstone & Sakamoto, 2003). Appreciating the intricacies of complex systems and emergent processes has proven challenging for students (Chi, 2005). In addition to these challenges, there are specific misconceptions that may lead thinking astray on the issue of global climate change, such as the distinction between weather and climate (Lombardi & Sinatra, 2010). As an example, when students are asked about their views on climate change, they often recall individual storm events or very cold periods and use their personal experiences and recollections of short-term temperature fluctuations to assess whether the planet is warming. Beyond the conceptual difficulties, controversial topics offer another layer of challenge. Such topics are often embedded in complex socio-cultural and political contexts, have a high degree of uncertainty, and may be perceived by individuals as in conflict with their personal or religious beliefs (Levinson, 2006, Sinatra, Kardash, Taasoobshirazi, & Lombardi, 2011). Individuals are often committed to their own views on socio-scientific issues and this commitment may serve as a motivation to actively resist new ideas (Dole & Sinatra, 1998). Individuals may also have strong emotions associated with their misconceptions (Broughton, Pekrun, & Sinatra, 2011). Negative emotions, misconceptions, and resistance do not make a productive combination for learning. Further, teachers who find human-induced climate change implausible have been shown to hold negative emotions about having to teach about climate change (Lombardi & Sinatra, in preparation), which could affect how they present the topic to students. In this presentation, findings from a research program exploring the role of "hot constructs" such as motivation and emotion in teaching and learning about climate change will be shared. In these studies, we have explored constructs such as emotions, misconceptions, plausibility perceptions, understanding deep time, and dispositions towards uncertainty. Results from four studies will be highlighted. In the first study, we demonstrated that comfort with ambiguity and a willingness to think deeply about issues predicted both change in attitudes towards climate change and expressed willingness to take mitigative action in college students (Sinatra, et al. 2011). In another study with college students, we demonstrated that knowledge of deep time and plausibility perceptions of human-induced climate change were related to students' understanding of weather and climate distinctions (Lombardi & Sinatra, 2010). In a study with graduate education students, we found that misconceptions about climate change were associated with strong emotions (Broughton, et al., 2011). With practicing teachers we have found that emotions, specifically anger and hopelessness, were significant predictors of plausibility perceptions of human-induced climate change (Lombardi & Sinatra, in preparation). The implications for climate change education of the findings will be discussed.

NASA NDATC Global Climate Change Education Initiative

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bennett, B.; Wood, E.; Meyer, D.; Maynard, N.; Pandya, R. E.

2009-12-01

This project aligns with NASA’s Strategic Goal 3A - “Study Earth from space to advance scientific understanding and meet societal needs and focuses on funding from the GCCE Funding Category 2: Strengthen the Teaching and Learning About Global Climate Change Within Formal Education Systems. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Report (2007) those communities with the least amount of resources will be most vulnerable, and least likely to adapt to the impacts brought on by a changing climate. Further, the level of vulnerability of these communities is directly correlated with their ability to implement short, medium and long range mitigation measures. The North Dakota Association of Tribal Colleges (NDATC) has established a climate change education initiative among its six member Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs). The goal of this project is to enhance the TCUs capacity to educate their constituents on the science of climate change and mitigation strategies specifically as they apply to Indian Country. NDATC is comprised of six American Indian tribally chartered colleges (TCUs) which include: Cankdeska Cikana Community College, serving the Spirit Lake Dakota Nation; Fort Berthold Community College, serving the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation; Sitting Bull College, serving the Hunkpapa Lakota and Dakota Nation; Turtle Mountain Community College, serving the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa; Sisseton Wahpeton College serving the Sisseton and Wahpeton Dakota Nation, and United Tribes Technical College, serving over 70 Tribal groups from across the United States. The purpose of this project is to (1) increase awareness of climate change and its potential impacts in Indian Country through education for students, faculty and presidents of the TCUs as well as Tribal leadership; (2) increase the capacity of TCUs to respond to this global threat on behalf of tribal people; (3) develop climate change mitigation strategies relevant to Indian Country in the Northern Plains; (4) strengthen our partnerships in the scientific community in addressing climate change issues that will impact our reservations; and (5) utilize NASA resources and instrumentation through LPDAAC (Landsat TM and ETM +, MODIS, ASTER and other remotely sensed data) to educate our TCU students about appropriate research and modeling applications. Few of the TCU STEM faculty have read and comprehend the “Summaries for Policy Makers” published by the IPCC working groups, the Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States, or the ACIA report. Many of these same faculty have little or no experience with remote sensing applications. Through this project we will empower our colleges and students to fully understand the threats posed by this important phenomenon. We will provide training for our TCU faculty, who, in turn, will prepare our students with the knowledge to implement the diverse and comprehensive mitigation strategies needed to sustain our resources and tribal communities.

Creating a Partnering Community Aimed to Foster Climate Literacy in the Southeastern United States

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rutherford, D.; McNeal, K. S.; Smith, R.; Hare, D.; Nair, U. S.

2011-12-01

The Climate Literacy Partnership in the Southeast (CLiPSE) is a part of the Climate Change Education Program supported by the National Science Foundation (http://CLiPSE-project.org). The established CLiPSE partnership is dedicated to improving climate literacy in the southeast through crafting a shared vision and strategic plan among stakeholders that promotes scientific formal and informal educational resources, materials and programs; a diverse network of key partnering organizations throughout the Southeastern United States (SE US); and effective public dialogues that address diverse learners and audiences and supports learning of climate, climate change, and its relevance upon human and environmental systems. The CLiPSE project has been successful in creating partnerships with more than fifty key stakeholders that stem from a few key publics such as agriculture, education, leisure, religious organizations, and culturally diverse communities. These key publics in the SE US frequently consist of individuals that place great trust in local, private efforts, and CLiPSE has realized the importance of the role of the partnering organizations in providing information through a trusted source. A second unique characteristic of the SE US is the predominately conservative and Protestant citizenry in the region. Working with and through these communities enhances climate change education outreach to this citizenry. The CLiPSE project rests on solid climate science and learning science research in order to formulate an effective plan with desired learning outcomes of critical thinking and civil conversation through effective communication strategies. This paper will present the CLiPSE model in reaching the key publics that traditionally hold ideologies that are traditionally perceived as incompatible with climate change science. We will present the strategies utilized to bring together experts and researchers in climate science, learning science, and social science with practitioners and leaders of key stakeholder groups to formulate a shared climate change education plan in the SE US that is uniquely formatted for each target audience. We will also share what we have learned from interacting with the leaders of our partnering organizations in crafting effective messages for their audiences and addressing learners' affective and cognitive domains.

Development and nationwide scale-up of Climate Matters, a localized climate change education program delivered by TV weathercasters.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cullen, H. M.; Maibach, E.

2016-12-01

Most Americans view climate change as a threat that is distant in space (i.e., not here), time (i.e., not now), and species (i.e., not us). TV weathercasters are ideally positioned to educate Americans about the current and projected impacts of climate change in their community: they have tremendous reach, are trusted sources of climate information, and are highly skilled science communicators. In 2009, we learned that many weathercasters were potentially interested in reporting on climate change, but few actually were, citing significant barriers including a lack of time to prepare and air stories, and lack of access to high quality content. To test the premise that TV weathercasters can be effective climate educators - if supported with high quality localized climate communication content - in 2010 George Mason University, Climate Central and WLTX-TV (Columbia, SC) developed and pilot-tested Climate Matters, a series of short on-air (and online) segments about the local impacts of climate change, delivered by the station's chief meteorologist. During the first year, more than a dozen stories aired. To formally evaluate Climate Matters, we conducted pre- and post-test surveys of local TV news viewers in Columbia. After one year, WLTX viewers had developed a more science-based understanding of climate change than viewers of other local news stations, confirming our premise that when TV weathercasters report on the local implications of climate change, their viewers learn. Through a series of expansions, including the addition of important new partners - AMS, NASA, NOAA & Yale University - Climate Matters has become a comprehensive nationwide climate communication resource program for American TV weathercasters. As of March 2016, a network of 313 local weathercasters nationwide (at 202 stations in 111 media markets) are participating in the program, receiving new content on a weekly basis. This presentation will review the theoretical basis of the program, detail its development and national scale-up, and conclude with insights for how to develop climate communication initiatives for other professional communities of practice in the U.S. and other countries.

Climate Change Student Summits: A Model that Works (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huffman, L. T.

2013-12-01

The C2S2: Climate Change Student Summit project has completed four years of activities plus a year-long longitudinal evaluation with demonstrated positive impacts beyond the life of the project on both students and teachers. This presentation will share the lessons learned about implementing this climate change science education program and suggest that it is a successful model that can be used to scale up from its Midwestern roots to achieve measurable national impact. A NOAA Environmental Literacy grant allowed ANDRILL (ANtarctic geological DRILLing) to grow a 2008 pilot program involving 2 Midwestern sites, to a program 4 years later involving 10 sites. The excellent geographical coverage included 9 of the U.S. National Climate Assessment regions defined by the U.S. Global Change Research Program. Through the delivery of two professional development (PD) workshops, a unique opportunity was provided for both formal and informal educators to engage their classrooms/audiences in understanding the complexities of climate change. For maximum contact hours, the PD experience was extended throughout the school year through the use of an online grouphub. Student teams were involved in a creative investigative science research and presentation experience culminating in a Climate Change Student Summit, an on-site capstone event including a videoconference connecting all sites. The success of this program was based on combining multiple aspects, such as encouraging the active involvement of scientists and early career researchers both in the professional development workshops and in the Student Summit. Another key factor was the close working relationships between informal and formal science entities, including involvement of informal science learning facilities and informal science education leaders. The program also created cutting-edge curriculum materials titled the ELF, (Environmental Literacy Framework with a focus on climate change), providing an earth systems approach to climate change education which have been successfully integrated into existing curricula in grades 4-12, as well as at numerous science museums.

Supporting Climate Literacy in the K12 Classroom by Identifying Educators' Perceived Barriers to and Gaps in Resources for Teaching Climate Change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tayne, K.

2015-12-01

As K12 teachers seek ways to provide meaningful learning opportunities for students to understand climate change, they often face barriers to teaching about climate and/or lack relevant resources on the topic. In an effort to better understand how to support K12 teachers in this role, a survey about "teaching climate change" was created and distributed. The results of the 2015 survey are presented, based on more than 200 teacher responses. Respondents included National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) members, 2015 STEM Teacher and Researcher (STAR) Fellows and science teachers from several U.S. school districts. The survey identifies teachers' perceived barriers to teaching climate change, for example difficulty integrating climate change concepts into specific core courses (i.e., biology), as well as desired classroom resources, such as climate change project-based learning (PBL) units that connect to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). Survey results also indicate possible pathways for federal agencies, non-profits, universities and other organizations to have a more significant impact on climate literacy in the classroom. In response to the survey results, a comprehensive guide is being created to teach climate change in K12 classrooms, addressing barriers and providing resources for teachers. For example, in the survey, some teachers indicated that they lacked confidence in their content knowledge and understanding of climate change, so this guide provides web-based resources to help further an educator's understanding of climate change, as well as opportunities for relevant online and in-person professional development. In this quest for desired resources to teach climate change, gaps in accessible and available online resources are being identified. Information about these "gaps" may help organizations that strive to support climate literacy in the classroom better serve teachers.

Interagency Collaboration in Support of Climate Change Education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schoedinger, S. E.; Chambers, L. H.; Karsten, J. L.; McDougall, C.; Campbell, D.

2011-12-01

NASA, NOAA and NSF support climate change education (CCE) through their grant programs. As the agencies' investment in CCE has grown, coordination among the agencies has become increasingly important. Although the political landscape and budgets continue to change, the agencies are committed to continued coordination and collaboration. To date, this has taken the form of jointly hosted principal investigator (PI) meetings, the largest of which was held last February (see Eos Vol. 92, No. 24, 14 June 2011). The joint goals are: (1) increased collaboration among grantees and across programs; (2) building capacity among grantees in areas of mutual interest; (3) identification of gaps in investments to date; and (4) identification of opportunities for coordination of evaluation efforts. NOAA's primary funding opportunity for CCE projects is its Environmental Literacy Grant (ELG) Program. Although not exclusively focused on climate, there has been increased emphasis on this area since 2009. Through ELG, NOAA encourages the use of NOAA assets (data, facilities, educational resources, and people) in grantees' work. Thirty awards with a primary focus on CCE have been awarded to institutions of higher education, informal science education, and non-profit organizations involved in K-12 and informal/non-formal education. We anticipate this funding opportunity will continue to support the improvement of climate literacy among various audiences of learners in the future. NASA supported efforts in CCE in an ad hoc way for years. It became a focus area in 2008 with the launch of the NASA Global Climate Change Education (GCCE) Project. This project funded 57 awards in 2008-2010, the vast majority of them in teacher professional development, or use of data, models, or simulations. Beginning in FY11, NASA moved the project into the Minority University Research and Education Program. Fourteen awards were made to minority higher education institutions, non-profit organizations, and community colleges. These efforts are expected to continue in FY12 and beyond under NASA Innovations in Climate Education (NICE). A solicitation for the NICE project is currently anticipated in Summer 2012. Through its core programs, NSF supports a variety of efforts designed to improve teaching and learning about CCE in formal and informal settings, often through leveraging NSF-supported climate research. In 2009, dedicated CCE funding supported 10 new awards aimed at focusing NSF investments in key areas: preparing innovators for the workforce; strategies for scaling up and disseminating effective curricula and instructional resources; assessment of student learning of complex climate issues; and, increasing access to CCE and professional development for learners, educators, and policymakers. Phase I of the Climate Change Education Partnership (CCEP) program, launched in 2010, supports strategic planning activities within 15 regional and thematic partnerships that bring together climate scientists, learning scientists, and education practitioners. A solicitation for CCEP Phase II implementation is anticipated in Fall 2011. We will discuss agency funding opportunities, examples of collaborations, and common metrics/sharing tools for evaluation of CCE projects.

Climate Change Literacy across the Critical Zone Observatory Network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moore, A.; Derry, L. A.; Zabel, I.; Duggan-Haas, D.; Ross, R. M.

2017-12-01

Earth's Critical Zone extends from the top of the tree canopy to the base of the groundwater lens. Thus the Critical Zone is examined as a suite of interconnected systems and study of the CZ is inherently interdisciplinary. Climate change is an important driver of CZ processes. The US Critical Zone Observatory Network comprises nine observatories and a coordinating National Office. Educational programs and materials developed at each CZO and the National Office have been collected, reviewed, and presented on-line at the CZONO (criticalzone.org/national/education-outreach/resources). Because the CZOs are designed to observe and measure a suite of common parameters on varying geological substrates and within different ecological contexts, educational resources reflect the diversity of processes represented across the network. As climate change has a network-wide impact, the fundamental building blocks of climate change literacy are key elements in many activities within the CZONO resource collection. Carbon-cycle and hydrologic cycle processes are well-represented, with emphasis on human interactions with these resources, as well as the impact of extreme events and the changing climate. Current work on the resource collection focuses on connecting individual resources to "Teach Climate Science" project and the Teacher-Friendly Guide to Climate Change (teachclimatescience.wordpress.com). The Teacher-Friendly Guide is a manual for K-12 teachers that presents both the fundamentals of climate science alongside resources for effective teaching of this controversial topic. Using the reach of the CZO network we hope to disseminate effective climate literacy resources and support to the K-12 community.

EdGCM: Research Tools for Training the Climate Change Generation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chandler, M. A.; Sohl, L. E.; Zhou, J.; Sieber, R.

2011-12-01

Climate scientists employ complex computer simulations of the Earth's physical systems to prepare climate change forecasts, study the physical mechanisms of climate, and to test scientific hypotheses and computer parameterizations. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 4th Assessment Report (2007) demonstrates unequivocally that policy makers rely heavily on such Global Climate Models (GCMs) to assess the impacts of potential economic and emissions scenarios. However, true climate modeling capabilities are not disseminated to the majority of world governments or U.S. researchers - let alone to the educators who will be training the students who are about to be presented with a world full of climate change stakeholders. The goal is not entirely quixotic; in fact, by the mid-1990's prominent climate scientists were predicting with certainty that schools and politicians would "soon" be running GCMs on laptops [Randall, 1996]. For a variety of reasons this goal was never achieved (nor even really attempted). However, around the same time NASA and the National Science Foundation supported a small pilot project at Columbia University to show the potential of putting sophisticated computer climate models - not just "demos" or "toy models" - into the hands of non-specialists. The Educational Global Climate Modeling Project (EdGCM) gave users access to a real global climate model and provided them with the opportunity to experience the details of climate model setup, model operation, post-processing and scientific visualization. EdGCM was designed for use in both research and education - it is a full-blown research GCM, but the ultimate goal is to develop a capability to embed these crucial technologies across disciplines, networks, platforms, and even across academia and industry. With this capability in place we can begin training the skilled workforce that is necessary to deal with the multitude of climate impacts that will occur over the coming decades. To further increase the educational potential of climate models, the EdGCM project has also created "EZgcm". Through a joint venture of NASA, Columbia University and McGill University EZgcm moves the focus toward a greater use of Web 1.0 and Web 2.0-based technologies. It shifts the educational objectives towards a greater emphasis on teaching students how science is conducted and what role science plays in assessing climate change. That is, students learn about the steps of the scientific process as conveyed by climate modeling research: constructing a hypothesis, designing an experiment, running a computer model, using scientific visualization to support analysis, communicating the results of that analysis, and role playing the scientific peer review process. This is in stark contrast to what they learn from the political debate over climate change, which they often confuse with a scientific debate.

Impact of socio-demographic factors on the mitigating actions for climate change: a path analysis with mediating effects of attitudinal variables.

PubMed

Masud, Muhammad Mehedi; Akhatr, Rulia; Nasrin, Shamima; Adamu, Ibrahim Mohammed

2017-12-01

Socio-demographic factors play a significant role in increasing the individual's climate change awareness and in setting a favorable individual attitude towards its mitigation. To better understand how the adversative effects of climate change can be mitigated, this study attempts to investigate the impact of socio-demographic factors on the mitigating actions of the individuals (MAOI) on climate change. Qualitative data were collected from a face-to-face survey of 360 respondents in the Kuala Lumpur region of Malaysia through a close-ended questionnaire. Analysis was conducted on the mediating effects of attitudinal variables through the path model by using the SEM. Findings indicate that the socio-demographic factors such as gender, age, education, income, and ethnicity can greatly influence the individual's awareness, attitude, risk perception, and knowledge of climate change issues. The results drawn from this study also revealed that the attitudinal factors act as a mediating effect between the socio-demographic factors and the MAOI, thereby, indicating that both the socio-demographic factors and the attitudinal factors have significant effects on the MAOI towards climate change. The outcome of this study can help policy makers and other private organizations to decide on the appropriate actions to take in managing climate change effects. These actions which encompass improving basic climate change education and making the public more aware of the local dimensions of climate change are important for harnessing public engagement and support that can also stimulate climate change awareness and promote mitigating actions to n protect the environment from the impact of climate change.

Moving toward Collective Impact in Climate Change Literacy: The Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network (CLEAN)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ledley, Tamara Shapiro; Gold, Anne U.; Niepold, Frank; McCaffrey, Mark

2014-01-01

In recent years, various climate change education efforts have been launched, including federally (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, National Science Foundation, etc.) and privately funded projects. In addition, climate literacy and energy literacy frameworks have been developed and…

Singapore Students' Misconceptions of Climate Change

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chang, Chew-Hung; Pascua, Liberty

2016-01-01

Climate change is an important theme in the investigation of human-environment interactions in geographic education. This study explored the nature of students' understanding of concepts and processes related to climate change. Through semi-structured interviews, data was collected from 27 Secondary 3 (Grade 9) students from Singapore. The data…

Opinions and knowledge about climate change science in high school students.

PubMed

Harker-Schuch, Inez; Bugge-Henriksen, Christian

2013-10-01

This study investigates the influence of knowledge on opinions about climate change in the emerging adults' age group (16-17 years). Furthermore, the effects of a lecture in climate change science on knowledge and opinions were assessed. A survey was conducted in Austria and Denmark on 188 students in national and international schools before and after a lecture in climate change science. The results show that knowledge about climate change science significantly affects opinions about climate change. Students with a higher number of correct answers are more likely to have the opinion that humans are causing climate change and that both individuals and governments are responsible for addressing climate change. The lecture in climate change science significantly improved knowledge development but did not affect opinions. Knowledge was improved by 11 % after the lecture. However, the percentage of correct answers was still below 60 % indicating an urgent need for improving climate change science education.

Minority Pre-service Teachers' and Faculty Training on Climate Change Education in Delaware State University

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ozbay, G.; Fox-Lykens, R.; Veron, D. E.; Rogers, M.; Merrill, J.; Harcourt, P.; Mead, H.

2015-12-01

Delaware State University is working toward infusing undergraduate education with climate change science and enhancing the climate change learning content of pre-service teacher preparation programs as part of the MADE-CLEAR project (www.madeclear.org). Faculty development workshops have been conducted to prepare and educate a cadre of faculty from different disciplines in global climate science literacy. Following the workshops, the faculty participants have integrated climate literacy tenets into their existing curriculum. Follow up meetings have helped the faculty members to use specific content in their curriculum such as greenhouse gases, atmospheric CO2, sea level rise, etc. Additional training provided to the faculty participants in pedagogical methods of climate change instruction to identify common misconceptions and barriers to student understanding. Some pre-service teachers were engaged in summer internships and learned how to become messenger of climate change science by the state parks staff during the summer. Workshops were offered to other pre-service teachers to teach them specific climate change topics with enhanced hands-on laboratory activities. The participants were provided examples of lesson plans and guided to develop their own lesson plans and present them. Various pedagogical methods have been explored for teaching climate change content to the participants. The pre-service teachers found the climate content very challenging and confusing. Training activities were modified to focus on targeted topics and modeling of pedagogical techniques for the faculty and pre-service teachers. Program evaluation confirms that the workshop participant show improved understanding of the workshop materials by the participants if they were introduced few climate topics. Learning how to use hands-on learning tools and preparing lesson plans are two of the challenges successfully implemented by the pre-service teachers. Our next activity includes pre-service teachers to use their lesson plans to teach the climate change content in the middle school science classes. This will mutually help the middle school science teachers' to learn and use the materials provided by the pre-service teachers and also pre-service teachers' to improve their teaching skills on climate change content.

Grasstops and Grassroots Approaches to Building Community Resilience

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

LeBeau, A.; Bader, D.

2017-12-01

Climate change and extreme weather events pose complex risks to cities all over the world, impacting not only the built environment, but also social infrastructure. Because urban communities are culturally and socioeconomically diverse, as well as systemically complicated, climate change and extreme weather events will impact people differently even within a single city—not only because of where they live, but also because of who they are. The City of Long Beach, California, is in its very early stages of understanding its vulnerabilities. However, city leaders and community partners including the Aquarium of the Pacific are committed to creating a model climate resilient city. Climate change risks most relevant to Long Beach include drought (and freshwater shortages), extreme heat, sea level rise, and poor air quality. Over the past 18 months, the Aquarium of the Pacific has been testing elements of a broad-reaching education strategy to reach community stakeholders. Two multi-level approaches are designed to build awareness and momentum for climate resilience. A grassroots approach, called RESILIENT LB, focuses on an interactive outreach booth that travels to community events. The booth is staffed by educators with specific training on climate communication. Facilitated conversations help people identify what they love about Long Beach and immediate impacts that climate change will have on the things they value. A second, complimentary approach involves long-term community engagement through a grasstops-to-grassroots approach. Aquarium educators have been facilitating different climate resilience workshops for leaders from a variety of groups across Long Beach. These workshops give leaders the chance to reflect on how their communities may be impacted by climate change, and highlight adaptation (rather than mitigation) to climate change. In this session, we will share how these programs have evolved, lessons learned, and areas of growth.

Domain of the Gods: Do traditional beliefs hinder public acceptance of the human role in climate change?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Donner, S.

2008-12-01

Public acceptance of new scientific discoveries like natural selection, plate tectonics, or the human role in climate change naturally lags behind the pace of the discoveries. In the case of climate change, unease or outright rejection of the scientific evidence for the role of human activity in climate change has been a hindrance to mitigation and adaptation efforts. This skepticism is normally attributed to everything from the quality of science education, to disinformation campaigns by representatives of the coal and gas industry, to individual resistance to behavioral change, to the nature of the modern information culture. This skepticism of scientific evidence for climate change, though often inspired by politics, economics and the particular dynamics of climate change, may actually be rooted in ancient beliefs that the climate is beyond the influence of humans. In this presentation, I will outline how the notion that humans control or influence the weather runs contrary to thousands of years of belief in a separation between the earth - the domain of man - and sky - the domain of the gods. Evidence from religious history, traditional villages in the Pacific (Fjij and Kiribati) and from public discourse in North America all indicates that the millennia-old belief in an earth-sky separation hinders people's acceptance that human activity is affecting the climate. The human role in climate change therefore represents a substantial paradigm shift, similar to the role of natural selection in human evolution. These deep roots of climate change skepticism must be factored into public climate change education efforts.

Farmers' perceptions of and adaptation strategies to climate change and their determinants: the case of Punjab province, Pakistan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abid, M.; Scheffran, J.; Schneider, U. A.; Ashfaq, M.

2015-05-01

Climate change is a global environmental threat to all economic sectors, particularly the agricultural sector. Pakistan is one of the countries negatively affected by climate change due to its high exposure to extreme events and low adaptive capacity. In Pakistan, farmers are the primary stakeholders in agriculture and are more at risk due to climate vulnerability. Based on farm household data from 450 households collected from three districts in three agroecological zones in the Punjab province of Pakistan, this study examines how farmers perceive climate change and how they adapt their farming in response to perceived changes in climate. The results demonstrate that awareness of climate change is widespread throughout the area, and farm households make adjustments to adapt their agriculture in response to climatic change. Overall 58% of the farm households adapted their farming to climate change. Changing crop varieties, changing planting dates, planting of shade trees and changing fertilizers were the main adaptation methods implemented by farm households in the study area. The results from the binary logistic model reveal that education, farm experience, household size, land area, tenancy status, ownership of a tube well, access to market information, information on weather forecasting and agricultural extension services all influence farmers' choices of adaptation measures. The results also indicate that adaptation to climate change is constrained by several factors such as lack of information, lack of money, resource constraints and shortage of irrigation water in the study area. Findings of the study suggest the need for greater investment in farmer education and improved institutional setup for climate change adaptation to improve farmers' wellbeing.

North Carolina Cooperative Extension Professionals' Climate Change Perceptions, Willingness, and Perceived Barriers to Programming: An Educational Needs Assessment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burnett, Rachel E.; Vuola, Aaron J.; Megalos, Mark A.; Adams, Damian C.; Monroe, Martha C.

2014-01-01

The educational needs assessment reported here measured North Carolina Cooperative Extension (NCCE) professionals' perceptions of global warming and identified barriers to climate change programming. Survey results from 400 NCCE professionals show 70% are cautious, concerned, or alarmed about global warming. Liberal and female Extension…

`Our Changing Climate' - A new interactive game about weather, climate, the Earth's energy budget and the impacts caused by climate change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Colon-Robles, M.; Lorentz, K.; Ruhlman, K.; Gilman, I.; Chambers, L. H.

2010-12-01

‘Our Changing Climate’ is a brand new game developed at NASA’s Langley Research Center by the Informal Education group and the Science Directorate to educate the public on Earth’s climate system how the Sun, ocean, atmosphere, clouds, ice, land, and life interact with each other, and how these interactions are changing due to anthropogenic effects. The game was designed for students in middle school (5th and 8th grade) between the ages of 10-14 as part of the NASA's Summer of Innovation campaign for excellence in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, education. The game, ‘Our Changing Climate’, is composed of a series of interactive boards, featuring the following topics: (1) the difference between weather and climate - “Weather vs Climate”, (2) the interactions of clouds and greenhouse gases on short and long wave radiation - “Greenhouse Gases and Clouds”, and (3) the definition of albedo and the importance of bright surfaces over the Arctic - “Arctic Temperature”. Each interactive board presents a climate system and steps the student or spectator through the climate interaction using “clues” and hands-on items that they need to put correctly on the board to understand the concept. Once the student or spectator finishes this part, they then have a better grasp of the concept and are able to understand how these interactions are changing due to the increase in average global temperature. This knowledge is then tested or “driven home” with interactive questions that show how these interactions in our climate are changing today. The concept is then reinforced with an example of a recent event presented in the media. The game has been piloted in outreach and informal settings, as well as for professional development of educators. The game, interactions and engagement of each of the audiences mentioned will be presented.

Empowering Pre-College Students To Engage In Climate Change Solutions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Haine, D. B.

2014-12-01

Developing and implementing solutions to environmental challenges, such as climate change, depend upon the cultivation of STEM knowledge and skills among today's youth. Furthermore, STEM instruction enhances learning by providing tools to investigate and analyze environmental issues, making the issue real and tangible to students. That said, educators engaged in the climate literacy movement are aware that possession of knowledge about Earth's climate and the causes and consequences of climate change is not sufficient to empower individuals to contribute to solutions that promote a sustainable future. By framing the issue of climate change in the context of energy, by utilizing STEM instructional strategies and by showcasing scientists and others working on solutions to address climate change, the Climate Leadership and Energy Awareness Program (Climate LEAP) at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill is cultivating a network of youth who are not only informed about society's use of energy and the implication for Earth's climate but also empowered to be part of the solution as society shifts to a low carbon economy. During this year-long science enrichment program, 9th-12thgraders learn about our fossil fuel based economy, meet scientists who are working to expand the use of renewable energy sources, and develop communication and leadership skills. Experienced educators with UNC's Institute for the Environment, the Morehead Planetarium and Science Center and the Alliance for Climate Education partner with scientists to implement Climate LEAP. In addition to increasing knowledge of climate science and of the solutions proposed to address climate change, program participants are invited to engage members of their community through implementation of a solutions-oriented community outreach project. Now in its fifth year, 168 students have completed Climate LEAP, with approximately 2/3 completing at least one community outreach project. A survey of program alumni indicated that 90% of respondents were motivated by the program to make at least one behavior change to conserve energy in their daily life. This session will include a description of the program evaluation plan, which includes assessment of student learning..

Global Climate Models for the Classroom: The Educational Impact of Student Work with a Key Tool of Climate Scientists

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bush, D. F.; Sieber, R.; Seiler, G.; Chandler, M. A.; Chmura, G. L.

2017-12-01

Efforts to address climate change require public understanding of Earth and climate science. To meet this need, educators require instructional approaches and scientific technologies that overcome cultural barriers to impart conceptual understanding of the work of climate scientists. We compared student inquiry learning with now ubiquitous climate education toy models, data and tools against that which took place using a computational global climate model (GCM) from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Our study at McGill University and John Abbott College in Montreal, QC sheds light on how best to teach the research processes important to Earth and climate scientists studying atmospheric and Earth system processes but ill-understood by those outside the scientific community. We followed a pre/post, control/treatment experimental design that enabled detailed analysis and statistically significant results. Our research found more students succeed at understanding climate change when exposed to actual climate research processes and instruments. Inquiry-based education with a GCM resulted in significantly higher scores pre to post on diagnostic exams (quantitatively) and more complete conceptual understandings (qualitatively). We recognize the difficulty in planning and teaching inquiry with complex technology and we also found evidence that lectures support learning geared toward assessment exams.

Climate Odyssey: Resources for Understanding Coastal Change through Art, Science, and Sail

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Klos, P. Z.; Holtsnider, L.

2017-12-01

Climate Odyssey (climateodyssey.org) is a year-long sailing expedition and continuing collaboration aimed at using overlaps in science and visual art to communicate coastal climate change impacts and solutions. We, visual artist Lucy Holtsnider and climate scientist Zion Klos, are using our complimentary skills in art, science and communication to engage audiences both intuitively and cognitively regarding the urgency of climate change through story and visualization. Over the 2015 - 2016 academic year, we embarked on the sailing portion of Climate Odyssey, beginning in Lake Michigan, continuing along the Eastern Seaboard, and concluding in the tropics. Along the way we photographed climate change impacts and adaptation strategies, interviewed stakeholders, scientists, and artists. We are now sharing our photographs and documented encounters through a tangible artist's book, interactive digital map, blog, and series of K16 lesson plans. Each of our images added to the artist's book and digital map are linked to relevant blog entries and other external scientific resources, making the map both a piece of art and an engaging education tool for sharing the science of climate change impacts and solutions. After completing the sailing component of the project, we have now finalized our multi-media resources and are working to share these with the public via libraries, galleries, and K16 classrooms in coastal communities. At AGU, we will share with our peers the completed version of the series of K16 lesson plans that provide educators an easy-to-use way to introduce and utilize the material in the artist's book, digital map, and online blog. Through this, we hope to both discuss climate-focused education and engagement strategies, as well as showcase this example of art-science outreach with the broader science education and communication community that is focused on climate literacy in the U.S. and beyond.

Creating a Learning Community for Solutions to Climate Change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bloom, A. J.; Benedict, B. A.; Blockstein, D. E.; Hassenzahl, D. M.; Hunter, A.; Jorgensen, A. D.; Pfirman, S. L.

2011-12-01

The rapidly evolving and interdisciplinary nature of climate change presents a challenge to colleges and universities as they seek to educate undergraduate students. To address this challenge, the National Council for Science and the Environment (NCSE) with NSF funding is creating a nationwide cyber-enabled learning community called CAMEL (Climate, Adaptation, and Mitigation e-Learning). CAMEL engages experts in science, policy and decision-making, education, and assessment in the production of a virtual toolbox of curricular resources designed for teaching climate change causes, consequences, and solutions. CAMEL is: ? Developing cyberinfrastructure that supports and promotes the creation of materials and community; ? Generating materials for the Encyclopedia of Earth, a site averaging 50,000 views per day; ? Ensuring that materials developed and shared are founded on the best available scientific information and follow the most appropriate educational practices; ? Assisting faculty at institutions of higher education across the United States as they create, improve, test, and share resources for teaching students not only how to diagnose climate change problems, but also to identify and effect solutions; ? Evaluating the determinants of successful community building using cybermedia. The community and resultant content range from general education to upper division courses for students in a variety of majors. At the center of the community are the 160 colleges and universities represented in NCSE's Council of Environmental Deans and Directors. Members of this group represent recognized expertise in virtually all areas of this project. A team with substantial experience with evaluating innovative initiatives in STEM education is administering the evaluation component.

Undergraduate Climate Education: Motivations, Strategies, Successes, and Support

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kirk, Karin B.; Gold, Anne U.; Ledley, Tamara Shapiro; Sullivan, Susan Buhr; Manduca, Cathryn A.; Mogk, David W.; Wiese, Katryn

2014-01-01

Climate literacy is an essential component of a strategy to comprehend and confront the grand challenge of global climate change. However, scientific complexity, societal implications, and political associations make climate change a difficult but important topic to teach. In this paper we report on the results of a survey of undergraduate faculty…

Climate Change: Could It Help Develop "Adaptive Expertise"?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bell, Erica; Horton, Graeme; Blashki, Grant; Seidel, Bastian M.

2012-01-01

Preparing health practitioners to respond to the rising burden of disease from climate change is emerging as a priority in health workforce policy and planning. However, this issue is hardly represented in the medical education research. The rapidly evolving wide range of direct and indirect consequences of climate change will require health…

Teaching about Climate Change: Cool Schools Tackle Global Warming.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grant, Tim, Ed.; Littlejohn, Gail, Ed.

Within the last couple of decades, the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere has increased significantly due to human activities. Today climate change is an important issue for humankind. This book provides a starting point for educators to teach about climate change, although there are obstacles caused by the industrialized…

Peace and Environmental Education for Climate Change: Challenges and Practices in Lebanon

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Naoufal, Nayla

2014-01-01

As noted in the literature reporting on the impact of climate change, it does not only bring about environmental degradation, i.e. ecological violence, but it may also provoke increased intercommunity and interstate violence. This article examines the implications of this relationship between climate change and increased violence for environmental…

Contextualizing Next Generation Science Standards to Guide Climate Education in the U.S. Affiliated Pacific Islands (USAPI)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sussman, A.; Fletcher, C. H.; Sachs, J. P.

2012-12-01

The USAPI has a population of about 1,800,000 people spread across 4.9 million square miles of the Pacific Ocean. The Pacific Islands are characterized by a multitude of indigenous cultures and languages. Many USAPI students live considerably below the poverty line. The Pacific Island region is projected to experience some of the most profound negative impacts of climate change considerably sooner than other regions. Funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Pacific Islands Climate Education Partnership (PCEP) has developed a detailed strategic plan to collaboratively improve climate knowledge among the region's students and citizens in ways that exemplify modern science and indigenous environmental knowledge, address the urgency of climate change impacts, and honor indigenous cultures. Students and citizens within the region will have the knowledge and skills to advance understanding of climate change, and to adapt to its impacts. Core PCEP partners contribute expertise in climate science, the science of learning, the region's education infrastructure, and the region's cultures and indigenous knowledge and practices. PCEP's strategic education plan is guided by a general, multidisciplinary K-14 Climate Education Framework (CEF) that organizes fundamental science concepts and practices within appropriate grade-span progressions. This CEF is based largely upon the National Research Council's "A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas" and the emerging Next Generation Science Standards. While the CEF is based upon these national Next Generation documents, it is also informed and strongly influenced by the region's geographic, climatic, cultural and socioeconomic contexts, notably indigenous knowledge and practices. Guided by the CEF, the PCEP in its initial development/planning phase has prototyped regional approaches to professional development, contextualizing curricula, and supporting community/school partnerships. With new, multiyear NSF implementation funding, the PCEP is building upon these prototypes and the strategic education plan to transform climate education across the region. Examples include a program of climate education certification being developed among the region's community colleges; research-based professional development focused on improving teachers' pedagogical content knowledge that has demonstrated striking success with both teacher and student outcomes; regional curricula based on local ecosystems and in local languages as well as English; and local school/community partnerships that combine the climate education work with local community climate adaptation projects. PCEP's interactive web-based environment (http://pcep.dsp.wested.org) interlinks the region's locations, organizations and people with information about climate science and climate impacts. This system enables the region's diverse stakeholders to access and contribute to the same information pool. This web-based environment both supports the development of PCEP resources such as the CEF and their continuing evolution and dissemination.

Bridging the Divide Between Climate and Global Change Science and Education of Public and K-12 Visitors at the National Center for Atmospheric Research

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Foster, S. Q.; Johnson, R. M.; Carbone, L.; Munoz, R.; Eastburn, T.; Ammann, C.; Lu, G.; Richmond, A.; Committee, S.

2004-12-01

The study of climate and global change is an important on-going focus for scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). Programs overseen by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research Office of Education and Outreach (UCAR-EO) help to translate NCAR's scientific programs, methodologies, and technologies and their societal benefits to over 80,000 visitors to the NCAR Mesa Laboratory each year, including about 10,000 K-12 students. This is currently accomplished through the implementation of an increasingly integrated system of exhibits, guided tours, an audiotour, programs for school groups, and a teachers' guide to the exhibits, which is currently in development. The Climate Discovery Exhibit unveiled in July 2003 and expanded in 2004 offers visitors visually engaging and informative text panels, graphics, artifacts, and interactives describing Sun-Earth connections, dynamic processes that contribute to and mediate climate change, and the Earth's climate history. The exhibit seeks to help visitors to understand why scientists model the global climate system and how information about past and current climate is used to validate models and build scenarios for Earth's future climate. Exhibit-viewers are challenged to ask questions and reflect upon decision making challenges while considering the roles various natural and human-induced factors play in shaping these predictions. With support from NASA and NCAR, a K-12 Teacher's Guide has been developed corresponding the Climate Discovery exhibit's sections addressing the Sun-Earth connection and past climates (the Little Ice Age, in particular). This presentation will review efforts to identify the challenges of communicating with the public and school groups about climate change, while also describing several successful strategies for utilizing visitor questionnaires and interviews to learn how to develop and refine educational resources that will target their interests, bolster their knowledge, and address their misconceptions. Visitors view the exhibit every day of the year on their own, using an audiotour, or with a tour guide. NCAR/UCAR's educational content about climate change is increasingly available to national audiences through the new NCAR EO web site (www.ncar.ucar.edu/eo), Windows to the Universe (www.windows.ucar.edu), UCAR-EO's summer teachers workshops, and sessions at the National Science Teacher Association meetings and other professional education venues.

Wisconsin Partnerships to Educate and Engage Public Audiences on Climate Change Topics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mooney, M. E.; Ackerman, S.; Rowley, P.; Crowley Conn, K.

2011-12-01

The complexity and scale of climate change-related challenges requires more than one strategy to share meaningful information with public audiences. This presentation will discuss a few initiatives to engage the public originating from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. First, a local partnership between the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) and the Aldo Leopold Nature Center (ALNC), an informal learning center with a new climate change "classroom" which recently acquired a Science on a Sphere (SOS) exhibit. Second, an informal education project funded by the NOAA Office of Education coordinated by CIMSS in partnership with the national SOS Network with the goal of helping museum docents share meaningful interpretation of real-time weather and climate data. CIMSS staff has been conducting weather and climate discussions on a Magic Planet display for several years. This "mini-SOS" is powered by a solar panel on the roof, modeling the essential Sun-Earth connection and the first principle of climate literacy. However, the convenient proximity of CIMSS and ALNC provides a perfect opportunity to test "SOS-scale" talking points posted on a weekly docent blog to the benefit of the entire SOS Network. Two other Wisconsin projects of note include the Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change Impacts, a partnership between the University and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, and a pilot project between CIMSS and NOAA's National Weather Service to engage storm spotters in climate mitigation and stewardship. Ideally, the synergistic benefits and lessons learned from these collaborations can inform similar efforts in order to galvanize meaningful responses to climate change.

The Climate Change Consortium of Wales (C3W)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hendry, K. R.; Reis, J.; Hall, I. R.

2011-12-01

In response to the complexity and multidisciplinary nature of climate change research, the Climate Change Consortium of Wales (C3W) was formed in 2009 by the Welsh universities of Aberystwyth, Bangor, Cardiff and Swansea. Initially funded by Welsh Government, through the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales, the Countryside Council for Wales and the universities, C3W aims to bring together climate change researchers from a wide range of disciplines to explore scientific and sociological drivers, impacts and implications at local, national and international scale. The specific aims are to i) improve our fundamental understanding of the causes, nature, timing and consequences of climate change on Planet Earth's environment and on humanity, and ii) to reconfigure climate research in Wales as a recognisable centre of excellence on the world stage. In addition to improving the infrastructure for climate change research, we aim to improve communication, networking, collaborative research, and multidisciplinary data assimilation within and between the Welsh universities, and other UK and international institutions. Furthermore, C3W aims to apply its research by actively contributing towards national policy development, business development and formal and informal education activities within and beyond Wales.

Signs of the Land: Reaching Arctic Communities Facing Climate Change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sparrow, E. B.; Chase, M. J.; Demientieff, S.; Pfirman, S. L.; Brunacini, J.

2014-12-01

In July 2014, a diverse and intergenerational group of Alaskan Natives came together on Howard Luke's Galee'ya Camp by the Tanana River in Fairbanks, Alaska to talk about climate change and it's impacts on local communities. Over a period of four days, the Signs of the Land Climate Change Camp wove together traditional knowledge, local observations, Native language, and climate science through a mix of storytelling, presentations, dialogue, and hands-on, community-building activities. This camp adapted the model developed several years ago under the Association for Interior Native Educators (AINE)'s Elder Academy. Part of the Polar Learning and Responding Climate Change Education Partnership, the Signs of the Land Climate Change Camp was developed and conducted collaboratively with multiple partners to test a model for engaging indigenous communities in the co-production of climate change knowledge, communication tools, and solutions-building. Native Alaskans have strong subsistence and cultural connections to the land and its resources, and, in addition to being keen observers of their environment, have a long history of adapting to changing conditions. Participants in the camp included Elders, classroom teachers, local resource managers and planners, community members, and climate scientists. Based on their experiences during the camp, participants designed individualized outreach plans for bringing culturally-responsive climate learning to their communities and classrooms throughout the upcoming year. Plans included small group discussions, student projects, teacher training, and conference presentations.

Climate Change Risk Perception in Taiwan: Correlation with Individual and Societal Factors

PubMed Central

2018-01-01

This study differentiates the risk perception and influencing factors of climate change along the dimensions of global severity and personal threat. Using the 2013 Taiwan Social Change Survey (TSGS) data (N = 2001) as a representative sample of adults from Taiwan, we investigated the influencing factors of the risk perceptions of climate change in these two dimensions (global severity and personal threat). Logistic regression models were used to examine the correlations of individual factors (gender, age, education, climate-related disaster experience and risk awareness, marital status, employment status, household income, and perceived social status) and societal factors (religion, organizational embeddedness, and political affiliations) with the above two dimensions. The results demonstrate that climate-related disaster experience has no significant impact on either the perception of global severity or the perception of personal impact. However, climate-related risk awareness (regarding typhoons, in particular) is positively associated with both dimensions of the perceived risks of climate change. With higher education, individuals are more concerned about global severity than personal threat. Regarding societal factors, the supporters of political parties have higher risk perceptions of climate change than people who have no party affiliation. Religious believers have higher risk perceptions of personal threat than non-religious people. This paper ends with a discussion about the effectiveness of efforts to enhance risk perception of climate change with regard to global severity and personal threat. PMID:29316685

Climate Change Risk Perception in Taiwan: Correlation with Individual and Societal Factors.

PubMed

Sun, Yingying; Han, Ziqiang

2018-01-08

This study differentiates the risk perception and influencing factors of climate change along the dimensions of global severity and personal threat. Using the 2013 Taiwan Social Change Survey (TSGS) data (N = 2001) as a representative sample of adults from Taiwan, we investigated the influencing factors of the risk perceptions of climate change in these two dimensions (global severity and personal threat). Logistic regression models were used to examine the correlations of individual factors (gender, age, education, climate-related disaster experience and risk awareness, marital status, employment status, household income, and perceived social status) and societal factors (religion, organizational embeddedness, and political affiliations) with the above two dimensions. The results demonstrate that climate-related disaster experience has no significant impact on either the perception of global severity or the perception of personal impact. However, climate-related risk awareness (regarding typhoons, in particular) is positively associated with both dimensions of the perceived risks of climate change. With higher education, individuals are more concerned about global severity than personal threat. Regarding societal factors, the supporters of political parties have higher risk perceptions of climate change than people who have no party affiliation. Religious believers have higher risk perceptions of personal threat than non-religious people. This paper ends with a discussion about the effectiveness of efforts to enhance risk perception of climate change with regard to global severity and personal threat.

Place in Pacific Islands Climate Education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barros, C.; Koh, M. W.

2015-12-01

Understanding place, including both the environment and its people, is essential to understanding our climate, climate change, and its impacts. For us to develop a sense of our place, we need to engage in multiple ways of learning: observation, experimentation, and opportunities to apply new knowledge (Orr, 1992). This approach allows us to access different sources of knowledge and then create local solutions for local issues. It is especially powerful when we rely on experts and elders in our own community along with information from the global community.The Pacific islands Climate Education Partnership (PCEP) is a collaboration of partners—school systems, nongovernmental organizations, and government agencies—working to support learning and teaching about climate in the Pacific. Since 2009, PCEP partners have been working together to develop and implement classroom resources, curriculum standards, and teacher professional learning opportunities in which learners approach climate change and its impacts first through the lens of their own place. Such an approach to putting place central to teaching and learning about climate requires partnership and opportunities for learners to explore solutions for and with their communities. In this presentation, we will share the work unfolding in the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) as one example of PCEP's approach to place-based climate education. Three weeklong K-12 teacher professional learning workshops took place during June-July 2015 in Majuro, RMI on learning gardens, climate science, and project-based learning. Each workshop was co-taught with local partners and supports educators in teaching climate-related curriculum standards through tasks that can foster sense of place through observation, experimentation, and application of new knowledge. Additionally, we will also share PCEP's next steps in place-based climate education, specifically around emerging conversations about the importance of highlighting stories of place to generate local solutions for local issues, as well as further global awareness about climate change impacts in the Pacific.

NASA Nice Climate Change Education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Frink, K.; Crocker, S.; Jones, W., III; Marshall, S. S.; Anuradha, D.; Stewart-Gurley, K.; Howard, E. M.; Hill, E.; Merriweather, E.

2013-12-01

Authors: 1 Kaiem Frink, 4 Sherry Crocker, 5 Willie Jones, III, 7 Sophia S.L. Marshall, 6 Anuadha Dujari 3 Ervin Howard 1 Kalota Stewart-Gurley 8 Edwinta Merriweathe Affiliation: 1. Mathematics & Computer Science, Virginia Union University, Richmond, VA, United States. 2. Mathematics & Computer Science, Elizabeth City State Univ, Elizabeth City, NC, United States. 3. Education, Elizabeth City State University, Elizabeth City, NC, United States. 4. College of Education, Fort Valley State University , Fort Valley, GA, United States. 5. Education, Tougaloo College, Jackson, MS, United States. 6. Mathematics, Delaware State University, Dover, DE, United States. 7. Education, Jackson State University, Jackson, MS, United States. 8. Education, Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University, Huntsville, AL, United States. ABSTRACT: In this research initiative, the 2013-2014 NASA NICE workshop participants will present best educational practices for incorporating climate change pedagogy. The presentation will identify strategies to enhance instruction of pre-service teachers to aligned with K-12 Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) standards. The presentation of best practices should serve as a direct indicator to address pedagogical needs to include climate education within a K-12 curriculum Some of the strategies will include inquiry, direct instructions, and cooperative learning . At this particular workshop, we have learned about global climate change in regards to how this is going to impact our life. Participants have been charged to increase the scientific understanding of pre-service teachers education programs nationally to incorporate climate education lessons. These recommended practices will provide feasible instructional strategies that can be easily implemented and used to clarify possible misconceptions and ambiguities in scientific knowledge. Additionally, the presentation will promote an awareness to the many facets in which climate change education can be beneficial to future learners and general public. The main scope is to increase the amount of STEM knowledge throughout the nations scientific literacy as we are using the platform of climate change. Federal entities which may include but not limited to National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security and Management will serve as resources partners for this common goal of having a more knowledgeable technological savvy and scientific literate society. The presentation will show that incorporating these best practices into elementary and early childhood education undergraduate programs will assist with increasing a enhance scientific literate society. As a measurable outcome have a positive impact on instructional effectiveness of future teachers. Their successfully preparing students in meeting the standards of the Common Core Initiative will attempt to measure across the curriculum uniformly.

How Do We Communicate Both the Knowns and Unknowns of Climate Change?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hamilton, P.; Selin, C.; Garfinkle, R.

2011-12-01

The overwhelming consensus amongst climatologists is that anthropogenic climate change is underway, but leading climate scientists also anticipate that over the next 20 years research will only modestly reduce the uncertainty about where, when and by how much climate will change. Uncertainty about these aspects of climate change and their impacts presents not only scientific challenges but social, political and economic quandaries as well. The Science Museum of Minnesota (SMM) in partnership with the Consortium for Science, Policy and Outcomes at Arizona State University, the Institute on the Environment at the University of Minnesota, and the Institute for the Future in Palo Alto, CA proposes to create a major national touring science exhibition that focuses both on informing the public on what is known about climate change and on how to plan for the future in light of the uncertainties identified above. The scientific and educational communities understand that climate change will test the resilience of societies especially because of the uncertainties regarding where, when and by how much climate will change. Yet the civic space for such conversations is circumscribed. Various interest groups are actively engaged in sowing doubt and confusion in the public's mind about the existence of anthropogenic climate change. Consequently, some in the scientific community find the mention of uncertainty in association with climate change as an anathema because of concerns about potentially eroding public understanding and acceptance of the reality of anthropogenic climate change. SMM and its partners are interested in the perspectives of the scientific community with respect to the proposed exhibition. This session will engage participants in a dialog around a number of questions: How should we discuss the uncertainties of climate change while still communicating the scientific consensus on climate change? How do we gain the confidence of the scientific community to get the balance right between the reality of climate change and the uncertainty of how it will manifest itself? How might this project help reopen the presently stifled U.S. civic conversation about climate change? SMM and its partners seek your insights into these and other critical climate change education questions.

The NASA Global Climate Change Education Project: An Integrated Effort to Improve the Teaching and Learning about Climate Change (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chambers, L. H.; Pippin, M. R.; Welch, S.; Spruill, K.; Matthews, M. J.; Person, C.

2010-12-01

The NASA Global Climate Change Education (GCCE) Project, initiated in 2008, seeks to: - improve the teaching and learning about global climate change in elementary and secondary schools, on college campuses, and through lifelong learning; - increase the number of people, particularly high school and undergraduate students, using NASA Earth observation data, Earth system models, and/or simulations to investigate and analyze global climate change issues; - increase the number of undergraduate students prepared for employment and/or to enter graduate school in technical fields relevant to global climate change. Through an annual solicitation, proposals are requested for projects that address these goals using a variety of approaches. These include using NASA Earth system data, interactive models and/or simulations; providing research experiences for undergraduate or community college students, or for pre- or in-service teachers; or creating long-term teacher professional development experiences. To date, 57 projects have been funded to pursue these goals (22 in 2008, 18 in 2009, and 17 in 2010), each for a 2-3 year period. The vast majority of awards address either teacher professional development, or use of data, models, or simulations; only 7 awards have been made for research experiences. NASA, with assistance from the Virginia Space Grant Consortium, is working to develop these awardees into a synergistic community that works together to maximize its impact. This paper will present examples of collaborations that are evolving within this developing community. It will also introduce the opportunities available in fiscal year 2011, when a change in emphasis is expected for the project as it moves within the NASA Office of Education Minority University Research and Education Program (MUREP).

A Curriculum Experiment in Climate Change Education Using and Integrated Approach of Content Knowledge Instruction and Student-Driven Research to Promote Civic Engagement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adams, P. E.; Heinrichs, J. F.

2009-12-01

One of the greatest challenges facing the world is climate change. Coupled with this challenge is an under-informed population that has not received a rigorous education about climate change other than what is available through the media. Fort Hays State University is piloting a course on climate change targeted to students early in their academic careers. The course is modeled after our past work (NSF DUE-0088818) of integrating content knowledge instruction and student-driven research where there was a positive correlation between student research engagement and student knowledge gains. The current course, based on prior findings, utilizes a mix of inquiry-based instruction, problem-based learning, and student-driven research to educate and engage the students in understanding climate change. The course was collaboratively developed by a geoscientist and science educator both of whom are active in citizen science programs. The emphasis on civic engagement by students is reflected in the course structure. The course model is unique in that 50% of the course is dedicated to developing core knowledge and technical skills (e.g. critical analysis, writing, data acquisition, data representation, and research design), and 50% to conducting a research project using available data sets from federal agencies and research groups. A key element of the course is a focus on local and regional data sets to make climate change relevant to the students. The research serves as a means of civic engagement by the students as they are tasked to understand their role in communicating their research findings to the community and coping with the local and regional changes they find through their research.

Using real objects to teach about climate change: an ethnographic perspective

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Conner, L.; Perin, S.; Coats, V.; Sturm, M.

2017-12-01

Informal educators frequently use real objects to connect visitors with science content that can otherwise seem abstract. Our NSF-funded project, "Hot Times in Cold Places," leverages this premise to teach about climate change through real objects associated with the nation's only permafrost tunnel, located in Fox, Alaska. We posit that touching real ice, holding Pleistocene bones, and seeing ice wedges in context allows learners to understand climate change in a direct and visceral manner. We are conducting ethnographic research to understand visitor experience at both the tunnel itself and at a permafrost museum exhibit that we are creating as part of the project. Research questions include: 1) What is the nature of visitor talk with respect to explanations about permafrost, tipping points, climate change, and geological time? 2) How do attributes of "realness" (scale, resolution, uniqueness, history and adherence to an original) affect visitor's experience of objects, as perceived through the senses and emotions? We use naturalistic observation, interviews, and videotaping to answer these questions. Analysis focuses on child-to-child talk, reciprocal talk between educator and child, and reciprocal talk between parent and child. Our results elucidate the value of real, vs. replicated and virtual objects, in informal learning, especially in the context of climate change education. An understanding of these factors can help informal learning educators make informed choices about program and exhibit design.

Teaching the relationship between health and climate change: a systematic scoping review protocol.

PubMed

Osama, Tasnime; Brindley, David; Majeed, Azeem; Murray, Kris A; Shah, Hiral; Toumazos, Mel; Van Velthoven, Michelle; Car, Josip; Wells, Glenn; Meinert, Edward

2018-05-20

The observed and projected impacts of climate change on human health are significant. While climate change has gathered global momentum and is taught frequently, the extent to which the relationships between climate change and health are taught remains uncertain. Education provides an opportunity to create public engagement on these issues, but the extent to which historical implementation of climate health education could be leveraged is not well understood. To address this gap, we propose to conduct a scoping review of all forms of teaching that have been used to illustrate the health effects of climate change between 2005 and 2017, coinciding with a turning point in the public health and climate change agendas following the 2005 Group of 7/8 (G7/8) Summit. Using Arksey/O'Malley's and Levac's methodological framework, MEDLINE/PubMed, Embase, Scopus, Education Resource Information Centre, Web of Science, Global Health, Health Management Information Consortium, Georef, Ebsco and PROSPERO will be systematically searched. Predetermined inclusion and exclusion criteria will be applied by two independent reviewers to determine study eligibility. Studies published in English and after 2005 only will be examined. Following selection of studies, data will be extracted and analysed. No ethical approval is required as exclusively secondary data will be used. Our findings will be communicated to the European Institute of Innovation & Technology Health-Knowledge and Innovation Communities to assist in the development of a FutureLearn Massive Open Online Course on the health effects of climate change. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

How to Reach Decision Makers: Build a network of educators and practitioners with common goals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boudrias, M. A.; Estrada, M.; Anders, S.; Silva-Send, N. J.; Gershunov, A.

2013-12-01

In San Diego County, the Climate Education Partners (CEP) includes climate scientists, science educators, behavioral scientists, environmental practitioners and community organizations that are dedicated to providing local decision makers (elected officials, business leaders, community leaders) with sound climate science learning opportunities and resources that promote informed decision making. Their work over the past three years has found that effective climate education programs are designed for specific audiences with tailored information that is relevant to them, while simultaneously building community efficacy, identity and values. An integrated approach that blends rigorous scientific facts, local climate change impact, and social science education theory is contributing towards the development of a cadre of engaged leaders and communities. To track project progress and to inform the project strategy, local Key Influentials are being interviewed to gauge their current understanding of climate change and their interest in either becoming messengers to their community or becoming the portal to their constituency. Innovation comes from productive collaboration. For this reason, CEP has been working with leading scientists (climatologists, hydrologists, meteorologists, ecologists), environmental groups, museums and zoos, media experts and government agencies (Water Authority, CalFire) to develop and refine a program of learning activities and resources geared specifically for Key Influentials. For example, a water tour has been designed to bring 25 key influential leaders in San Diego County to a dam, a pumping station and a reservoir and provide climate change facts, impacts and potential solutions to the critical issue of water supply for the San Diego Region. While learning local facts about the causes and impacts of climate change, participants also learn about what they can do (increasing efficacy), that they can be a part of a solution centered community (building identity), and that everything - the education and the use of this knowledge to promote informed decisions - is connected to doing what is best for the next generation (tying learning to values). In addition, CEP developed locally focused videos, one on heat waves and one on water resources, which are being experimentally tested for their impact on informed decision-making and utilized with various KI audiences. Climate Education Partners is finding that linking excellent science with healthy community partnerships is resulting in San Diego leaders and their communities making more informed decisions on how to adapt to climate change and preserve the quality of life enjoyed in San Diego for all future generations.

Pre-Service Teachers and Climate Change: A Stalemate?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boon, Helen J.

2016-01-01

Findings from the second phase of a study of pre-service teachers' attitudes to environmental education and knowledge of climate change are reported in this paper. A sample of 87 pre-service teachers participated in a survey study in the last year of their Bachelor of Education degree to examine developments to their attitudes to environmental…

The Building of Knowledge, Language, and Decision-Making about Climate Change Science: A Cross-National Program for Secondary Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arya, Diana; Maul, Andrew

2016-01-01

The United Nations' declaration on climate change education in December 2014 has sparked a renewal of policies and programs initiated during the "Decade of Education for Sustainable Development" (DESD, 2005-2014), aimed at promoting awareness, understanding, and civic action for environmental sustainability within learning communities…

The Role of the Dean: Fostering Teaching as Scholarship in the School of Education Learning Community.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Huffman-Joley, Gail

Expectations for leaders in colleges of education are changing as are expectations for leaders in public schools and business. The traditional hierarchical model is being transformed into an organizational climate of teamwork and shared decision making, which have become the watchwords for organizational climate and change. In accord with these…

The Teaching of Anthropogenic Climate Change and Earth Science via Technology-Enabled Inquiry Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bush, Drew; Sieber, Renee; Seiler, Gale; Chandler, Mark

2016-01-01

A gap has existed between the tools and processes of scientists working on anthropogenic global climate change (AGCC) and the technologies and curricula available to educators teaching the subject through student inquiry. Designing realistic scientific inquiry into AGCC poses a challenge because research on it relies on complex computer models,…

Climate Change: An Activity.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lewis, Garry

1995-01-01

Presents a segment of the Geoscience Education booklet, Climate Change, that contains information and activities that enable students to gain a better appreciation of the possible effects human activity has on the Earth's climate. Describes the Terrace Temperatures activity that leads students through an investigation using foraminifera data to…

Earth Futures: a General Education Sustainability Course at the Pennsylvania State University

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bralower, T. J.; Bice, D. M.; Barron, E. J.

2012-12-01

Earth in the Future: Predicting Climate Change and Its Impacts Over the Next Century has been taught at The Pennsylvania State University since 2000. The course is a general education course designed to give a broad survey of the science underlying climate change as well as the impacts on natural and human systems. The course has three major goals: (1) to provide an understanding of climate science and of the possible scenarios of how climate may change in the future; (2) to analyze the linkages between climate and major human and natural systems, including agriculture, water, ocean circulation, and coastal ecosystems, necessary to assess the potential impacts of climate change; and (3) to understand the potential responses to climate change, including both adaptation to, and mitigation of change. The general education course is the entry point for a new BS-degree program, Earth System Science and Policy (ESSP). Initially the course was taught face to face on a yearly basis. Recently we have developed an on-line version of the course, and, in Fall semester, 2012, we are teaching a revised version of the course face-to-face and on-line. Both versions of the course are being assessed using survey instruments developed for InTeGrate courses. The simultaneous instruction provides a unique opportunity to compare the strengths and weaknesses of the two different modes of education. From its beginning, the course has included laboratory exercises designed to enhance the student's understanding of climate science. The revised course includes laboratory exercises in every module, including STELLA-based model experiments. These exercises form an essential part of the on-line version of the course, however, the identical exercises are involved in the face-to-face version. In our presentation, we provide preliminary comparison of the two instructional modes as well as their effectiveness in recruiting students to the ESSP major.

Creative Change: Art, Music, and Climate Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dahlberg, R. A.; Hoffman, J. S.; Maurakis, E. G.

2017-12-01

As part of ongoing climate science education initiatives, the Science Museum of Virginia hosted Creative Change in March 2017. The event featured multidisciplinary programming created by scientists, artists, and students reacting to and interpreting climate change and resiliency through a variety of artistic mediums and informal science education. Creative Change was developed in consideration of studies conducted at Columbia University that indicate traditional educational approaches, which rely heavily on scientific information and data literacy, fail to engage and inspire action in a majority of people. Our informal science education programming developed for Creative Change, by contrast, is inclusive to all ages and backgrounds, integrating scientific data and an artistic human touch. Our goal was to increase public awareness of climate change and resiliency through the humanities in support of the Museum's mission to inspire Virginians to enrich their lives through science. Visitors were invited to attend Coral Reef Fever, a dance performance of coral bleaching; high school and university art exhibitions; climate data performed by a string quartet; poetry, rap, and theater performances; and a panel discussion by artists and scientists on communicating science through the arts and humanities. Based on 26 post- event survey results, we found as a result that visitors enjoyed the event (mean of 9.58 out of 10), learned new information (9.07), and strongly agreed that the arts and humanities should be used more in communicating science concepts (9.77). Funded in part by Bond Bradley Endowment and NOAA ELG Award #NA15SEC0080009.

Chief Diversity Officers in U.S. Higher Education: Impacting the Campus Climate for Diversity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mednick Takami, Lisa

2017-01-01

Chief Diversity Officers remain a relatively new phenomenon among higher education executive leadership positions. Existing literature on CDOs' professional profile, their ability to impact campus climate for diversity, and their obstacles in the pursuit of campus climate change and deeper cultural transformation is still quite limited. This basic…

Advancing Climate Literacy through Investment in Science Education Faculty, and Future and Current Science Teachers: Providing Professional Learning, Instructional Materials, and a Model for Locally-Relevant and Culturally-Responsive Content

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Halversen, C.; Apple, J. K.; McDonnell, J. D.; Weiss, E.

2014-12-01

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) call for 5th grade students to "obtain and combine information about ways individual communities use science ideas to protect Earth's resources and environment". Achieving this, and other objectives in NGSS, will require changes in the educational system for both students and teachers. Teachers need access to high quality instructional materials and continuous professional learning opportunities starting in pre-service education. Students need highly engaging and authentic learning experiences focused on content that is strategically interwoven with science practices. Pre-service and early career teachers, even at the secondary level, often have relatively weak understandings of the complex Earth systems science required for understanding climate change and hold alternative ideas and naïve beliefs about the nature of science. These naïve understandings cause difficulties in portraying and teaching science, especially considering what is being called for in NGSS. The ACLIPSE program focuses on middle school pre-service science teachers and education faculty because: (1) the concepts that underlie climate change align well with the disciplinary core ideas and practices in NGSS for middle grades; and (2) middle school is a critical time for capturing students interest in science as student engagement by eighth grade is the most effective predictor of student pursuit of science in high school and college. Capturing student attention at this age is critical for recruitment to STEM careers and lifelong climate literacy. THE ACLIPSE program uses cutting edge research and technology in ocean observing systems to provide educators with new tools to engage students that will lead to deeper understanding of the interactions between the ocean and climate systems. Establishing authentic, meaningful connections between indigenous and place-based, and technological climate observations will help generate a more holistic perspective on climate change and demonstrate that observing systems can enhance understanding. ACLIPSE materials strive to translate research about climate change effectively into understandable narratives of real world phenomena using ocean data, creating meaningful pathways into ocean-climate science for students in ALL communities.

Collaborating at a Regional Scale for Climate Literacy and Action

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carlton, C.; Shcherba, O.

2016-12-01

Since 2014, the Bay Area Climate Literacy Impact Collaborative (Bay-CLIC) has been the leading regional consortium dedicated to improving climate education and action. Collectively, Bay-CLIC members reach over 3 million individuals through their educational programming, serve counties all throughout the Bay Area, offer multiple methods of climate communication like place-based school programs and visitor centers, and serve audiences representing all age groups. With over 30 organizations ranging from park agencies to science museums and nonprofits promoting energy efficiency, Bay-CLIC is preparing to push out climate change messaging through a suite of projects. Currently, Bay-CLIC's work is centered on building connections between educators and local scientists and region-specific climate data, implementing joint campaigns to promote the social norming of sustainable behavior change, and developing a toolkit and trainings targeted to the needs of Bay Area environmental educators. Meeting the needs of this diverse group offers many opportunities for increasing impact, growing new, strategic partnerships, as well as overcoming a few challenges along the way. Come learn more about what we've accomplished so far and what new, exciting projects are coming down the pike.

Determinants of climate change awareness level in upper Nyakach Division, Kisumu County, Kenya.

PubMed

Ajuang, Chadwick O; Abuom, Paul O; Bosire, Esna K; Dida, Gabriel O; Anyona, Douglas N

2016-01-01

Improving the understanding of climate change awareness is one of the top priorities in climate change research. While the African continent is among the regions with the highest vulnerability to climate change, research on climate knowledge and awareness is lacking. Kenya is already grappling with the impacts of climate change, which are projected to increase in a non-linear and non-predictable manner. This study sought to determine climate change awareness levels among households residing in Upper Nyakach Division, Kisumu County, Kenya using common climate change markers viz heavy rainfall, floods, droughts and temperature. A cross-sectional survey design was adopted in which 384 household heads were selected as respondents from 11 sub-locations; all located within Upper Nyakach Division. A questionnaire was used to collect data. Most (90.9 %) respondents had observed changes in the overall climate. Awareness level of climate change varied significantly across the 11 sub-locations. To further gain insight unto which variables were the most significant determinant of climate change awareness in upper Nyakach division, Kisumu county, a Generalized Linear Model (GLM) with Poisson error distribution was built. The model indicated that sex of the household head, education level and age significantly influenced respondents' awareness to climate change markers. Most (87 %) households reported rising temperatures over the past 20 years. Over half (55.2 %) the respondents had observed declining rains, with significant differences being observed across age groups. Up to 75 % of the respondents reported increased droughts frequency over the last 20 years, with significant differences observed across gender. Most (86.7 %) respondents reported having observed changes in water sources with significant differences reported across age groups. The respondents reported an increased prevalence of malaria with significant differences being observed among the education levels and households' main livelihoods. The general population of the Upper Nyakach Divison is aware of changing global climate. However, more effort is required in mitigating climate change as per the local settings. Awareness campaign aimed at increasing knowledge of climate change markers among community members is recommended.

Environmental Education and the Health Professions: Framing Climate Change as a Health Issue

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Adlong, William; Dietsch, Elaine

2015-01-01

The likelihood of adverse health impacts from climate change is high. Actions to reduce emissions, however, not only mitigate climate change but often have more immediate health co-benefits. One substantial co-benefit is gained through reductions of the high health costs of pollution from fossil fuel power stations, particularly coal. Evidence…

Children of an Earth to Come: Speculative Fiction, Geophilosophy and Climate Change Education Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rousell, David; Cutter-Mackenzie, Amy; Foster, Jasmyne

2017-01-01

Over the last 3 years, the "Climate Change and Me" project has mapped children and young people's affective, creative, and ontological relationships with climate change through an emergent and child-framed research methodology. The project has involved working with 135 children and young people from across Northern NSW, Australia, as…

Climate Change Education in Formal Settings, K-14: A Workshop Summary

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beatty, Alexandra

2012-01-01

Climate change is occurring, is very likely caused by human activities, and poses significant risks for a broad range of human and natural systems. Each additional ton of greenhouse gases emitted commits us to further change and greater risks. In the judgment of the Committee on America's Climate Choices, the environmental, economic, and…

Climate Change Education: Preparing Future and Current Business Leaders--A Workshop Summary

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Storksdieck, Martin

2014-01-01

Climate change poses challenges as well as opportunities for businesses and, broadly speaking for the entire economy. Businesses will be challenged to provide services or products with less harmful influence on the climate; respond to a changing policy, regulatory, and market environment; and provide new services and products to help address the…

Climate Change Education in Protected Areas: Highlights from the Earth to Sky NASA-NPS-USFWS Partnership

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Davis, A.; Morris, J.; Paglierani, R.

2009-12-01

National Parks, Hatcheries, Refuges, and other protected lands provide ideal settings for communicating the immediate and obvious effects of climate change, from rapidly melting glaciers, increased intensity and length of fire seasons, to flooding of archeological and historical treasures. Our nation's protected areas demonstrate clearly that climate change is happening now, and the impacts are affecting us all. Highlights of interpretive, educational and informational products presented in these sites, and developed through the Earth to Sky (ETS) partnership are described. The visiting public in our nation's parks, refuges, cultural sites and other protected lands wants to learn more about climate change, and is asking questions—often, complex questions. A broad array of educational programs and media are delivered in these unique settings, to diverse audiences. To be good "honest brokers" of the best information, staff needs access to accurate, up-to-date data, descriptions, analysis, and imagery that make the issues understandable. Pairing real world experiences of climate effects such as glacial retreat or beetle infestations, with NASA’s unique planetary perspective provides opportunities to link local, regional, and global effects in the minds and hearts of the public and students. The perspective afforded by such linkages can create powerful and long lasting impressions, and will likely provoke further learning about this topic. About Earth to Sky Earth to Sky is a partnership between NASA's Space and Earth Science disciplines, the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and the National Park Service (NPS). The partnership actively fosters collaborative work between the science and interpretation/education communities of NPS, USFWS, and NASA, centering around a series of professional development workshops aimed at informal educators. The workshops weave NASA content with NPS and USFWS interpretation and environmental education methodology, and use best practices in professional development. The partnership is funded by NASA, with in-kind contributions from NPS and USFWS. Earth to Sky III: Interpreting Climate Change, held in Jan. 2009, featured over 25 NASA scientists and education specialists who presented to 30 NPS rangers and several attendees from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and other informal education groups. Participant's action plans include Junior Ranger programs; pod casts; a public outreach campaign at one of our nation’s leading zoos; creation of talking points for staff at a variety of sites; use of the Landsat satellite's 35+ year record of changes in western parks for public programs, a site bulletin and a podcast; workshops for teachers; new exhibits in visitor centers; curriculum-based educational programming; fact sheets; training for USFWS regional staff; and of course standard ranger campfire and slide programs. Earth to Sky IV: Building Climate Literacy for Informal Educators will be held in Feb. 2010. A pilot course on Interpreting Climate Change is under development, and will be offered in September of 2011 at the USFWS’ National Conservation Training Center in Shepherdstown, WV.

Using Outreach and Engagement Efforts to Inform the Makah Tribe's Climate Adaptation Plan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nelson, L. K.; Chang, M.; Howk, F.

2017-12-01

The Makah Tribe views climate change as one of the biggest challenges to their natural resource management, threatening their livelihoods, economy, and culture. As part of their work towards climate adaptation planning, the Makah Tribal Council and tribal natural resource managers prioritized early community outreach and engagement efforts in order to accomplish three goals: continually update and inform the tribal community about the Tribe's climate adaptation efforts; gather community input and priorities for the Makah Climate Adaptation Plan; and provide a series of targeted educational events to inform the tribal community about projected climate change impacts to our resources. Our first community climate event, the Makah Climate Change Awareness Dinner, was held on February 8, 2017. At this event, we provided an overview of the Makah Tribe's Climate Vulnerability Assessment and administered an initial climate survey that gathered information regarding community members' observed environmental changes, knowledge about climate change and impacts, and any concerns and priorities to include in the Tribe's adaptation plan. We developed a framework for incorporating community engagement into climate adaptation planning and used results of our community survey to ensure community concerns were being addressed in the plan in addition to risks identified in western science. We also used survey results to inform a series of educational events to address knowledge gaps in the community and requested topics. These are two of next steps that the Makah Tribe is pursuing towards climate adaptation planning.

Pre-service teacher professional development on climate change: Assessment of workshop success and influence of prior knowledge

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Veron, D. E.; Ad-Marbach, G.; Fox-Lykens, R.; Ozbay, G.; Sezen-Barrie, A.; Wolfson, J.

2017-12-01

As states move to adopt the next generation science standards, in-service teachers are being provided with professional development that introduces climate change content and best practices for teaching climate change in the classroom. However, research has shown that it is challenging to bring this information into the higher education curriculum in education courses for pre-service teachers due to curricular and programming constraints. Over two years, the Maryland and Delaware Climate Change Assessment and Research (MADE-CLEAR) project explored a professional development approach for pre-service teachers which employed paired workshops that resulted in participant-developed lesson plans based on climate change content. The workshops were designed to provide pre-service teachers with climate change content related to the carbon cycle and to model a variety of techniques and activities for presenting this information in the classroom. Lesson plans were developed between the first and second workshop, presented at the second workshop and discussed with peers and in-service teachers, and then revised in response to feedback from the second workshop. Participant climate change content knowledge was assessed before the first workshop, and after the final revision of the lesson plan was submitted to the MADE-CLEAR team. Climate content knowledge was also assessed using the same survey for additional pre-service teacher groups who did not participate in the professional development. Results show that while the paired workshop approach increased climate content knowledge, the amount of improvement varied depending on the participants' prior knowledge in climate change content. In addition, some alternate conceptions of climate change were not altered by participant involvement in the professional development approach. Revised lesson plans showed understanding of underlying climate change impacts and demonstrated awareness of appropriate techniques for introducing this complex topic. These findings will be useful to those planning pre-service teacher professional development on climate change in the future.

Speaking of climate change: From what we know to how we know it (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Holthuis, N.

2013-12-01

Researchers have found that a deficit model of knowledge doesn't fully explain why some people continue to deny that climate change is happening or that human activity is to blame. Recent work in science education has focused our attention on the need to go beyond simply communicating what we know about climate change to how we know it. That is, allowing and encouraging students to grapple with the processes that scientists have gone through to make their claims builds deeper understanding of why the consensus around climate change is strong, where uncertainties remain, and how to think about implications for society and themselves. This suggests that teachers need to provide scaffolding that builds not only students' understanding of how climate systems work or the causes and effects of climate change but also their capacity to evaluate the scientific evidence behind these claims. What is the evidence for anthropogenic climate change? What data are missing or currently being collected? How sure are scientists about their claims? What claim can be made from a particular set of data? And conversely, what claim cannot be made given these data? Climate change education provides not only an excellent opportunity to integrate science content with such scientific practices, but also an imperative to do so. In this study, we explore how students and teachers may engage collectively in this process of argumentation in order to arrive at a conclusion or claim supported by evidence. We take the position that learning to construct and evaluate arguments involves growth in scientific practices and meta-procedural (epistemic) knowledge This work was conducted over the course of three years through the NASA-funded Stanford Global Climate Change project. Scientists and educators provided teacher professional development on the science of global climate change, pedagogical strategies, and curriculum materials that emphasize both what we know about climate change and we how know it. We conducted an in-depth study of the classrooms of the participating teachers, focusing on the following research questions: 1) What did students learn about climate change and to what extent have their opinions shifted after experiencing this climate change curriculum? 2) How do teachers and students talk about how we know about climate change? 3) What classroom conditions support such talk? Our results show statistically significantly gains from pre to post in students' content knowledge and a shift in their opinions. These gains are positively related to the percentage of students engaged and interacting with one another or with the teacher. Through classroom observations and video recordings, we identify how teachers and students talk about how we know about climate change and we discuss how that talk can be supported by classroom implementation, the curriculum, and professional development.

Climate change in the Pacific - is it real or not?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kuleshov, Yuriy

2013-04-01

In this presentation, novel approaches and new ideas for students and young researchers to appreciate the importance of climate science are discussed. These approaches have been applied through conducting a number of training workshops in the Pacific Island Countries and teaching a course on climate change international law and climate change science at the University of the South Pacific (USP) - the first course on this type in the Pacific. Particular focus of this presentation is on broadening students' experience with application of web-based information tools for analysis of climatic extremes and natural hazards such as tropical cyclones. Over the past few years, significant efforts of Australian climate scientists have been dedicated to improving understanding of climate in the Pacific through the International Climate Change Adaptation Initiative (the Australian Government Initiative to assist with high priority climate adaptation needs in vulnerable countries in the Asia-Pacific region). The first comprehensive scientific report about the Pacific climate has been published in 2011, as an outcome of the Pacific Climate Change Science Program (PCCSP). A range of web-based information tools such as the Pacific Tropical Cyclone Data Portal, the Pacific Climate Change Data Portal and the Pacific Seasonal Climate Prediction Portal has been also developed through the PCCSP and the Pacific Adaptation Strategy Assistance Program. Currently, further advancement in seasonal climate prediction science and developing enhanced software tools for the Pacific is undertaken through the Theme 1 of the Pacific Australia Climate Change Science and Adaptation Planning (PACCSAP) Program. This new scientific knowledge needs to be transferred to students to provide them with true information about climate change and its impact on the Pacific Island Countries. Teachers and educators need their knowledge-base regularly updated and tools that will help their students critically evaluate information transmitted via the mass media. This is particularly important when educators present to students cutting edge science knowledge on climate change. Climate change skeptics through mass media attack climate scientists and dismiss their findings about magnitude of climate change. A novel approach implemented in our training workshops and teaching courses gives students practical hands on experience in examining climate data using the developed web-based information tools. Using the tools, students can examine climate of the Pacific Island Countries, derive trends in climate variables such as temperature and rainfall and make their own conclusions. An open forum "Is climate change real or not?" has also been included as an integral part of these workshops and teaching, giving an opportunity for students to present their findings. They have also been asked to provide examples of observed change in the environment in their countries which may be related to climate change. Tropical cyclones are the most destructive severe weather events in the Pacific which regularly affect countries in the region. Understanding importance of updating knowledge about cyclones, extensive training in using the Pacific Tropical Cyclone Data Portal (http://www.bom.gov.au/cyclone/history/tracks/) has also been provided. Using this sophisticated web-based tool, students can learn about occurrences of cyclones in waters around their countries and over the whole Pacific. Positive feedback from university students and participants of training workshops has been obtained and this approach may be recommended for educators to include in their courses. Acknowledgement The research discussed in this paper was conducted through the PASAP, PCCSP and PACCSAP supported by the AusAID and Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency and delivered by the Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO.

Addressing climate and energy misconceptions - teaching tools offered by the Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network (CLEAN)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gold, A. U.; Ledley, T. S.; Kirk, K. B.; Grogan, M.; McCaffrey, M. S.; Buhr, S. M.; Manduca, C. A.; Fox, S.; Niepold, F.; Howell, C.; Lynds, S. E.

2011-12-01

Despite a prevalence of peer-reviewed scientific research and high-level reports by intergovernmental agencies (e.g., IPCC) that document changes in our climate and consequences for human societies, the public discourse regards these topics as controversial and sensitive. The chasm between scientific-based understanding of climate systems and public understanding can most easily be addressed via high quality, science-based education on these topics. Well-trained and confident educators are required to provide this education. However, climate science and energy awareness are complex topics that are rapidly evolving and have a great potential for controversy. Furthermore, the interdisciplinary nature of climate science further increases the difficulty for teachers to stay abreast of the science and the policy. Research has shown that students and educators alike hold misconceptions about the climate system in general and the causes and effects of climate change in particular. The NSF-funded CLEAN Pathway (http://cleanet.org) as part of the National Science Digital Library (http://www.nsdl.org) strives to address these needs and help educators address misconceptions by providing high quality learning resources and professional development opportunities to support educators of grade levels 6 through 16. The materials focus on teaching climate science and energy use. The scope and framework of the CLEAN Pathway is defined by the Essential Principles of Climate Science (CCSP, 2009) and the Energy Literacy Principles recently developed by the Department of Energy. Following this literacy-based approach, CLEAN helps with developing mental models to address misconceptions around climate science and energy awareness through a number of different avenues. These are: 1) Professional development opportunities for educators - interactive webinars for secondary teachers and virtual workshops for college faculty, 2) A collection of scientifically and pedagogically reviewed, high-quality learning resources on climate and energy topics, 3) Detailed information on effective approaches for teaching climate and energy science for a range of grade levels, and 4) A community support forum (http://iceeonline.org, coordinated by a partner project - Inspiring Climate Education Excellence, ICEE), where educators can exchange information and share advice regarding climate and energy education. In this presentation we focus on our experience coordinating professional development opportunities as well as the "Teaching about Climate and Energy" web pages that are offered through the CLEAN Pathway to show-case how misconceptions can be addressed by educators when teaching or learning about climate and energy topics. Providing educators with a robust foundation of topical knowledge, guiding them through common misconceptions and providing them with a collection of well-vetted learning resources is the approach offered by CLEAN to address student misconceptions of climate and energy topics.

Climate change communication through networks and partnerships: A successful model of engaging and educating non-specialist audience in India

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Choudhary, S.; Nayak, R.; Gore, A.

2013-12-01

There is an overwhelming international scientific consensus on climate change; however, the global community still lacks the resolve to implement meaningful solutions. No meaningful solutions can be found without educating and engaging non-scientific community in addressing the climate change. With more than 41 percent of world's population falling under 10-34 years age group, the future citizens, inspiring them is a great challenge for the climate scientists. In order to educate the youth and students in India, a model program named 'Climeducate' was created with the help of scientists in Indian Polar Research Network (IPRN), trained climate leaders in ';The Climate Reality Project', and a local organization (Planature Consultancy Services). This model was developed keeping in mind the obstacles that may be faced in reaching out to non-specialist audiences in different parts of India. The identified obstacles were 1- making such a presentation that could reveal the truth about the climate crisis in a way that ignites the moral courage in non-specialist audience 2- lack of funding for travel and boarding expenses of a climate communicator, 3- language barrier in educating local audiences, 4- logistical arrangements at the venue. In this presentation we will share how all the four obstacles were overcome. Audiences were also given short questionnaires before and after the presentation. Remarkable changes in the pattern of answers, data would be shared in the presentation, were observed between the two questionnaires. More importantly, a significant difference in audience engagement was observed comparing a presentation that integrated scientific data with audiovisuals prepared by The Climate Reality Project Chairman, Al Gore (also Former US Vice President) and the other using simple PowerPoint slides. With the success of this program which was implemented among 500 audiences in the eastern India, we aim to replicate this program soon in other parts of India. This presentation will outline how scientific story telling through an effective collaboration of network of scientists, climate mentors, school teachers and local organizations would derive significant results in inspiring, engaging and preparing non-specialists audiences to face the realities of climate change.

Identification of core objectives for teaching sustainable healthcare education.

PubMed

Teherani, Arianne; Nishimura, Holly; Apatira, Latifat; Newman, Thomas; Ryan, Susan

2017-01-01

Physicians will be called upon to care for patients who bear the burden of disease from the impact of climate change and ecologically irresponsible practices which harm ecosystems and contribute to climate change. However, physicians must recognize the connection between the climate, ecosystems, sustainability, and health and their responsibility and capacity in changing the status quo. Sustainable healthcare education (SHE), defined as education about the impact of climate change and ecosystem alterations on health and the impact of the healthcare industry on the aforementioned, is vital to prevention of adverse health outcomes due to the changing climate and environment. To systematically determine which and when a set of SHE objectives should be included in the medical education continuum. Fifty-two SHE experts participated in a two-part modified-Delphi study. A survey was developed based on 21 SHE objectives. Respondents rated the importance of each objective and when each objective should be taught. Descriptive statistics and an item-level content validity index (CVI) were used to analyze data. Fifteen of the objectives achieved a content validity index of 78% or greater. The remaining objectives had content validity indices between 58% and 77%. The preclinical years of medical school were rated as the optimal time for introducing 13 and the clinical years for introducing six of the objectives. Respondents noted the definition of environmental sustainability should be learned prior to medical school and identifying ways to improve the environmental sustainability of health systems in post-graduate training. This study proposes SHE objectives for the continuum of medical education. These objectives ensure the identity of the physician includes the requisite awareness and competence to care for patients who experience the impact of climate and environment on health and advocate for sustainability of the health systems in which they work. CVI: Content validity index; SHE: Sustainable healthcare education.

Climate Change Education: Quantitatively Assessing the Impact of a Botanical Garden as an Informal Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sellmann, Daniela; Bogner, Franz X.

2013-01-01

Although informal learning environments have been studied extensively, ours is one of the first studies to quantitatively assess the impact of learning in botanical gardens on students' cognitive achievement. We observed a group of 10th graders participating in a one-day educational intervention on climate change implemented in a botanical garden.…

Global climate change attitudes and perceptions among south American zoo visitors.

PubMed

Luebke, Jerry F; Clayton, Susan; Kelly, Lisa-Anne DeGregoria; Grajal, Alejandro

2015-01-01

There is a substantial gap between the scientific evidence for anthropogenic climate change and the human response to this evidence. Perceptions of and responses to climate change can differ among regions of the world, as well as within countries. Therefore, information about the public's attitudes and perceptions related to climate change is essential to the development of relevant educational resources. In the present study, zoo visitors in four South American countries responded to a questionnaire regarding their attitudes and perceptions toward global climate change. Results indicated that most respondents are already highly concerned about global climate change and are interested in greater engagement in pro-environmental behaviors. Visitors also perceive various obstacles to engagement in climate change mitigation behaviors. We discuss the results of our study in terms of addressing visitors' climate change attitudes and perceptions within the social and emotional context of zoo settings. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

A needs assessment for climate change education in the Great Lakes region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rutherford, S.; Schneider, L. B.; Walters, H.

2011-12-01

The National Science Foundation funded Great Lakes Climate Change Science and Education Systemic Network project is implementing a two year planning effort to create innovative education programs to benefit the public, formal and informal educators, scientists, and journalists in the region. The current partners include Eastern Michigan University, NOAA's Great Lakes Environmental Research Lab, University of Michigan, Michigan State University, Knight Center for Environmental Journalism, Ashland University, Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum, and the College of Exploration. To create a network we are planning to bring together different stakeholders to write two white papers, one from the scientists' perspective and the other from the educators'(both formal and informal) perspective. The current partners' key personnel have produced a list of possible people/institutions to include in a stakeholder survey. Some of the key personnel developed their databases from scratch. Some used listserves, and others tried a snowball email. To identify the best strategy that will inform these various stakeholders and the public regarding the science of climate change in the Great Lakes Region, a survey was developed for each of the different stakeholders. The survey is divided into three parts: 1) questions which convey some understanding of climate science and climate change 2) demographic questions, and finally 3) questions that pertain to the professional concerns or perspectives of the various stakeholders. This survey is being used to provide the project team with a "needs assessment" from the interested members of those stakeholders. The results from this process will be summarized.

Considering Climate Change in Road and Building Design

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jacobs, Jennifer M.; Kirshen, Paul H.; Daniel, Jo Sias

2013-07-01

What is the role of climate in infrastructure design? How can engineers design for a changing climate? How can climate scientists better inform the design process? These were the questions posed at the first Infrastructure and Climate Network (ICNet) Steering Committee Workshop, which was sponsored by a U.S. National Science Foundation research grant (CBET-1231326) from the Research Coordination Networks-Science, Engineering and Education for Sustainability (RCN-SEES) program.

Beyond the Inventory: Planning for Campus Greenhouse Gas Reduction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Willson, Richard

2010-01-01

Climate change planning is fast becoming an important element in university policy and governance. As the causes and impacts of global climate change become more apparent, many universities are embracing climate planning roles as community leaders, educators and researchers, and operators of major activity centers. For example, 685 university…

Using Remote Sensing and Geospatial Technology for Climate Change Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cox, Helen; Kelly, Kimberle; Yetter, Laura

2014-01-01

This curriculum and instruction paper describes initial implementation and evaluation of remote-sensing exercises designed to promote post-secondary climate literacy in the geosciences. Tutorials developed by the first author engaged students in the analysis of climate change data obtained from NASA satellite missions, including the LANDSAT,…

The Role of Belief, Trust and Values in Climate Change Science Education Efforts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anderson, S. W.; Hatheway, B.

2011-12-01

At a recent Tri-Agency PI meeting of NSF-, NASA- and NOAA-funded climate change education projects, we asked nearly 20 of our colleagues the following question, "If you had to choose just one of the following, which would it be: you would like the general public to believe that climate change is occurring, or you would like the general public to know that climate change is occurring?" We were a bit surprised when every person canvassed chose that they wanted the public to believe that climate change is occurring. When we inquired why, they all answered something along the lines that "beliefs lead to actions". However, when we looked at the funded efforts of the NASA, NOAA and NSF climate education community we came to the troubling conclusion that the vast majority were designed primarily with knowledge in mind, and that as a community we were perhaps not tackling some important non-scientific issues related to belief, trust and values. It is not surprising, nor unreasonable, that we have taken an approach to climate change education that largely focuses on increasing the knowledge base of the public. First of all, our fundamental task as science researchers is to create new knowledge, so we are typically comfortable discussing it. Secondly, knowledge may serve as a foundation for belief and ultimately lead to changes in behavior. However, this second line of reasoning clearly has limits, and we believe we are seeing these limits manifested in some of the poll numbers related to the general public's position on this topic. When the value of science is pitted against other things that people value, such as family, religion, and jobs, we are faced with the likelihood that it is not going to be as highly regarded by the general public as it is by scientists. Climate change science opponents understand the importance of value and belief, and directly capitalize on it by using two main strategies. First, they effectively minimize the value of climate science by casting doubt on the science itself, orchestrating controversy among scientists where little, if any, exists. Second, they pit the values held in the highest esteem by the public (religion, economy, family) directly against the value of climate change science, and in doing so give the public the impression that they must choose between climate science and their core principles. It is therefore easy to understand why less than half of American citizens believe climate change is worth changing behavior over. Nationwide polls show that scientists are highly trusted and believed, with values of trustworthiness exceeding 80%, suggesting that the public finds that we share common values. However, for some reason there is a glaring disconnected when this is applied to climate science, as less than half of the US population agrees with the consensus scientific view on climate change. A majority of people are currently putting their trust in other sources, and given the fact that climate scientists have the best knowledge and credentials suggests that the general public is aligning more with the values of those who deny or minimize the consensus scientific view.

A Science-Faith Partnership to Provide Education and Facilitate Action on Climate Change and Energy Use

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cervenec, J. M.; Hitzhusen, G.; Ward, S.; Foster, C.

2014-12-01

In 2009, the Byrd Polar Research Center (BPRC) and Ohio Interfaith Power and Light (OhIPL) collaborated on a climate change education summit for scientists and clergy. Since that first program, a robust partnership has been nurtured where researchers at the center regularly contribute to events within the faith community. In 2014 alone, BPRC supported OhIPL in hosting a Teach-In event on climate change before a live audience that was simultaneously broadcast to three remote sites across Ohio; a State of the Climate event at the Ohio Statehouse that featured presentations by a scientist, a policymaker, and a member of the faith community; and an Earthkeeping Summit to bring together members of the faith community from across Ohio. OhIPL has helped BPRC fulfill one of our mission objectives of communicating science to a broad community. OhIPL engages houses of worship of all denominations through faith and education with a goal of moving them towards actions that reduce energy consumption. Houses of worship take actions for various reasons - including creation care, concerns of social justice related to climate change, or a desire to save money through building efficiency.

Undergraduate Students' Conceptions of Natural and Anthropogenic Climate Change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Trenbath, K. L.

2011-12-01

Scientists and educators strive to improve climate literacy throughout society, whether through communication of research findings or though classroom teaching. Despite these efforts, climate change misconceptions exist in students and the general public. When educators present evidence that contradicts misconceptions, students may begin to struggle with their inaccurate ideas and perhaps transition towards a scientifically-accepted understanding. These transitions, called conceptual change, can occur in college climate change courses. The purpose of this presentation is to describe college students' ideas of natural and anthropogenic climate change and the way these ideas change throughout a climate change course. This presentation is based on five case studies of undergraduate students in a large lecture-hall course dedicated to climate change. Each case study student represents a different level of climate change understanding at the beginning of the semester. These case studies and subsequent cross-case analyses result from a qualitative research study using interviews, field notes, artifact analysis, coding and categorization, and research memos. The cases show shifts in all five students' ideas of natural and anthropogenic climate change. During the first month of class, the three lower achieving students expressed uncertainty about the increase in average global temperatures due to anthropogenic climate change. At the end of the semester, these students explained that warming from climate change is natural, yet the rate of this warming is increasing due to human activities. Two of the lower achieving students constructed definitions of climate change different than the definition used by the professor in the classroom. These students solidified the idea that the term "climate change" describes the change that results from natural forcings only, while the term "global warming" describes change in the climate that results from human-caused forcings. Their constructed definition removes human-causes from association with the word "climate change", which may influence their climate change understanding. Of the two higher achieving students, one emphasized anthropogenic climate change at the beginning of the semester, but later focused on natural climate change during his interviews. The other high achieving student included tangential environmental topics in her descriptions of climate change throughout the entire semester, thus conflating climate change's definition. These alternative definitions of climate change indicate that the learners constructed hybrid conceptions in order to incorporate class content with their prior ideas. These hybrid conceptions indicate that the students' understandings lie somewhere between misconceptions and conceptual change. Since the students demonstrated these hybrid conceptions at the end of class, perhaps more time is needed for the students to process the information. These case studies identify the gaps the professor should address for conceptual change to fully occur.

How pre-service elementary teachers express emotions about climate change and related disciplinary ideas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hufnagel, Elizabeth J.

As we face the challenges of serious environmental issues, science education has made a commitment to improving environmental literacy, in particular climate literacy (NRC, 2012; 2013). With an increased focus on climate change education in the United States, more research on the teaching and learning of this problem in science classrooms is occurring (e.g. Arslan, Cigdemoglu, & Moseley, 2012; Svihla & Linn, 2012). However, even though people experience a range of emotions about global problems like climate change (Hicks & Holden, 2007; Ojala, 2012; Rickinson, 2001), little attention is given to their emotions about the problem in science classrooms. Because emotions are evaluative (Boler, 1999; Keltner & Gross, 1999), they provided a lens for understanding how students engage personally with climate change. In this study, I drew from sociolinguistics, social psychology, and the sociology of emotions to examine a) the social interactions that allowed for emotional expressions to be constructed and b) the ways in which pre-service elementary teachers constructed emotional expressions about climate change in a science course. Three overall findings emerged: 1) emotions provided a means of understanding how students' conceptualized climate to be relevant to their lives, 2) emotional expressions and the aboutness of these expressions indicated that the students conceptualized climate change as distanced, both temporally and spatially, and 3) although most emotional constructions were distanced, there were multiple instances of emotional expressions in which students took climate change personally. Following a discussion of the findings, implications, limitations, and directions for future research are also described.

High School Teachers and Students Knowledge and Views about Climate Change, a Nice NASA Example

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bleicher, R. E.; Lambert, J. L.

2014-12-01

One factor for some Americans being confused about climate change is their lack of understanding its underlying science concepts (Somerville & Hassol, 2011). In spite of this, climate change has been under-emphasized in school curricula (Bardsley & Bardsley, 2007). This is an important challenge for science educators, especially given the increasing public awareness of climate change impacts in their everyday lives (NCADAC, 2013).One way to address this challenge is to involve teachers in professional learning projects with the expectation that their enhanced content and pedagogical knowledge about climate change will transfer into more effective instruction resulting in increased student learning. For teacher educators, this translates into providing vibrant professional learning activities that energize and engage science teachers to develop interesting lessons that stimulate their students to learn important science concepts and develop positive attitudes to science. This study examined content knowledge and views about climate change of 33 high school science teachers and their1050 students who participated in lessons developed in a NASA-funded professional learning project. The teachers participated in a seven-day climate change summer institute and received in-classroom follow-up support throughout the school year. Teacher data sources included a background survey (undergraduate majors, number of years teaching science), science teaching self-efficacy (STEBI-A) scores, Climate Science Inventory of Knowledge (CSIK), and Six-America's Views on Climate Change. Student data included journal entries, and pre-post measures using the CSIK and Six-Americas instruments. T-tests and ANOVA showed that both students and their teachers increased in climate science knowledge. Teachers' views about climate change were more aligned to climate scientists' views. Teachers also increased in their science teaching self-efficacy and those with higher self-efficacy demonstrated higher climate change science knowledge. In addition to these data, the professional learning model and examples of the hands-on activities utilized by teachers will be shared in this presentation. The Logic Model is included below to provide an overall picture of the project.

An Evaluation Model for Professional Education--Medical Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McGuire, Christine H.

There are striking similarities between medical education of today and progressive education of the thirties with respect to motivation for change, the values to be sought in change, and the zest with which change is pursued. It is in this climate conducive to change that a new approach to evaluation is beginning to make a significant contribution…

Dynamic Undergraduate Climate Change Affinity Program: University of Delaware Climate Program for Undergraduates (CPUG)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Merrill, J.

2017-12-01

Multidisciplinary undergraduate climate change education is critical for students entering any sector of the workforce. The University of Delaware has developed a new interdisciplinary affinity program—UD Climate Program for Undergraduates (CPUG)—open to undergraduate students of all majors to provide a comprehensive educational experience designed to educate skilled climate change problem-solvers for a wide range of professional careers. The program is designed to fulfill all General Education requirements, and includes a residential community commitment and experiential learning in community outreach and problem solving. Seminars will introduce current popular press and research materials and provide practice in confirming source credibility, communications training, and psychological support, as well as team building. As undergraduates, members of the UD CPUG team will define, describe, and develop a solution or solutions for a pressing local climate challenge that has the potential for global impact. The choice of a challenge and approach to addressing it will be guided by the student's advisor. Students are expected to develop a practical, multidisciplinary solution to address the challenge as defined, using their educational and experiential training. Solutions will be presented to the UD community during the spring semester of their senior year, as a collaborative team solution, with enhancement through individual portfolios from each team member. The logic model, structure, curricular and co-curricular supports for the CPUG will be provided. Mechanisms of support available through University administration will also be discussed.

Challenges of Communicating Climate Change in North Dakota: Undergraduate Internship and Collaboration with Middle School Educators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mullendore, G. L.; Munski, L.; Kirilenko, A.; Remer, F.; Baker, M.

2012-12-01

In summer 2010, the University of North Dakota (UND) hosted an internship for undergraduates to learn about climate change in both the classroom and group research projects. As a final project, the undergraduates were tasked to present their findings about different aspects of climate change in webcasts that would be later used in middle school classrooms in the region. Interns indicated that participation significantly improved their own confidence in future scholarly pursuits. Also, communicating about climate change, both during the project and afterwards, helped the interns feel more confident in their own learning. Use of webcasts widened the impact of student projects (e.g. YouTube dissemination), and multiple methods of student communication should continue to be an important piece of climate change education initiatives. Other key aspects of the internship were student journaling and group building. Challenges faced included media accessibility and diverse recruiting. Best practices from the UND internship will be discussed as a model for implementation at other universities. Lesson plans that complement the student-produced webcasts and adhere to regional and national standards were created during 2011. Communication between scientists and K-12 education researchers was found to be a challenge, but improved over the course of the project. These lesson plans have been reviewed both during a teacher workshop in January 2012 and by several Master teachers. Although select middle school educators have expressed enthusiasm for testing of these modules, very little hands-on testing with students has occurred. Wide-ranging roadblocks to implementation exist, including the need for adherence to state standards and texts, inadequate access to technology, and generally negative attitudes toward climate change in the region. Feedback from regional educators will be presented, and possible solutions will be discussed. Although some challenges are specific to the Northern Great Plains region, understanding these challenges are important for agencies and universities with goals of national dissemination.

Collaborating for Climate Education - A Look at Strategic Partnerships

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bozuwa, J.; Lewis, C.

2015-12-01

Collaborating for Climate Education WeekEarth Day Network (EDN) developed Climate Education Week toolkit, a turnkey online resource for grades K-12 that provided teachers with everything they needed to deliver lessons, activities, contests, and service learning projects that related to climate science during Climate Education Week (April 18-25). EDN assembled an Advisory Group to develop the survey, lesson plans and activities, and resources. The Advisory Group consisted of experts and partners in environmental education, including representatives from other government and non-governmental organizations working with the White House on Climate Education, as well as educators in our Educator's Network. EDN's Climate Education Week Advisory Board brought together top academics and major stakeholders in climate education throughout the development and outreach processes. The Advisory Board included representatives from the Alliance for Climate Education (ACE), The CLEAN Network, NOAA, The Department of Energy, and NASA. The representatives from the board helped to identify and streamline the most effective and necessary lesson plans, strategic themes to maintain throughout the toolkit, and avenues for increased outreach. EDN also partnered with Connect4Climate, PBS's Plum Landing, Young Voices of Climate Change, FEMA, and The Wild Center to develop content and to broaden the reach of the toolkit. Each of the seven days had a different theme that addressed a specific climate education topic, with highlighted activities and resources for elementary, middle and high school levels. The toolkit provided educators with a comprehensive view of climate change—beginning with the science, the anthropogenic causes, and societal impacts and then providing solutions, ways to take action, and the green economy transition. This online resource connected educators to a network of effective resources from our partners, all of which saw a significant uptick in their online viewership. Using the highly recognized Earth Day platform, the high level of involvement from partners and Advisory Board members, and EDN's ever-growing network, EDN had the ability to reach thousands of educators and students, and further the climate conversation.

Innovating Science Teaching by Participatory Action Research--Reflections from an Interdisciplinary Project of Curriculum Innovation on Teaching about Climate Change

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Feierabend, Timo; Eilks, Ingo

2011-01-01

This paper describes a three-year curriculum innovation project on teaching about climate change. The innovation for this study focused on a socio-critical approach towards teaching climate change in four different teaching domains (biology, chemistry, physics and politics). The teaching itself explicitly aimed at general educational objectives,…

Online and classroom tools for Climate Change Education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Samenow, J. P.; Scott, K.

2004-12-01

EPA's Office of Atmospheric Programs has developed unique tools for educating students about the science of global warming and on actions that help address the issue. These tools have been highly successful and used in hundreds of classrooms across the country. EPA's Global Warming Kids' Site features interactive web-based animations for educating children, grades 4-8, about climate change. The animations illustrate how human activities likely influence the climate system through processes such as the greenhouse effect and carbon and water cycles. The pages also contain interactive quizzes. See: http://www.epa.gov/globalwarming/kids/animations.html For advanced high school and college students, EPA is nearing completion on the development of interactive visualizations of the emissions and climate scenarios featured in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Third Assessment Report. These visualizations allow students to choose a scenario and see how emissions, the climate and the earth's surface change over time. The Global Warming Wheelcard Classroom Activity Kit is designed to help teachers of middle school students introduce the concept of human induced global warming in the context of how rates of energy usage can influence the increase or eventual slowing of climate change. The Climate Change, Wildlife, and Wildlands Toolkit for Teachers and Interpreters was produced in a partnership among three agencies - EPA, US Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park Service (NPS). Both classroom teachers and outdoor interpreters find it useful in conveying information about climate change science and impacts to their students and visitors. The development of the toolkit led to a larger program between EPA and NPS that assists parks in inventorying their emissions, creating action plans, and talking to the public about what they are doing - a "lead by example" type program that the two agencies hope to replicate in other venues in the coming year.

Students as Mentors and Owners of Geoscience and Environmental Education: Advancing the Science of Climate Change in the Public Schools

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schuster, D. A.; Thomas, C. W.; Smith, J. S.; Wood, E. J.; Filippelli, G. M.

2007-12-01

The importance of K-12 educational programs and resources that seek to share the science of climate change has recently come into focus. During the fall 2006 AGU meeting, we presented the conceptual framework used to guide both the curriculum and year-one programs of Students as Mentors and Owners of Geoscience and Environmental Education: The Global Warming Road Show. Currently this dynamic, three-phase, tiered mentoring program selects and empowers a diverse population of 11th and 12th grade students from a large urban high school in the Midwest to teach a curriculum on climate change to 7th graders from a local feeder school. In December 2007 we will complete year-one of the program and will present an overview of 1) students' conceptual representations of climate change, 2) the most recent curriculum and programs, and 3) the ongoing program evaluation. We will synthesize these three areas and reflect on how to improve upon year-two of both the curriculum and the program. During various stages of the program, students have constructed concept maps, written in journals, created lesson plans, and participated in focus group interviews. These materials are being analyzed to provide a brief overview of high school students' initial conceptualizations of climate change. During the intensive 2007 summer workshop, these 11th and 12th grade students were supported by university scientists and science educators, secondary science teachers, and museum educators as they attempted to better understand climate change and as they reflected on how to effectively teach this topic to 7th graders. During the fall semester of 2007, the workshop graduates are scheduled to teach 25 to 30 7th graders a five week climate unit. The program will culminate with the 11th and 12th grade student-mentors working with the 7th graders to create a "Road Show," which will be presented to other 7th and 8th graders within the same school district. To ensure that this program is current, a team of scientists and science educators supplemented and further developed a well known and tested 15-year-old curriculum (Great Explorations in Math and Science, 1990) with recent data and analysis focusing on key concepts of climate change. The updated curriculum was structured using two driving questions: - How do we know the earth has experienced climate change in the past, including the ice ages and the age of the dinosaurs? - How do we know that humans have an impact on climate? Science educators and scientists also worked together to create templates that prompted the 11th and 12th grade students to first reflect on their understandings of climate change and then on how they would teach their younger peers. As students work with experiments, data sets, and news-media articles, they are also prompted to reflect on discrepancies between primary science sources and secondary media sources (Drake and Nelson, 2005). An evaluation team observed the summer workshops, administered surveys, reviewed the adapted curriculum, and participated in planning sessions. The evaluators are in the process of analyzing these multiple indicators to examine the extent to which the program aligns with its stated goals. The initial formative evaluation findings suggest that students were active participants in the workshop and that they enjoyed their experience. Areas of year-two development include improved communication and collaboration between university and secondary school units.

Climate variability and causes: from the perspective of the Tharaka people of eastern Kenya

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Recha, Charles W.; Makokha, George L.; Shisanya, Chris A.

2017-12-01

The study assessed community understanding of climate variability in semi-arid Tharaka sub-county, Kenya. The study used four focus group discussions (FGD) ( N = 48) and a household survey ( N = 326) to obtain information from four agro-ecological zones (AEZs). The results were synthesized and descriptively presented. People in Tharaka sub-county are familiar with the term climate change and associate it with environmental degradation. There are, however, misconceptions and gaps in understanding the causes of climate change. There was a mismatch between community and individual perception of onset and cessation of rainfall—evidence that analysis of the impact of climate change should take into account the scale of interaction. To improve climate change knowledge, there is a need for climate change education by scientific institutions—to provide information on local climatic conditions and global and regional drivers of climate change to local communities.

PoLAR Voices: Informing Adult Learners about the Science and Story of Climate Change in the Polar Regions Through Audio Podcast

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Quinney, A.; Murray, M. S.; Gobroski, K. A.; Topp, R. M.; Pfirman, S. L.

2015-12-01

The resurgence of audio programming with the advent of podcasting in the early 2000s spawned a new medium for communicating advances in science, research, and technology. To capitalize on this informal educational outlet, the Arctic Institute of North America partnered with the International Arctic Research Center, the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and the UA Museum of the North to develop a podcast series called PoLAR Voices for the Polar Learning and Responding (PoLAR) Climate Change Education Partnership. PoLAR Voices is a public education initiative that uses creative storytelling and novel narrative structures to immerse the listener in an auditory depiction of climate change. The programs will feature the science and story of climate change, approaching topics from both the points of view of researchers and Arctic indigenous peoples. This approach will engage the listener in the holistic story of climate change, addressing both scientific and personal perspectives, resulting in a program that is at once educational, entertaining and accessible. Feedback is being collected at each stage of development to ensure the content and format of the program satisfies listener interests and preferences. Once complete, the series will be released on thepolarhub.org and on iTunes. Additionally, blanket distribution of the programs will be accomplished via radio broadcast in urban, rural and remote areas, and in multiple languages to increase distribution and enhance accessibility.

Communities of practice in support of collaborative multi-disciplinary learning and action in response to climate change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Heimlich, J. E.; Stylinski, C.; Palmquist, S.; Wasserman, D.

2017-12-01

Collaborative efforts reaching across interdisciplinary boundaries to address controversial issues such as climate change present significant complexities, including developing shared language, agreeing on common outcomes, and even establishing habits of regular dialogue. Such collaborative efforts should include museums, aquariums, zoos, parks, and youth groups as each of these informal education institutions provides a critical avenue for supporting learning about and responding to climate change. The community of practice framework offers a potential effective approach to support learning and action of diverse groups with a shared interest. Our study applied this framework to the NSF-funded Maryland and Delaware Climate Change Assessment and Education (MADE-CLEAR) project, facilitating informal educators across these two states to advance their climate change education practices, and could provide insight for a building a citywide multi-sector collaborative effort. We found strategies that center on the process of group evolution; support different perspectives, levels of participation, and community spaces; focus on value as defined by members; and balance familiarity and fun produced a dynamic and functional community with a shared practice where none had existed before. Also important was expanding the community-of-practice focus on relationship building to include structured professional development and spin-off opportunities for small-group team-based endeavors. Our findings suggest that this collaborative professional learning approach is well suited to diverse groups seeking creative solutions to complex and even divisive challenges.

Climate Games in the Classroom - Engaging Problem-Solving

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pfirman, S. L.; Schlosser, P.; Lee, J.; Steiner, R. V.; Sparrow, E. B.; Carr, M.

2012-12-01

The Polar Learning And Responding (PoLAR) Climate Change Education Partnership, funded under the National Science Foundation's Climate Change Education Partnership Phase II (CCEP) program is using fascination with the changing polar regions and novel educational approaches to engage adult learners and inform public understanding and response to climate change. In Phase I we developed a suite of resources that range from low-tech games to social networking, to be used in venues from classrooms to the internet, and targeting audiences from the general public to Alaskan community leaders. This presentation synthesizes experience integrating game-like approaches in formal educational environments with the goal of inspiring change in educational practices and policies. Adults, be they community leaders, the general public, pre- and in-service teachers, or college students, are today's decision-makers. Informed decisions are more likely if individuals are aware of the scientific evidence of climate change and potential economic and social consequences. Learning research and our PoLAR Phase I demonstration projects show that games and game-like approaches motivate exploration and learning of complex material. Evaluation indicates that such approaches are effective in deepening adult learner awareness and understanding of climate change and informing responses to climate change impacts through engaged problem-solving. For example, an undergraduate student playing a climate change card game commented "I certainly felt an adrenaline rush as I kept the possibility of a major disaster impacting my web at the forefront of my mind to strategize the best possible food web combination." Two others playing a board game noted "I think that interactive activities like the one done in class really help students to learn because it tests our ability to analyze and interpret previous readings and discussions in a different context. Anyone can read a paper and summarize, but it takes genuine understanding to engage in an activity like this." "I am hopeful … that with our generation having more discussions like the ones we had in class, we will be better-equipped in the coming years to effectively work out solutions that can benefit all stakeholders." Our experience and analysis of the literature indicates that games can transform the classroom experience - both by engaging a more diverse student population and by building capacity in novel ways. Incorporating students in customizing games/activities, allocating time for post game debriefing/reflection, then re-running the game, and using concept maps to assess learning gains are a few of the best practices that will be discussed that help make the experience successful for both the teacher and the student.

NASA GISS Climate Change Research Initiative: A Multidisciplinary Vertical Team Model for Improving STEM Education by Using NASA's Unique Capabilities.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pearce, M. D.

2017-12-01

CCRI is a year-long STEM education program designed to bring together teams of NASA scientists, graduate, undergraduate and high school interns and high school STEM educators to become immersed in NASA research focused on atmospheric and climate changes in the 21st century. GISS climate research combines analysis of global datasets with global models of atmospheric, land surface, and oceanic processes to study climate change on Earth and other planetary atmospheres as a useful tool in assessing our general understanding of climate change. CCRI interns conduct research, gain knowledge in assigned research discipline, develop and present scientific presentations summarizing their research experience. Specifically, CCRI interns write a scientific research paper explaining basic ideas, research protocols, abstract, results, conclusion and experimental design. Prepare and present a professional presentation of their research project at NASA GISS, prepare and present a scientific poster of their research project at local and national research symposiums along with other federal agencies. CCRI Educators lead research teams under the direction of a NASA GISS scientist, conduct research, develop research based learning units and assist NASA scientists with the mentoring of interns. Educators create an Applied Research STEM Curriculum Unit Portfolio based on their research experience integrating NASA unique resources, tools and content into a teacher developed unit plan aligned with the State and NGSS standards. STEM Educators also Integrate and implement NASA unique units and content into their STEM courses during academic year, perform community education STEM engagement events, mentor interns in writing a research paper, oral research reporting, power point design and scientific poster design for presentation to local and national audiences. The CCRI program contributes to the Federal STEM Co-STEM initiatives by providing opportunities, NASA education resources and programing that improve STEM instruction, increase and sustain youth and public engagement in STEM, enhance STEM experience of undergraduate students, better serve groups under-represented groups in STEM fields and design graduate education for tomorrow's STEM workforce.

Hope, Interpreter Self-efficacy, and Social Impacts: Assessment of the NNOCCI Training

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fraser, J.; Swim, J.

2012-12-01

Conservation educators at informal science learning centers are well-positioned to teach climate science and motivate action but have resisted the topic. Our research demonstrates their resist is due to self-doubt about climate science facts and the belief they will encounter negative audience feedback. Further, this self-doubt and self-silencing is emotional taxing. As a result we have developed a National Network for Ocean Climate Change Interpretation's (NNOCCI) program that addresses educators' needs for technical training and emotional scaffolding to help them fully engage with this work. The evaluation of this program sought to understand how to support educators interested in promoting public literacy on climate change through engagement with a structured training program aimed at increased the efficacy of interpreters through teaching strategic framing strategies. The program engaged educator dyads from informal science learning sites to attend an online and in-person program that initiated a new community of practice focused on sharing techniques and tools for ocean climate change interpretation. The presentation will summarize a model for embedded assessment across all aspects of a program and how social vectors, based upon educators' interpersonal and professional relationships, impact the understanding of an educator's work across their life-world. This summary will be followed by results from qualitative front-end research that demonstrated the psychologically complex emotional conditions that describe the experience of being an environmental educator. The project evaluators will then present results from their focus groups and social network analysis to demonstrate how training impacted in-group relationships, skill development, and the layered social education strategies that help communities engage with the content. Results demonstrated that skill training increased educator's hope--in the form of increased perceived agency and plans for educational objectives. Subsequent to the program, educators experienced socially supportive feedback from colleagues and peers and increased actions to engage the public in productive discussions about climate change at informal science learning venues. The front-end and formative assessment of this program suggests new strategies for measuring interpreter training, and a way of thinking holistically about an educator's impact in their community. The results challenge the concept that interpretation is limited to the workplace and suggest that the increased likelihood of effectiveness in interpretation across all social vectors is more likely to result in changed public understanding of climate science in ways that will promote public action toward remediation strategies.Emotions before and after study circlet; Personal hope scale was rescaled to range from 1 "strongly disagree"; 4 "strongly agree"; Distress, Anxiety vs. hopeful and Energized vs. Overwhelmed range from 1 "not at all" to 4 "very much."

Evaluating Changes in Climate Literacy among Middle and High School Students who Participate in Climate Change Education Modules

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

DeWaters, J.; Powers, S.; Dhaniyala, S.; Small, M.

2012-12-01

Middle school (MS) and high school (HS) teachers have developed and taught instructional modules that were created through their participation in Clarkson University's NASA-funded Project-Based Global Climate Change Education project. A quantitative survey was developed to help evaluate the project's impact on students' climate literacy, which includes content knowledge as well as affective and behavioral attributes. Content objectives were guided primarily by the 2009 document, Climate Literacy: The Essential Principles of Climate Sciences. The survey was developed according to established psychometric principles and methodologies in the sociological and educational sciences which involved developing and evaluating a pool of survey items, adapted primarily from existing climate surveys and questionnaires; preparing, administering, and evaluating two rounds of pilot tests; and preparing a final instrument with revisions informed by both pilot assessments. The resulting survey contains three separate subscales: cognitive, affective, and behavioral, with five self-efficacy items embedded within the affective subscale. Cognitive items use a multiple choice format with one correct response; non-cognitive items use a 5-point Likert-type scale with options generally ranging from "strongly agree" to "strongly disagree" (affective), or "almost always" to "hardly ever" (behavioral). Three versions of the survey were developed and administered using an on-line Zoomerang™ platform to college students/adults; HS students; and MS students, respectively. Instrument validity was supported by using items drawn from existing surveys, by reviewing/applying prior research in climate literacy, and through comparative age-group analysis. The internal consistency reliability of each subscale, as measured by Cronbach's alpha, ranges from 0.78-0.86 (cognitive), 0.87-0.89 (affective) and 0.84-0.85 (behavioral), all satisfying generally accepted criteria for internal reliability of educational surveys. MS and HS students completed the on-line survey prior to and at least 3 weeks following participation in one of the newly developed project-based climate change modules. Surveys were completed anonymously. In all, 9 HS and 3 MS teachers successfully completed the educational programming and assessment protocol in AY2012, yielding 200 HS and 227 MS matched pre/post climate literacy surveys. Both groups of students demonstrated significant gains in climate-related content knowledge (p<<0.001) and affect (p<0.01). MS students also experienced significant gains in their climate-related self-efficacy (p=0.03), with no significant change in self-efficacy for HS students and no change in either group on the behavioral subscale. Post-scores were remarkably similar for the two groups of students; reported as percent of maximum attainable score for HS/MS students: 59%/58%, knowledge; 65%/64%, affect; 71%/72%, self-efficacy, and 63%/62%, behavior. The presentation will include a description of the development and content of the climate literacy survey used in this research, as well the interpretation of specific pre/post changes in participating MS and HS students relative to the content of and approach used in the project-based modules.

The Influence of Ideological Filters upon Education about Climate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rutherford, D.

2011-12-01

Religious and political ideologies serve as primary lenses through which people interpret information and education related to the climate system, climate change, and climate impacts upon human and environmental systems. Consequently, ideologies strongly affect (1) the levels of receptivity that people express toward communication messages and educational efforts related to climate topics, and (2) the amount of knowledge and understanding that people obtain from those messages and efforts. This paper begins with a brief overview of research that establishes a theoretical framework for understanding the role of ideology in communication and educational efforts. It then describes the ideological filtering of climate and environmental information that occurs in a substantial and powerful public in American society - the socially conservative, evangelical Christian population. Approaches are then offered for navigating the ideological filters of this specific population in order to improve understanding of climate related topics. More general principles also emerge that can apply across other populations

Development and validation of climate change system thinking instrument (CCSTI) for measuring system thinking on climate change content

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meilinda; Rustaman, N. Y.; Firman, H.; Tjasyono, B.

2018-05-01

The Climate Change System Thinking Instrument (CCSTI) is developed to measure a system thinking ability in the concept of climate change. CCSTI is developed in four phase’s development including instrument draft development, validation and evaluation including readable material test, expert validation, and field test. The result of field test is analyzed by looking at the readability score in Cronbach’s alpha test. Draft instrument is tested on college students majoring in Biology Education, Physics Education, and Chemistry Education randomly with a total number of 80 college students. Score of Content Validation Index at 0.86, which means that the CCSTI developed are categorized as very appropriate with question indicators and Cronbach’s alpha about 0.605 which mean categorized undesirable to minimal acceptable. From 45 questions of system thinking, there are 37 valid questions spread in four indicators of system thinking, which are system thinking phase I (pre-requirement), system thinking phase II (basic), system thinking phase III (intermediate), and system thinking phase IV (coherent expert).

More than a Game: Learning about Climate Change through Role-Play

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Paschall, Melissa; Wustenhagen, Rolf

2012-01-01

Educating management students on the connections between business and climate change is essential both to their careers and to society's ability to solve the climate challenge. To impart deep and lasting learning on this topic, the authors developed a multischool negotiation simulation that is unique in its intensiveness, cross-sector design, and…

Using Education to Bring Climate Change Adaptation to Pacific Communities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vize, Sue

2012-01-01

Traditional communities remain a dominant feature in the Pacific and are key players in land and sea management. Fostering improved climate literacy is therefore essential to equip communities to respond to the current and future challenges posed by climate change in the region. Increased understanding and development of skills to respond to the…

Climate Education: Empowering Today's Youth to Meet Tomorrow's Challenges

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schreiner, Camilla; Henriksen, Ellen K.; Kirkeby Hansen, Pal J.

2005-01-01

An enhanced greenhouse effect, leading to global warming and associated changes in the climate system, is arguably one of the greatest environmental challenges facing humankind in the 21st century. The challenge extends to the scientific, political, economic and ethical domains of the human enterprise. The science of climate change involves…

For Me It Was When I Saw a Simple Chart: Former Climate Contrarians Recount What Changed Their Minds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kirk, K. B.

2017-12-01

Efforts to advance climate policy in the US have been hindered by a sector of the public that is reluctant to accept the science of anthropogenic climate change. Climate educators, advocates, and policymakers seek to resolve this roadblock through educational efforts and strategic messaging, while social science research strives to understand the causes of resistance on climate change. A discussion on the social media platform, AskReddit, offered a surprising source of insight when a tantalizing question was posed, "Former climate deniers, what changed your mind?" Responses to the query offered a rare glimpse into the process of how people switched camps, outgrew their parents' values, had transformative experiences, or were worn down by mounting scientific evidence. The posts contained 66 examples of people who were initially uncertain or dismissive of climate change, but came to accept the mainstream science. The commenters provided insightful narratives describing the origins of their skeptical beliefs, the rationales for their changing opinions, and the events that caused them to reverse course. Analysis of the comments revealed the primary reasons that influenced people to change their minds. Those were: science and evidence (cited as a factor in 47% of the comments); stewardship for the Earth and concerns about pollution (29%); unusual weather events (21%); and the untrustworthiness of the messengers who claim that climate change is false (17%). Note that several commenters pointed to more than one factor that contributed to their evolving views. While neither the setting nor the sample size allow a robust scientific analysis, these anecdotal accounts offer useful insights on a vexing problem. Learning about the circumstances that lead people to update their thinking can help us improve efforts to communicate the science and policy around climate change. This work is the topic of an article at Yale Climate Connections, https://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2017/04/changing-minds-on-a-changing-climate/.

Educational process in modern climatology within the web-GIS platform "Climate"

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gordova, Yulia; Gorbatenko, Valentina; Gordov, Evgeny; Martynova, Yulia; Okladnikov, Igor; Titov, Alexander; Shulgina, Tamara

2013-04-01

These days, common to all scientific fields the problem of training of scientists in the environmental sciences is exacerbated by the need to develop new computational and information technology skills in distributed multi-disciplinary teams. To address this and other pressing problems of Earth system sciences, software infrastructure for information support of integrated research in the geosciences was created based on modern information and computational technologies and a software and hardware platform "Climate» (http://climate.scert.ru/) was developed. In addition to the direct analysis of geophysical data archives, the platform is aimed at teaching the basics of the study of changes in regional climate. The educational component of the platform includes a series of lectures on climate, environmental and meteorological modeling and laboratory work cycles on the basics of analysis of current and potential future regional climate change using Siberia territory as an example. The educational process within the Platform is implemented using the distance learning system Moodle (www.moodle.org). This work is partially supported by the Ministry of education and science of the Russian Federation (contract #8345), SB RAS project VIII.80.2.1, RFBR grant #11-05-01190a, and integrated project SB RAS #131.

Decision-Makers As Messengers Of Climate Change Impacts And Ambassadors For Their Communities.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boudrias, M. A.; DeBenedict, C.; Bruce, L.; Estrada, M.; Hedge, N.; Silva-Send, N. J.

2016-12-01

Over the past several years there have been many coordinated efforts to improve climate change literacy of diverse audiences. The challenge has been to balance science content with audience-specific messaging with a goal to reach solutions and build community resilience. In the San Diego Region, Climate Education Partners (CEP) has been working with business leaders, elected officials, tribal leaders, and other community leaders to develop a suite of programs and activities to enhance the channels of communication outside traditional settings. CEP has employed a multidisciplinary approach that integrates climate science, social and learning sciences and effective communication strategies to create innovative resources and new approaches to climate change communication in order to engage audiences more effectively. We have interviewed over 140 key San Diego leaders and invited them to serve as ambassadors to the project by engaging them directly in the creation of a variety of innovative educational resources as well as serving as spokespersons for outreach activities. Our program has evolved from having only scientists, educators and community practitioners serve as presenters to strategically and deliberately engaging a mix of scientists, educators and decision makers as the conveyers of key messages. Our protocol for events includes preparing all speakers in advance, researching our audience, creating a script, immediate debriefs of each activity and a qualitative and quantitative assessment of each event. Two examples of this integrated approach will show how to engage decision-makers more deeply: (1) coastal flooding tour as a place-based activity and (2) impact videos that blend climate science, local personal stories and key messages from decision makers themselves. For climate change communication to be successful in the future, we will need creative and coordinated approaches.

Schools of the Pacific rainfall climate experiment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Postawko, S. E.; Morrissey, M. L.; Taylor, G. J.; Mouginis-Mark, P.

1993-01-01

The SPaRCE program is a cooperative rainfall climate field project involving high school and college level students and teachers from various Pacific island and atoll nations. The goals of the SPaRCE program are: (1) to foster interest and increase understanding among Pacific-area students and teachers of climate and climate change; (2) to educate the students and teachers as to the importance of rainfall in the Pacific area to climate studies; (3) to provide the students and teachers an opportunity of making a major contribution to the global climate research effort by collecting and analyzing Pacific rainfall data; and (4) to incorporate collected rainfall observations into a comprehensive Pacific daily rainfall data base to be used for climate research purposes. Schools participating in SPaRCE have received standard raingauges with which to measure rainfall at their sites. Students learned to site and use their raingauges by viewing a video produced at the University of Oklahoma. Four more videos will be produced which will include information on Earth's atmosphere, global climate and climate change, regional climate and implications of climate change, and how to analyze and use the rainfall data they are collecting. The videos are accompanied by workbooks which summarize the main points of each video, and contain concrete learning activities to help the student better understand climate and climate change. Following each video, interactive sessions are held with the students using the PEACESAT (Pan-Pacific Education And Communication Experiments by Satellite) satellite radio communication system.

Energy Choices and Climate Change: A New Interactive Feature on Windows to the Universe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gardiner, L. S.; Russell, R. M.; Ward, D.; Johnson, R. M.; Henderson, S.; Foster, S. Q.

2009-12-01

We have developed a new, self-paced online module to foster understanding of how choices made about energy production and energy use affect greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. The module, entitled “Energy Choices and Climate Change” is available on Windows to the Universe (www.windows.ucar.edu), an extensive educational Web site used by over 20 million people each year. “Energy Choices and Climate Change” provides a new way to look at issues related to energy and climate change, emphasizing the climate implications of the choices we make. “Energy Choices and Climate Change” allows users to explore two different scenarios through which they make decisions about energy production or use. In the “Ruler of the World” scenario, the user is given the authority to make decisions about the mix of energy sources that will be used worldwide with the aim of reducing emissions while meeting global energy demand and monitoring costs and societal implications. In “The Joules Family” scenario, the user makes decisions about how to change the way a hypothetical family of four uses energy at home and for transportation with the aim of reducing the family’s carbon emissions and fossil fuel use while keeping costs less than long-term savings. While this module is intended for a general public audience, an associated teacher’s guide provides support for secondary educators using the module with students. Windows to the Universe is a project of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research Office of Education and Outreach. Funding for the Energy Choices and Climate Change online module was provided by the National Center for Atmospheric Research.

Proximity to coast is linked to climate change belief.

PubMed

Milfont, Taciano L; Evans, Laurel; Sibley, Chris G; Ries, Jan; Cunningham, Andrew

2014-01-01

Psychologists have examined the many psychological barriers to both climate change belief and concern. One barrier is the belief that climate change is too uncertain, and likely to happen in distant places and times, to people unlike oneself. Related to this perceived psychological distance of climate change, studies have shown that direct experience of the effects of climate change increases climate change concern. The present study examined the relationship between physical proximity to the coastline and climate change belief, as proximity may be related to experiencing or anticipating the effects of climate change such as sea-level rise. We show, in a national probability sample of 5,815 New Zealanders, that people living in closer proximity to the shoreline expressed greater belief that climate change is real and greater support for government regulation of carbon emissions. This proximity effect held when adjusting for height above sea level and regional poverty. The model also included individual differences in respondents' sex, age, education, political orientation, and wealth. The results indicate that physical place plays a role in the psychological acceptance of climate change, perhaps because the effects of climate change become more concrete and local.

Using EarthLabs to Enhance Earth Science Curriculum in Texas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chegwidden, D. M.; Ellins, K. K.; Haddad, N.; Ledley, T. S.

2012-12-01

As an educator in Texas, a state that values and supports an Earth Science curriculum, I find it essential to educate my students who are our future voting citizens and tax payers. It is important to equip them with tools to understand and solve the challenges of solving of climate change. As informed citizens, students can help to educate others in the community with basic knowledge of weather and climate. They can also help to dispose of the many misconceptions that surround the climate change, which is perceived as a controversial topic. As a participant in a NSF-sponsored Texas Earth and Space (TXESS) Revolution teacher professional development program, I was selected to participate in a curriculum development project led by TERC to develop and test education resources for the EarthLabs climate literacy collection. I am involved in the multiple phases of the project, including reviewing labs that comprise the Climate, Weather and Biosphere module during the development phase, pilot teaching the module with my students, participating in research, and delivering professional development to other Texas teachers to expose them to the content found in the module and to encourage them to incorporate it into their teaching. The Climate, Weather and the Biosphere module emphasizes different forms of evidence and requires that learners apply different inquiry-based approaches to build the knowledge they need to develop as climate literate citizens. My involvement with the EarthLabs project has strengthened my overall knowledge and confidence to teach about Earth's climate system and climate change. In addition, the project has produced vigorous classroom discussion among my students as well as encouraged me to collaborate with other educators through our delivery of professional development to other teachers. In my poster, I will share my experiences, describe the impact the curriculum has made on my students, and report on challenges and valuable lessons gained by being an active participant in the EarthLabs curriculum review, implementation and professional development process.

Integrating STEM Place-Based, Culturally Responsive and Citizen Science Learning in Exploring the Impacts and Feedbacks of a Changing Arctic

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sparrow, E. B.; Spellman, K. V.; Fabbri, C.; Comiso, J. C.; Chase, M.; Fochesatto, G. J.; Butcher, C. E.; Jones, D.; Bacsujlaky, M.; Yoshikawa, K.; Gho, C. L.; Wegner, K.

2016-12-01

To build capacity in navigating challenges associated with a changing climate, learning in Arctic communities must not only increase STEM and climate change literacy, but also generate new knowledge as the rapid changes occur. Among the new NASA Science Mission Directorate Science Education projects, Arctic and Earth SIGNs (STEM Integrating GLOBE and NASA assets) is providing opportunities for K-12 pre-service and in-service teachers, their students, and lifelong learners to engage in citizen science using the Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) methods and culturally responsive learning to help address climate change challenges within their unique community, and contribute to hypothesis driven research. This project will weave traditional knowledge and western science, and use ground observations and satellite data and best teaching practices in STEM learning, supported through a NASA cooperative agreement and collaborative partnerships. Implementation will begin in rural Alaska and grow within Alaska and throughout the United States to reach underserved and STEM underrepresented populations, through face-to-face and on-line teaching and learning as well as building partnerships among educators, scientists, local and indigenous experts, institutions, agencies, and learning communities. Partners include research and teaching institutions at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, the Association of Interior Native Educators, the North Slope Borough School District and other school districts, the Kenaitze Tribe Environmental Education program, NASA science education and research programs as well as those of NOAA and NSF, the GLOBE Implementation Office, the 4-H program and others. The program resources and model will be shared and disseminated within the United States and globally through partners for local, national and worldwide use in STEM climate change education and citizen empowerment.

Rising Temperatures and Dwindling Water Supplies? Perception of Climate Change Among Residents of the Spanish Mediterranean Tourist Coastal Areas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

March, Hug; Saurí, David; Olcina, Jorge

2014-01-01

In this article, we discuss the results of a survey on the perception of climate change in the 14 "tourist zones" (as defined by the Spanish Statistical Institute, INE) that stretch from the French border to Gibraltar alongside the Spanish Mediterranean coast, including the Balearic Islands. Our sample consisted of 1,014 telephone interviews stratified according to the number of tourists staying in each zone. Respondents showed concern for the likely impacts of climate change on jobs and thought that climate change would reduce the economic activity of their areas. Responses were also pessimistic regarding future water availability but agreed with the development of alternative sources such as desalination and water re-use. Household size, educational levels, and employment tended to be the most significant statistical explanatory factors regarding attitudes toward climate change. Respondents in larger households (a variable not tested in the literature as far as we know), respondents with higher education, and respondents working for a wage tended to express more concerns than the rest.

Climate change education in informal settings: Using boundary objects to frame network dissemination

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Steiner, Mary Ann

This study of climate change education dissemination takes place in the context of a larger project where institutions in four cities worked together to develop a linked set of informal learning experiences about climate change. Each city developed an organizational network to explore new ways to connect urban audiences with climate change education. The four city-specific networks shared tools, resources, and knowledge with each other. The networks were related in mission and goals, but were structured and functioned differently depending on the city context. This study illustrates how the tools, resources, and knowledge developed in one network were shared with networks in two additional cities. Boundary crossing theory frames the study to describe the role of objects and processes in sharing between networks. Findings suggest that the goals, capacity and composition of networks resulted in a different emphasis in dissemination efforts, in one case to push the approach out to partners for their own work and in the other to pull partners into a more collaborative stance. Learning experiences developed in each city as a result of the dissemination reflected these differences in the city-specific emphasis with the push city diving into messy examples of the approach to make their own examples, and the pull city offering polished experiences to partners in order to build confidence in the climate change messaging. The networks themselves underwent different kinds of growth and change as a result of dissemination. The emphasis on push and use of messy examples resulted in active use of the principles of the approach and the pull emphasis with polished examples resulted in the cultivation of partnerships with the hub and the potential to engage in the educational approach. These findings have implications for boundary object theory as a useful grounding for dissemination designs in the context of networks of informal learning organizations to support a shift in communication approach, particularly when developing interventions for wicked socio-scientific issues such as climate change.

Introduction to Climate Change from an Indigenous Perspective: an undergraduate course developed by and for Tribal Colleges and Universities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mitchell, K. A.; Pandya, R. E.; Kahn-Thornbrugh, C.; Newberry, T.; Carroll, M.; Guinn, M.; Vanlopik, W.; Haines, C.; Wildcat, D.

2010-12-01

Thirty-six Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs) serve over 20,000 Native American undergraduate students across the US. TCUs were created in response to the higher education needs of American Indians and generally serve geographically isolated populations that have no other means accessing education beyond the high school level. TCUs have become increasingly important to educational opportunity for Native American students and are unique institutions that combine personal attention with cultural relevance to encourage Native Americans to overcome the barriers they face to higher education. The American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC) coordinated development of a semester-long geosciences program of study with a unique curriculum that introduces tribal college students to multiple disciplines in the geosciences within the topic of global climate change. Importantly, the curriculum structure does not parallel typical college climate change survey courses, but rather is taught from the perspective of the traditional ecological knowledge held by native peoples of North America. The richly varied history, geography, ecology, culture and scientific knowledge of Native American tribes across the US serves as the starting point from which students are taught about atmospheric and earth sciences and the connection of climate change to all our lives. In addition, examples and case studies focusing specifically on tribal lands foster the development of future Native American leaders with the scientific, technological and cultural skills required to assist tribal communities in managing their lands and maintaining their cultures as they face a climate-altered future. The "Introduction to Climate Change from an Indigenous Perspective" curriculum was developed by tribal college faculty from multiple institutions through a collaborative workshop process. The course was piloted and taught at 5 tribal colleges during spring semester 2010. This presentation provides an overview of the course goals, content and delivery.

Refutation Texts for Effective Climate Change Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nussbaum, E. Michael; Cordova, Jacqueline R.; Rehmat, Abeera P.

2017-01-01

Refutation texts, which are texts that rebut scientific misconceptions and explain the normative concept, can be effective devices for addressing misconceptions and affecting conceptual change. However, few, if any, refutation texts specifically related to climate change have been validated for effectiveness. In this project, we developed and…

Changing Minds about the Changing Climate: a Longitudinal Study of the Impacts of a Climate Change Curriculum on Undergraduate Student Knowledge and Attitudes.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Burkholder, K. C.; Mooney, S.

2016-12-01

In the fall of 2013, 24 sophomore students enrolled in a three-course Learning Community entitled "The Ethics and Science of Climate Change." This learning community was comprised of two disciplinary courses in environmental ethics and environmental science as well as a seminar course in which the students designed and delivered climate change education events in the community beyond campus. Students were surveyed prior to and upon completion of the semester using a variant of the Yale Climate Literacy Survey in order to assess their knowledge of and attitudes towards climate change. An analysis of those survey results demonstrated that the non-traditional curriculum resulted in significant improvements that extended beyond disciplinary knowledge of climate change: the student attitudes about climate change and our cultural response to the issues associated with climate change shifted as well. Finally, a third administration of the survey (n=17) plus follow up interviews with 10 of those original students conducted during the students' senior year in 2016 suggest that the changes that the students underwent as sophomores were largely retained.

Leading the Way: Tribal Colleges Prepare Students to Address Climate Change

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sorensen, Barbara Ellen

2011-01-01

Across the United States, tribal people are noticing adverse changes in the natural world due to climate change--and these changes affect their cultures. Today, tribal colleges and universities (TCUs) are developing and delivering the education and research opportunities needed to produce the next generation of American Indian science,…

Hands-on Approach to Prepare Specialists in Climate Changes Modeling and Analysis Using an Information-Computational Web-GIS Portal "Climate"

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shulgina, T. M.; Gordova, Y. E.; Martynova, Y. V.

2014-12-01

A problem of making education relevant to the workplace tasks is a key problem of higher education in the professional field of environmental sciences. To answer this challenge several new courses for students of "Climatology" and "Meteorology" specialties were developed and implemented at the Tomsk State University, which comprises theoretical knowledge from up-to-date environmental sciences with computational tasks. To organize the educational process we use an open-source course management system Moodle (www.moodle.org). It gave us an opportunity to combine text and multimedia in a theoretical part of educational courses. The hands-on approach is realized through development of innovative trainings which are performed within the information-computational web GIS platform "Climate" (http://climate.scert.ru/). The platform has a set of tools and data bases allowing a researcher to perform climate changes analysis on the selected territory. The tools are also used for students' trainings, which contain practical tasks on climate modeling and climate changes assessment and analysis. Laboratory exercises are covering three topics: "Analysis of regional climate changes"; "Analysis of climate extreme indices on the regional scale"; and "Analysis of future climate". They designed to consolidate students' knowledge of discipline, to instill in them the skills to work independently with large amounts of geophysical data using modern processing and analysis tools of web-GIS platform "Climate" and to train them to present results obtained on laboratory work as reports with the statement of the problem, the results of calculations and logically justified conclusion. Thus, students are engaged in n the use of modern tools of the geophysical data analysis and it cultivates dynamic of their professional learning. The approach can help us to fill in this gap because it is the only approach that offers experience, increases students involvement, advance the use of modern information and communication tools. Financial support for this research from the RFBR (13-05-12034, 14-05-00502), SB RAS project VIII.80.2.1 and grant of the President of RF (№ 181) is acknowledged.

Professional Development in Climate Science Education as a Model for Navigating the Next Generations Science Standards - A High School Science Teacher's Perspective

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Manning, C.; Buhr, S. M.

2012-12-01

The Next Generation Science Standards attempt to move the American K12 education system into the 21st century by focusing on science and engineering practice, crosscutting concepts, and the core ideas of the different disciplines. Putting these standards into practice will challenge a deeply entrenched system and science educators will need significant financial support from state and local governments, professional development from colleges and universities, and the creation of collegial academic networks that will help solve the many problems that will arise. While all of this sounds overwhelming, there are proven strategies and mechanisms already in place. Educators who tackle challenging topics like global climate change are turning to scientists and other like-minded teachers. Many of these teachers have never taken a class in atmospheric science but are expected to know the basics of climate and understand the emerging science as well. Teachers need scientists to continue to reach out and provide rigorous and in-depth professional development opportunities that enable them to answer difficult student questions and deal with community misconceptions about climate science. Examples of such programs include Earthworks, ICEE (Inspiring Climate Education Excellence) and ESSEA (Earth System Science Education Alliance). Projects like CLEAN (Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network) provide excellent resources that teachers can integrate into their lessons. All of these benefit from the umbrella of documents like Climate Literacy: The Essential Principles of Climate Science. Support from the aforementioned networks has encouraged the development of effective approaches for teaching climate science. From the perspective of a Geoscience master teacher and instructional coach, this presentation will demonstrate how scientists, researchers, and science education professionals have created models for professional development that create long-term networks supporting teachers who are willing to change how science is being taught right now. There will be specific examples of clearly written, evidence-based tools that address the general public's lack of critical climate knowledge and help to identify and change students' misconceptions. Specific content areas that continue to be overlooked as "common knowledge" but that need to be addressed in both pre- and in-service teacher instruction, textbooks, and online resources will be identified.

Receptive Audiences for Climate Change Education: Understanding Attitudes and Barriers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kelly, L. D.; Luebke, J. F.; Clayton, S.; Saunders, C. D.; Matiasek, J.; Grajal, A.

2012-12-01

Much effort has been devoted to finding ways to explain climate change to uninterested audiences and encourage mitigation behaviors among dismissive audiences. Most approaches have focused on conveying information about climate change processes or threats. Here we report the results of a national survey designed to characterize the readiness of zoo and aquarium visitors to engage with the issue of climate change. Two survey forms, one focused primarily on attitudes (N=3,594) and another on behaviors (N=3,588), were administered concurrently in summer 2011 at 15 Association of Zoos and Aquariums accredited institutions. The attitudes survey used Global Warming's Six Americas segmentation protocols (climatechangecommunication.org) to compare climate change attitudes of zoo and aquarium visitors with the American public (Leiserowitz et al., 2011). Our results reveal that visitors are receptive audiences for climate change education and want to do more to address climate change. Even these favorable audiences, however, perceive barriers to engaging in the issue, signifying the importance of meeting the learning needs of those who acknowledge anthropogenic climate change, and not only of climate change 'deniers.' While 39% of the general public is 'concerned' or 'alarmed' about global warming, 64% of zoo and aquarium visitors fall into these two "Six Americas" segments. Visitors also differ from the national sample in key attitudinal characteristics related to global warming. For example, nearly two-thirds believe human actions are related to global warming, versus less than one-half of the general public; and approximately 60% think global warming will harm them personally, moderately or a great deal, versus less than 30% of the general public. Moreover, 69% of visitors would like to do more to address climate change. Despite zoo and aquarium visitors' awareness of climate change and motivation to address it, survey results indicate they experience barriers to engagement including (1) pessimism—50% of visitors are uncertain whether people will do what is needed to address global warming, and 30% think it is unlikely; (2) low self-efficacy—almost one-half of visitors believe they can personally have little to no impact on addressing climate change; and (3) perceived obstacles—when asked what is standing in their way of doing more to address climate change, over 90% of visitors reported at least one obstacle. The most frequently selected obstacles were lack of knowledge about which actions would be effective and concern about the cost of actions. Nevertheless, zoo visitors are slightly more optimistic about humans' capability to reduce global warming than the general public. Importantly, results also indicate that visitors' concern about climate change and participation in behaviors to address it vary with their sense of connection with animals and nature. Thus, this study offers guidance for the development of educational resources that meet visitors' needs while building on their emotional connections with animals. Our data suggest these resources will be more effective if they support social interactions that reinforce a person's inclination to address climate change, demonstrate the collective impact of individual actions, and aid informed decision-making about effective actions to address climate change.

Climate Literacy Ambassadors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ackerman, S. A.; Mooney, M. E.

2011-12-01

The Climate Literacy Ambassadors program is a collaborative effort to advance climate literacy led by the Cooperative Institute of Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. With support from NASA, CIMSS is coordinating a three-tiered program to train G6-12 teachers to be Ambassadors of Climate Literacy in their schools and communities. The complete training involves participation at a teacher workshop combined with web-based professional development content around Global and Regional Climate Change. The on-line course utilizes e-learning technology to clarify graphs and concepts from the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Summary for Policy Makers with content intricately linked to the Climate Literacy: The Essential Principles of Climate Science. Educators who take the course for credit can develop lesson plans or opt for a project of their choosing. This session will showcase select lesson plans and projects, ranging from a district-wide action plan that engaged dozens of teachers to Ambassadors volunteering at the Aldo Leopold Climate Change Nature Center to a teacher who tested a GLOBE Student Climate Research Campaign (SCRC) learning project with plans to participate in the SCRC program. Along with sharing successes from the CIMSS Climate Literacy Ambassadors project, we will share lessons learned related to the challenges of sustaining on-line virtual educator communities.

Enabling Responsible Energy Decisions: What People Know, Want to Know, and Need to Know about Climate Change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

PytlikZillig, L. M.; Tomkins, A. J.; Harrington, J. A.

2012-12-01

As part of a broader regional effort focused on climate change education and rural communities, this paper focuses on a specific effort to understand effective approaches to two presumably complementary goals: The goal of increasing knowledge about climate change and climate science in a community, and the goal of having communities use climate change and climate science information when making decisions. In this paper, we explore the argument that people do not need or want to know about climate change, in order to make responsible and sustainable energy decisions. Furthermore, we hypothesize that involvement in making responsible and sustainable energy decisions will increase openness and readiness to process climate science information, and thus increase learning about climate change in subsequent exposures to such information. Support for these hypotheses would suggest that rather than encouraging education to enable action (including engagement in attempts to make responsible decisions), efforts should focus on encouraging actions first and education second. To investigate our hypotheses, we will analyze and report results from efforts to engage residents from a medium-sized Midwestern city to give input on future programs involving sustainable energy use. The engagement process (which will not be complete until after the AGU deadline) involves an online survey and an optional face-to-face discussion with city officials and experts in energy-related areas. The online survey includes brief information about current local energy programs, questions assessing knowledge of climate change, and an open-ended question asking what additional information residents need in order to make good decisions and recommendations concerning the energy programs. To examine support for our hypotheses, we will report (1) relationships between subjective and objective knowledge of climate science and willingness to attend the face-to-face discussion about the city's energy decisions and actual attendance at the event, (2) a content analysis of what residents say they want and need to know in order to make decisions and recommendations about the city's energy programs, and (3) pilot results from a comparison of learning from a reading about climate change presented prior to the event, after the event, or presented to those who were willing to attend the face-to-face event but did not attend. We will discuss the results in terms of their implications for the relationship between knowledge and behavior, versus change in knowledge and change in behavior.

School Climate and Planned Educational Change: A Review and Critique of the Literature. Working Paper 279.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kasten, Katherine Lewellan

This paper examines the concept of school climate as a key factor in the success of planned change in elementary schools. Beginning with a general review of the literature on organizational climate and using as its basis three major reviews that appeared in the mid-1970s, the paper defines climate, examines variables that have been used as part of…

Factors Influencing Smallholder Farmers' Climate Change Perceptions: A Study from Farmers in Ethiopia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Habtemariam, Lemlem Teklegiorgis; Gandorfer, Markus; Kassa, Getachew Abate; Heissenhuber, Alois

2016-08-01

Factors influencing climate change perceptions have vital roles in designing strategies to enrich climate change understanding. Despite this, factors that influence smallholder farmers' climate change perceptions have not yet been adequately studied. As many of the smallholder farmers live in regions where climate change is predicted to have the most negative impact, their climate change perception is of particular interest. In this study, based on data collected from Ethiopian smallholder farmers, we assessed farmers' perceptions and anticipations of past and future climate change. Furthermore, the factors influencing farmers' climate change perceptions and the relation between farmers' perceptions and available public climate information were assessed. Our findings revealed that a majority of respondents perceive warming temperatures and decreasing rainfall trends that correspond with the local meteorological record. Farmers' perceptions about the past climate did not always reflect their anticipations about the future. A substantial number of farmers' anticipations of future climate were less consistent with climate model projections. The recursive bivariate probit models employed to explore factors affecting different categories of climate change perceptions illustrate statistical significance for explanatory variables including location, gender, age, education, soil fertility status, climate change information, and access to credit services. The findings contribute to the literature by providing evidence not just on farmers' past climate perceptions but also on future climate anticipations. The identified factors help policy makers to provide targeted extension and advisory services to enrich climate change understanding and support appropriate farm-level climate change adaptations.

Factors Influencing Smallholder Farmers' Climate Change Perceptions: A Study from Farmers in Ethiopia.

PubMed

Habtemariam, Lemlem Teklegiorgis; Gandorfer, Markus; Kassa, Getachew Abate; Heissenhuber, Alois

2016-08-01

Factors influencing climate change perceptions have vital roles in designing strategies to enrich climate change understanding. Despite this, factors that influence smallholder farmers' climate change perceptions have not yet been adequately studied. As many of the smallholder farmers live in regions where climate change is predicted to have the most negative impact, their climate change perception is of particular interest. In this study, based on data collected from Ethiopian smallholder farmers, we assessed farmers' perceptions and anticipations of past and future climate change. Furthermore, the factors influencing farmers' climate change perceptions and the relation between farmers' perceptions and available public climate information were assessed. Our findings revealed that a majority of respondents perceive warming temperatures and decreasing rainfall trends that correspond with the local meteorological record. Farmers' perceptions about the past climate did not always reflect their anticipations about the future. A substantial number of farmers' anticipations of future climate were less consistent with climate model projections. The recursive bivariate probit models employed to explore factors affecting different categories of climate change perceptions illustrate statistical significance for explanatory variables including location, gender, age, education, soil fertility status, climate change information, and access to credit services. The findings contribute to the literature by providing evidence not just on farmers' past climate perceptions but also on future climate anticipations. The identified factors help policy makers to provide targeted extension and advisory services to enrich climate change understanding and support appropriate farm-level climate change adaptations.

Environmental Adult Education for Mitigating the Impacts of Climate Change on Crop Production and Fish Farming in Rivers State of Nigeria

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eheazu, Caroline L.; Ezeala, Joy I.

2017-01-01

The threats of climate change to human society and natural ecosystems have become a devastating environmental problem for crop production and fish farming in Nigeria. This is partly because farmers and fisher folk are known to adopt age-old methods that do not counter current global warming and climate change effects. The purpose of this study was…

Using Dialogue to Engage Agricultural Audiences in Cooperative Learning about Climate Change: A Strategy with Broad Implications

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Doll, Julie E.; Eschbach, Cheryl L.; DeDecker, James

2018-01-01

Dialogue with stakeholders has been recognized as an effective educational strategy for addressing complex topics such as climate change. We report here on the Carbon, Energy, and Climate fishbowl discussion series developed by Michigan State University Extension to assist the state's agricultural community in understanding and adapting to the…

Climate Science Centers: Growing Federal and Academic Expertise in the Nation's Interests

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ryker, S. J.

2014-12-01

The U.S. Department of the Interior's (Interior) natural and cultural resource managers face increasingly complex challenges exacerbated by climate change. In 2009, under Secretarial Order 3289, Interior created eight regional Climate Science Centers managed by the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center and in partnership with universities. Secretarial Order 3289 provides a framework to coordinate climate change science and adaptation efforts across Interior and to integrate science and resource management expertise from Federal, State, Tribal, private, non-profit, and academic partners. In addition to broad research expertise, these Federal/university partnerships provide opportunities to develop a next generation of climate science professionals. These include opportunities to increase the climate science knowledge base of students and practicing professionals; build students' skills in working across the boundary between research and implementation; facilitate networking among researchers, students, and professionals for the application of research to on-the-ground issues; and support the science pipeline in climate-related fields through structured, intensive professional development. In 2013, Climate Science Centers supported approximately 10 undergraduates, 60 graduate students, and 26 postdoctoral researchers. Additional students trained by Climate Science Center-affiliated faculty also contribute valuable time and expertise, and are effectively part of the Climate Science Center network. The Climate Science Centers' education and training efforts have also reached a number of high school students interested in STEM careers, and professionals in natural and cultural resource management. The Climate Science Centers are coordinating to build on each other's successful education and training efforts. Early successes include several intensive education experiences, such as the Alaska Climate Science Center's Girls on Ice, the Northeast's Consortium Retreat, the Northwest's Climate Science Boot Camp; the whole-network Early Career Climate Forum; the South Central Climate Science Center's Minority Internship; and a growing curriculum through Interior's National Conservation Training Center.

When Teachers Adopt Environmental Behaviors in the Aim of Protecting the Climate

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pruneau, Diane; Doyon, Andre; Langis, Joanne; Vasseur, Liette; Ouellet, Eileen; McLaughlin, Elizabeth; Boudreau, Gaston; Martin, Gilles

2006-01-01

The authors invited teachers participating in a climate change education course to voluntarily demonstrate new environmental behaviors. They were interviewed and described the process of change they experienced. Facilitating professional development activities were participation in a community of change, construction of knowledge of climate…

The Iowa K-12 Climate Science Education Initiative: a comprehensive approach to meeting in-service teachers' stated needs for teaching climate literacy with NGSS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stanier, C. O.; Spak, S.; Neal, T. A.; Herder, S.; Malek, A.; Miller, Z.

2017-12-01

The Iowa Board of Education voted unanimously in 2015 to adopt NGSS performance standards. The CGRER - College of Education Iowa K-12 Climate Science Education Initiative was established in 2016 to work directly with Iowa inservice teachers to provide what teachers need most to teach climate literacy and climate science content through investigational learning aligned with NGSS. Here we present teachers' requests for teaching climate with NGSS, and an approach to provide resources for place-based authentic inquiry on climate, developed, tested, and refined in partnership with inservice and preservice teachers. A survey of inservice middle school and high school science teachers was conducted at the 2016 Iowa Council of Teachers of Mathematics/Iowa Academy of Sciences - Iowa Science Teaching Section Fall Conference and online in fall 2016. Participants (n=383) were asked about their prior experience and education, the resources they use and need, their level of comfort in teaching climate science, perceived barriers, and how they address potential controversy. Teachers indicated preference for professional development on climate content and complete curricula packaged with lessons and interactive models aligned to Iowa standards, as well as training on instructional strategies to enhance students' ability to interpret scientific evidence. We identify trends in responses by teaching experience, climate content knowledge and its source, grade level, and urban and rural districts. Less than 20% of respondents reported controversy or negativity in teaching climate to date, and a majority were comfortable teaching climate science and climate change, with equal confidence in teaching climate and other STEM content through investigational activities. We present an approach and materials to meet these stated needs, created and tested in collaboration with Iowa teachers. We combine professional development and modular curricula with bundled standards, concepts, models, data, field activities, and sequences of individual and group investigational and student-driven inquiry prompts on climate science, climate change, and climate impacts. We identify key resource availability needed to teach place-based climate literacy aligned with NGSS as a standalone curriculum and through local impacts.

STEM-Based Computational Modeling for Technology Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clark, Aaron C.; Ernst, Jeremy V.

2008-01-01

According to professionals in education, change is an ever-present and evolving process. With transformation in education at both state and national levels, technology education must determine a position in this climate of change. This paper reflects the views on the future of technology education based on an ongoing research project. The purpose…

A Review of Literature: Training and the Change Process.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Olivier, Maurice

This document is a review of literature on the educational change process; it is designed to detail the role of training in the process of dissemination in a changing climate of education. To do this, it gives attention to defining educational change. The document is divided into five chapters. Chapter one, entitled "Defining the Change…

Bringing a Realistic Global Climate Modeling Experience to a Broader Audience

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sohl, L. E.; Chandler, M. A.; Zhou, J.

2010-12-01

EdGCM, the Educational Global Climate Model, was developed with the goal of helping students learn about climate change and climate modeling by giving them the ability to run a genuine NASA global climate model (GCM) on a desktop computer. Since EdGCM was first publicly released in January 2005, tens of thousands of users on seven continents have downloaded the software. EdGCM has been utilized by climate science educators from middle school through graduate school levels, and on occasion even by researchers who otherwise do not have ready access to climate model at national labs in the U.S. and elsewhere. The EdGCM software is designed to walk users through the same process a climate scientist would use in designing and running simulations, and analyzing and visualizing GCM output. Although the current interface design gives users a clear view of some of the complexities involved in using a climate model, it can be daunting for users whose main focus is on climate science rather than modeling per se. As part of the work funded by NASA’s Global Climate Change Education (GCCE) program, we will begin modifications to the user interface that will improve the accessibility of EdGCM to a wider array of users, especially at the middle school and high school levels, by: 1) Developing an automated approach (a “wizard”) to simplify the user experience in setting up new climate simulations; 2) Produce a catalog of “rediscovery experiments” that allow users to reproduce published climate model results, and in some cases compare model projections to real world data; and 3) Enhance distance learning and online learning opportunities through the development of a web-based interface. The prototypes for these modifications will then be presented to educators belonging to an EdGCM Users Group for feedback, so that we can further refine the EdGCM software, and thus deliver the tools and materials educators want and need across a wider range of learning environments.

Challenges and Opportunities for Advancing Work on Climate Change and Public Health.

PubMed

Gould, Solange; Rudolph, Linda

2015-12-09

Climate change poses a major threat to public health. Strategies that address climate change have considerable potential to benefit health and decrease health inequities, yet public health engagement at the intersection of public health, equity, and climate change has been limited. This research seeks to understand the barriers to and opportunities for advancing work at this nexus. We conducted semi-structured in-depth interviews (N = 113) with public health and climate change professionals and thematic analysis. Barriers to public health engagement in addressing climate change include individual perceptions that climate change is not urgent or solvable and insufficient understanding of climate change's health impacts and programmatic connections. Institutional barriers include a lack of public health capacity, authority, and leadership; a narrow framework for public health practice that limits work on the root causes of climate change and health; and compartmentalization within and across sectors. Opportunities include integrating climate change into current public health practice; providing inter-sectoral support for climate solutions with health co-benefits; and using a health frame to engage and mobilize communities. Efforts to increase public health sector engagement should focus on education and communications, building leadership and funding, and increasing work on the shared root causes of climate change and health inequities.

Engaging Key Stakeholders in Climate Change: A Community-Based Project for Youth-Led Participatory Climate Action

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Trott, Carlie D.

Few studies have examined how youth think about, and take action on climate change and far fewer have sought to facilitate their engagement using participatory methods. This dissertation evaluated the impacts of Science, Camera, Action! (SCA), a novel after-school program that combined climate change education with participatory action through photovoice. The specific aims of this study were to: (1) Evaluate the impacts of SCA on youth participants' climate change knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors; (2) Examine how SCA participation served to empower youth agency; and (3) Explore SCA's influence on youths' science engagement. Participants were 55 youths (ages 10 to 12) across three Boys and Girls Club sites in Northern Colorado. SCA's Science component used interactive activities to demonstrate the interrelationships between Earth's changing climate, ecosystems, and sustainable actions within communities. Photovoice, SCA's Camera component, was used to explore youths' climate change perspectives and to identify opportunities for their active engagement. Finally, SCA's Action component aimed to cultivate youth potential as agents of change in their families and communities through the development and implementation of youth-led action projects. Action projects included local policy advocacy, a tree-planting campaign, a photo gallery opening, development of a website, and the establishment of a Boys and Girls Club community garden. To evaluate SCA impacts, a combination of survey and focus group methods were used. Following the program, youth demonstrated increased knowledge of the scientific and social dimensions of the causes and consequences of climate change, as well as its solutions through human action. Though participants expressed a mix of positive (e.g., hope) and negative (e.g., sadness) emotions about climate change, they left the program with an increased sense of respect for nature, an enhanced sense of environmental responsibility, and a greater sense of urgency towards the need for climate change action. Further, participants reported increased engagement in personal pro-environmental behaviors, an enhanced sense of agency in the context of climate change, and provided strong evidence of their role as agents of change in family and community contexts. Through SCA, participants gained a deeper appreciation for science (e.g., in school, careers, and society) and reported increased interest, participation, confidence, and performance in school science. Findings contribute to the vast and growing psychology literature on climate change perceptions and action, and from the understudied perspective of youth. Through a combination of innovative methods and interactive projects, the youth in this study gained a number of psychosocial and educational benefits, while tangibly contributing to the sustainable transformation of their families and communities. Findings of this dissertation have implications for educational programs, youth organizing, and interventions aimed to strengthen youths' active engagement with critical social and scientific issues that impact their lives.

Using the NASA Giovanni DICCE Portal to Investigate Land-Ocean Linkages with Satellite and Model Data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Acker, James G.; Zalles, Daniel; Krumhansl, Ruth

2012-01-01

Data-enhanced Investigations for Climate Change Education (DICCE), a NASA climate change education project, employs the NASA Giovanni data system to enable teachers to create climate-related classroom projects using selected satellite and assimilated model data. The easy-to-use DICCE Giovanni portal (DICCE-G) provides data parameters relevant to oceanic, terrestrial, and atmospheric processes. Participants will explore land-ocean linkages using the available data in the DICCE-G portal, in particular focusing on temperature, ocean biology, and precipitation variability related to El Ni?o and La Ni?a events. The demonstration includes the enhanced information for educators developed for the DICCE-G portal. The prototype DICCE Learning Environment (DICCE-LE) for classroom project development will also be demonstrated.

Teaching climate change: Pressures and practice in the middle school science classroom

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Crayne, Jennifer A.

What are middle school science teachers teaching their students about climate change? And why? This qualitative study examined the experience of middle school science teachers from western Oregon, finding that while participating teachers accept the science of climate change and express concern about it, many teachers are reluctant to make the topic a priority in their classrooms. When they do include the subject, teachers frequently address "both sides." They also report that students have persistent doubts and misconceptions about climate change. What accounts for these trends? I argue that the way teachers address climate change is a result of complex interactions between structural pressures, emotional pressures, and cultural pressures. I conclude that, in order to promote the inclusion of sound climate science instruction in public schools, advocates of climate change education need to address challenges at all these levels: structural, emotional, and cultural.

Controversy in Biology Classrooms-Citizen Science Approaches to Evolution and Applications to Climate Change Discussions.

PubMed

Yoho, Rachel A; Vanmali, Binaben H

2016-03-01

The biological sciences encompass topics considered controversial by the American public, such as evolution and climate change. We believe that the development of climate change education in the biology classroom is better informed by an understanding of the history of the teaching of evolution. A common goal for science educators should be to engender a greater respect for and appreciation of science among students while teaching specific content knowledge. Citizen science has emerged as a viable yet underdeveloped method for engaging students of all ages in key scientific issues that impact society through authentic data-driven scientific research. Where successful, citizen science may open avenues of communication and engagement with the scientific process that would otherwise be more difficult to achieve. Citizen science projects demonstrate versatility in education and the ability to test hypotheses by collecting large amounts of often publishable data. We find a great possibility for science education research in the incorporation of citizen science projects in curriculum, especially with respect to "hot topics" of socioscientific debate based on our review of the findings of other authors. Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education.

Curriculum Change and Climate Change: Inside outside Pressures in Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fahey, Shireen J.

2012-01-01

In higher education today, institutions are facing a number of challenges--including the challenge to create future-proof graduates. Higher education institutions have a particular mandate to develop future leaders and decision-makers capable of understanding and providing solutions to complex, global issues. Education programmes that focus on…

Annual Report on Higher Education in New Mexico, 1986.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

New Mexico State Commission on Postsecondary Education, Santa Fe.

The 1986 report of the New Mexico Commission on Higher Education first outlines responsibilities of the Commission and developments concerning the Board of Educational Finance and then considers the climate for higher education reform in New Mexico, including economic changes, career changes that require retraining and skill upgrading, and…

Challenges and Opportunities for Advancing Work on Climate Change and Public Health

PubMed Central

Gould, Solange; Rudolph, Linda

2015-01-01

Climate change poses a major threat to public health. Strategies that address climate change have considerable potential to benefit health and decrease health inequities, yet public health engagement at the intersection of public health, equity, and climate change has been limited. This research seeks to understand the barriers to and opportunities for advancing work at this nexus. We conducted semi-structured in-depth interviews (N = 113) with public health and climate change professionals and thematic analysis. Barriers to public health engagement in addressing climate change include individual perceptions that climate change is not urgent or solvable and insufficient understanding of climate change’s health impacts and programmatic connections. Institutional barriers include a lack of public health capacity, authority, and leadership; a narrow framework for public health practice that limits work on the root causes of climate change and health; and compartmentalization within and across sectors. Opportunities include integrating climate change into current public health practice; providing inter-sectoral support for climate solutions with health co-benefits; and using a health frame to engage and mobilize communities. Efforts to increase public health sector engagement should focus on education and communications, building leadership and funding, and increasing work on the shared root causes of climate change and health inequities. PMID:26690194

Local Climate Experts: The Influence of Local TV Weather Information on Climate Change Perceptions

PubMed Central

Bloodhart, Brittany; Maibach, Edward; Myers, Teresa; Zhao, Xiaoquan

2015-01-01

Individuals who identify changes in their local climate are also more likely to report that they have personally experienced global climate change. One way that people may come to recognize that their local climate is changing is through information provided by local TV weather forecasters. Using random digit dialing, 2,000 adult local TV news viewers in Virginia were surveyed to determine whether routine exposure to local TV weather forecasts influences their perceptions of extreme weather in Virginia, and their perceptions about climate change more generally. Results indicate that paying attention to TV weather forecasts is associated with beliefs that extreme weather is becoming more frequent in Virginia, which in turn is associated with stronger beliefs and concerns about climate change. These associations were strongest for individuals who trust their local TV weathercaster as a source of information about climate change, and for those who identify as politically conservative or moderate. The findings add support to the literature suggesting that TV weathercasters can play an important role in educating the public about climate change. PMID:26551357

Local Climate Experts: The Influence of Local TV Weather Information on Climate Change Perceptions.

PubMed

Bloodhart, Brittany; Maibach, Edward; Myers, Teresa; Zhao, Xiaoquan

2015-01-01

Individuals who identify changes in their local climate are also more likely to report that they have personally experienced global climate change. One way that people may come to recognize that their local climate is changing is through information provided by local TV weather forecasters. Using random digit dialing, 2,000 adult local TV news viewers in Virginia were surveyed to determine whether routine exposure to local TV weather forecasts influences their perceptions of extreme weather in Virginia, and their perceptions about climate change more generally. Results indicate that paying attention to TV weather forecasts is associated with beliefs that extreme weather is becoming more frequent in Virginia, which in turn is associated with stronger beliefs and concerns about climate change. These associations were strongest for individuals who trust their local TV weathercaster as a source of information about climate change, and for those who identify as politically conservative or moderate. The findings add support to the literature suggesting that TV weathercasters can play an important role in educating the public about climate change.

Climate Change and Sustainability Open Educational Resources: Lessons learned and challenges to tackle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Robinson, Zoe; Whitfield, Stephen; Gertisser, Ralf; Krause, Stefan; McKay, Deirdre; Pringle, Jamie; Szkornik, Katie; Waller, Richard

2010-05-01

The UK's Higher Education Academy Subject Centre for Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences (GEES) is currently running a project entitled ‘C-Change in GEES: Open licensing of climate change and sustainability resources in the Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences' as part of a national Open Educational Resource project. The C-Change project aims to explore the challenges involved in ‘repurposing' existing teaching materials on the topics of climate change and sustainability to make them open access. This project has produced an open access resource of diverse climate change and sustainability-related teaching materials across the subjects of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences. The process of repurposing existing face-to-face teaching resources requires consideration of a wide variety of issues including the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) associated with images and other material included in the teaching resources, in addition to issues of quality, accessibility and usability of resources. Open access education is an issue that will have implications across the whole of the organizational structure of a university, from legal advisors with commitments to University research and enterprise activities, to the academics wishing to produce open access resources, through to all levels of senior management. The attitudes, concerns and openness to Open Educational Resources of stakeholders from all positions within a HE institution will have implications for the participation of that institution within the OER movement. The many barriers to the whole-scale adoption of Open Educational Resources within the UK Higher Education system and the willingness of UK Higher Education Institutions to engage in the OER movement include institutional perspectives on the IPR of teaching materials developed by members of staff within the institution and financial viability, in addition to more sceptical attitudes of potential contributors. Keele University is one of seven academic partners in the C-Change project and researchers at Keele have produced open access resources across a wide variety of sustainability-related themes from reconstructing past environments (for example sea-level change); regional impacts of predicted climate change (for example implications to permafrost environments); through to strategies for a sustainable future, including topics on greening business and engineering solutions. The resources range from PowerPoint presentations to image banks, reading lists, and suggestions for classroom and coursework activities. These resources are designed to be useful for other higher education practitioners developing teaching resources in this area. This presentation will present the range of open access resources developed at Keele University in addition to the lessons learnt in repurposing resources for open access, and a summary of different attitudes within Higher Education Institutions towards the OER movement.

Hybrid and Online Climate Instruction at Madison Area Technical College

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lindstrom, S. S.; Lazzara, M. A.; Harkey, M. K.; Lynds, S. E.

2012-12-01

A NASA-funded initiative to develop climate instruction to underserved populations, such as those enrolled in Community Colleges, has funded the development of a hybrid and an online class on Climate and Climate Change. We will present here the class structure, topics, results from the first course offering and plans for future improvement, as well as a discussion of differences resulting from course delivery format. Because this class was offered in Wisconsin, some of the readings focused on possible agricultural changes due to changing climate as well as how the climate normals changed this year. The class also sponsored two internships for students at Madison's local Electric/Gas supplier, and how that furthered their education will be discussed as well.

It Ain't the Heat, It's the Humanity: Evidence and Implications of a Knowledge-Based Consensus on Man-Made Global Warming

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jacobs, P.; Cook, J.; Nuccitelli, D. A.

2013-12-01

One of the most worrisome misconceptions among the general public about climate change is a belief that scientists disagree not only about the cause of the present climate change, but also whether or not the planet is currently warming. Recent surveys have demonstrated that an overwhelming consensus exists, both within the scientific literature and among scientists with climate expertise, that the planet is warming and humans are driving this climatic change. This disconnect, or 'consensus gap', between scientific agreement and public belief has significant consequences for public understanding of the reality and cause of climate change, as well as support for potential solutions. Ensuring that the consensus message is not simply broadcast but is also accepted as legitimate by the public appears to be a primary education and communications opportunity. While the existence of a consensus is not itself evidence of a position's truth, according to Miller (2013) scientific consensus can be taken as evidence that a position is true if it is 'knowledge-based', satisfying the conditions of social calibration, apparent consilience of evidence, and social diversity. We demonstrate that the scientific consensus on anthropogenic climate change is knowledge-based, satisfying Miller's criteria. In so doing, we hope to increase confidence in its use as an education and communications tool, and assure the public of its validity. We show the consensus is socially calibrated, based on common evidential standards, ontological schemes, and shared formalism. We establish that consilience of evidence points overwhelmingly to the reality of anthropogenic climate change by examining the evidence from several perspectives. We identify unique fingerprints expected as a result of increased greenhouse forcing, eliminate potential natural drivers of climate change as the cause of the present change, and demonstrate the consistency of the observed climate response with known changes in natural and manmade forcings across a wide variety of indices. Finally, we determine that the consensus is socially diverse, being geographically and disciplinarily varied, supported within public and private institutions, and endorsed by research organizations as well as groups with obvious financial incentives to deny it, such as fossil fuel companies. Additionally, we briefly discuss examples of purported incorrect consensus in climate research, and detail how they fail to satisfy one or more aspects of Miller's criteria. We conclude by discussing the key role that knowledge-based consensus can potentially play in education, influencing public beliefs about climate change, and increasing support for solutions.

A Way Forward: Cooperative Solutions to Our Climate Challenges

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Little, L. J.; Byrne, J. M.

2014-12-01

Solving the global climate crisis is a multidisciplinary challenge. The world is seeking solutions to climate change. The climate research and education community must move beyond the realm of debating the science - we MUST provide the solutions. The research community understands the science and many of the solutions very well. This project will address the specifics of solutions involving social, political and science disciplines. The content is targeted to multidisciplinary education at the senior undergraduate and graduate levels in universities and colleges. Humanity has already changed the climate and current greenhouse gas emission (GHG) projections indicate our world will warm 2-6° C within a young person's lifetime. We must coordinate societal mitigation and adaptation policies, programs and technology transformations. There is now a dramatic need for many, many highly trained multidisciplinary climate change solutions professionals that understand the complexities of the challenges and can work through the social, political and science tribulations needed to sustain communities around the world. This proposed education project: Provides an introduction to the social, political, technical, health and well-being challenges of climate change; Defines and describes the unprecedented changes to personal and community lifestyle, and consumption of energy and other resources; Examines ways and means for rapid transition of energy systems from fossil fuels to clean renewable technologies. Evaluates redevelopment of our infrastructure to withstand increasing weather extremes; Inventories possible abandonment and/or protection of infrastructure that cannot be redeveloped or reworked, particularly with respect to coastal zones where substantial populations currently live. We propose an online living textbook project. Chapter contributions will be invited from outstanding solutions research professionals from around the world. The online presence is the best means to facilitate a multimedia presentation of the core content of the proposed text.

Factors influencing smallholder farmers' behavioural intention towards adaptation to climate change in transitional climatic zones: A case study of Hwedza District in Zimbabwe.

PubMed

Zamasiya, Byron; Nyikahadzoi, Kefasi; Mukamuri, Billy Billiard

2017-08-01

This paper examines factors influencing behavioural change among smallholder farmers towards adaptation to climate change in transitional climatic zones of Africa, specifically, Hwedza District in Zimbabwe. Data for this study were collected from 400 randomly-selected smallholder farmers, using a structured questionnaire, focus group discussions and key informant interviews. The study used an ordered logit model to examine the factors that influence smallholder farmers' behavioural intention towards adaptation to climate change. Results from the study show that the gender of the household head, access to extension services on crop and livestock production, access to climate information, membership to social groups and experiencing a drought have a positive influence on farmers' attitude towards adaptation to climate change and variability. The study concluded that although the majority of smallholder farmers perceive that the climate is changing, they continue to habour negative attitudes towards prescribed climate change adaptation techniques. This study recommends more education on climate change, as well as adaptation strategies for both agricultural extension workers and farmers. This can be complemented by disseminating timely climate information through extension officers and farmers' groups. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

NASA's Global Climate Change Education (GCCE) Program: New modules

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Witiw, M. R.; Myers, R. J.; Schwerin, T. G.

2010-12-01

In existence for over 10 years, the Earth System Science Educational Alliance (ESSEA) through the Institute of Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) has developed a series of modules on Earth system science topics. To date, over 80 educational modules have been developed. The primary purpose of these modules is to provide graduate courses for teacher education. A typical course designed for teachers typically consists of from three to five content modules and a primer on problem-based learning. Each module is designed to take three weeks in a normal university semester. Course delivery methods vary. Some courses are completed totally online. Others are presented in the classroom. Still others are delivered using a hybrid method which combines classroom meetings with online delivery of content. Although originally designed for teachers and education students, recent changes, provide a format for general education students to use these module. In 2009, under NASA’s Global Climate Change Education (GCCE) initiative, IGES was tasked to develop 16 new modules addressing the topic of climate change. Two of the modules recently developed under this program address the topics of sunspots and thermal islands. Sunspots is a problem-based learning module where students are provided resources and sample investigations related to sunspots. The history of sunspot observations, the structure of sunspots and the possible role sunspots may have in Earth’s climate are explored. Students are then asked to determine what effects a continued minimum in sunspot activity may have on the climate system. In Thermal Islands, the topic of urban heat islands is addressed. How heat islands are produced and the role of urban heat islands in exacerbating heat waves are two of the topics covered in the resources. In this problem-based learning module, students are asked to think of mitigating strategies for these thermal islands as Earth’s urban population grows over the next 50 years. These modules were successfully piloted with undergraduate students at Seattle Pacific University.

Nantucket, Ma. Climate Protection Action Plan: A Public Outreach Strategy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Petrik, C.; Stephenson, A.; Petsch, S.

2009-12-01

As communities and municipalities gain a better understanding of climate change, they are exploring the ways in which to work towards adaptation and mitigation. One strategy that the Island of Nantucket, Massachusetts turned toward is the drafting of a Climate Protection Action Plan (CPAP). The CPAP was developed during the summer of 2009 to meet three goals: (1) assist the Town of Nantucket in creating a framework to help them reduce CO2 emissions; (2) educate the municipality and community in techniques that promote energy efficiency and sustainability on the island; and (3) document past, present and future approaches adopted by the Town towards emissions reduction and energy sustainability. In particular, this project focused on using local strengths and natural resources identified by island stakeholders that may help the island to mitigate carbon emissions and adapt to climate change.. Drafting the CPAP provided community members and politicians with an opportunity to become better educated in the science of climate change and to learn how climate change will affect their community. On the island of Nantucket, leaders in the religious, civic, and political communities were brought into a conversation about how each group could contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. A geosciences graduate student was brought into the CPAP team as a climate fellow to facilitate this conversation. This provided the foundation for stakeholder recommendations incorporated into the CPAP. This capacity-building model served as an effective way to create an informal learning environment about climate change that allowed members of the island community to directly participate in developing their locally appropriate climate protection strategy. The draft CPAP developed through this study and presented to the Town of Nantucket comprises assessments and recommendations in public research and education; building and energy efficiency; transportation; renewable energy; and carbon offsets. Through the drafting of these types of Plans, geoscientists have the unique opportunity to offer a scientific foundation to communities that are looking to better understand climate change, its projected affects, and how they can best develop plans for mitigation and adaptation.

Global Climates--Past, Present, and Future. Activities for Integrated Science Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Henderson, Sandra, Ed.; And Others

Designed for integration into existing science curriculum for grades 8-10, this curriculum uses a current environmental issue, climate change, as a vehicle for teaching science education. Instructional goals include: (1) familiarize students with scientific methods; (2) help students understand the role of uncertainty; (3) encourage students to…

Creating an informed citizenry through SMOGEE: Students as Mentors and Owners of Geoscience and Environmental Education: The Global Warming Road Show

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schuster, D. A.; Thomas, C. W.; Filippelli, G. M.

2006-12-01

Creating an informed citizenry through the promotion of the earth sciences as a long-term educational and employment option has become increasingly difficult: In recent years less than 7% of high school students and less than 12% of 8th graders in our nation have participated in an earth science course. These percentages are even lower among students of color, who often lack role models in the sciences. SMOGEE: Students as Mentors and Owners of Geoscience and Environmental Education: The Global Warming Road Show; is a dynamic, three-phase, tiered mentoring program that selects and empowers 11th and 12th graders from science magnet programs to teach well-known and tested climate change curricula to 8th graders from local feeder schools. This program, which was recently funded by the National Science Foundation, focuses on a student population comprised of 75% non-white students and above 50% students on free or reduced lunch, and will be supported by an expert team consisting of university scientists and science educators, secondary science teachers, and museum educators. Global warming provides an outstanding "teachable moment" in that the processes leading to it are straightforward, but the net rate of impact and the human response are not so simple. This topic is also media- friendly (being politically sensitive, but also easy to translate in terms of rising temperatures and sea level, melting of ice sheets, possible increases in hurricane activity), and nearly all students have been exposed to information about climate change. However, students are probably not as aware of the geologic context of climate change, which provides nearly all of the scenarios for the potential impacts of future climate change. The 8th grade curriculum for this program is being developed primarily using Global Warming and the Greenhouse Effect (Great Explorations in Math and Science, 1990). The expert team will supplement and further develop this 15 year old curriculum with recent data and analysis focusing on key concepts of climate change (feedback loops, ice sheet melting, ocean circulation and sea level changes, climatic history, evolutionary adaptations to climate, etc.) to ensure that this intervention is current and to demonstrate the dynamic nature of science. During an intensive summer workshop 11th and 12th grade students will work with scientists and educators to understand and think about how to effectively teach climate change content to 8th graders. During the fall semester of the following year the workshop graduates will teach 25 to 30 8th graders a five week climate unit. The project will culminate with the 11th and 12th grade student-mentors working with the 8th graders to create a "Road Show," which will be presented to approximately 1000 underrepresented middle school students in our city.

A Framework for Addressing Skeptics' Claims Using Evidence-Based Argumentation: Lessons Learned from Educational Research

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lambert, J. L.; Bleicher, R. E.; Edwards, A.; Henderson, A.

2012-12-01

In science education, climate change is an issue that is especially useful for teaching concepts spanning several fields of science, as well the nature and practices of science. In response, we are developing a NASA-funded curriculum, titled Climate Science Investigations (CSI): South Florida, that teaches high school and first-year undergraduate level students how to analyze and use scientific data answer questions about climate change. To create an effective curriculum, we integrated lessons learned from our educational research conducted within our elementary science methods courses (Lambert, Lindgren, & Bleicher, 2012). For the past few years, we have been integrating climate science in our courses as a way to teach standards across several science disciplines and assessing our preservice teachers' gains in knowledge over the semesters. More recently, given the media attention and reports on the public's shift in opinion toward being more skeptical (Kellstedt, Zahran, & Vedlitz, 2008; Washington & Cook, 2011), we have assessed our students' perceptions about climate change and implemented strategies to help students use evidence-based scientific argumentation to address common claims of climate skeptics. In our elementary science methods courses, we framed climate change as a crosscutting theme, as well as a core idea, in the Next Generation Science Standards. We proposed that the issue and science of climate change would help preservice teachers not only become more interested in the topic, but also be more prepared to teach core science concepts spanning several disciplines (physical, life, and earth sciences). We also thought that highlighting the "practice of scientific inquiry" by teaching students to develop evidence-based arguments would help the preservice teachers become more analytical and able to differentiate scientific evidence from opinions, which could ultimately influence their perceptions on climate change. Lessons learned from our preservice teachers' conceptions and perceptions about climate change, as well as the difficulties in engaging in evidence-based argumentation, have informed and enhanced the framework for development of the CSI: South Florida curriculum. The modules are sequenced according to the proposed learning progression. First, students are introduced to the nature of science and Earth's energy balance. Students then investigate the temporal and spatial temperature data to answer the question of whether Earth is warming. Students also compare natural and anthropogenic causes of climate change, investigate the various observed and projected consequences of climate change in the fourth module, and examine ways to mitigate the effects of and adapt to climate change. Finally, students learn how to refute skeptics' claims by providing counter evidence and reasoning of why the skeptics' claim is not the appropriate explanation. This paper describes our conceptual framework for teaching students how to address the skeptics' claims using the content learned in the CSI: South Florida curriculum and evidence-based argumentation.

Education for a Green and Resilient Economy: An Educator Framework for Teaching Climate and Energy Literacy for K-12 Teachers Across the Curriculum

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Niepold, F., III; Ledley, T. S.; Lockwood, J.; Youngman, E.; Manning, C. L. B.; Sullivan, S. M.

2015-12-01

The U.S. is embarking on a major transition to a green and resilient economy, a monumental change requiring all sectors and segments of the population to pull together. Transforming our nation's economic, energy, and environmental systems to in this way will require a sustained level of expertise, innovation, and cooperative effort unseen since the 1940s to meet the challenges involved. Education can - and must - help people understand the true connections, the linkages and interdependencies, between the environment, our energy sources and the economy which underpin and form the very foundation of the concept of a green and resilient economy. To produce such a literate future workforce and citizenry, the United States will need to make major new investments in our educational systems. Teachers across the nation are helping to increase science-based understanding and awareness of current and future climate change, enhancing climate and energy literacy in K-12 classrooms, on college and university campuses. There has been tremendous progress to date, but there is still more work to be done. The new academic standards in mathematics and science (the Common Core State Standards in Mathematics and the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)) represent a sea change from the nation's previous sets of standards. Addressing these standards in the currently over 40 percent of the nation's classrooms that have adopted or adapted the NGSS will demand that we prepare new and current teachers, who can effectively address the interdisciplinary nature of climate change and societal responses. To address this opportunity and need a collaboration between NOAA, TERC and CIRES has been established to develop an Educator Framework for Teaching Climate and Energy Literacy for K-12 teachers across the curriculum based on the NRC Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas. This collaboration is developing an effective way to frame the use of resources and practices to help teachers address the NGSS using the CLEAN (Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network, cleanet.org) and Climate.gov products and models to engage students as citizens of a low-carbon and climate-resilient future. The results of this collaboration will be discussed in the session.

Bethany Speer | NREL

Science.gov Websites

Strategic Energy Analysis Center. Areas of Expertise International economic policy Climate change mitigation Markets Climate change mitigation policies Education M.A. in global finance, trade and economic Keyser, Suzanne Tegen. 2016. Floating Offshore Wind in California: Gross Potential for Jobs and Economic

Global Climate Change, Food Security, and Local Sustainability: Increasing Climate Literacy in Urban Students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boger, R. A.; Low, R.; Gorokhovich, Y.

2011-12-01

Three higher education institutions, University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL), Brooklyn College, and Lehman College, are working together to share expertise and resources to expand climate change topics offered to undergraduate and graduate students in New York City (NYC). This collaboration combines existing UNL educational learning resources and infrastructure in virtual coursework. It will supply global climate change education and locally-based research experiences to the highly diverse undergraduate students of Brooklyn and Lehman Colleges and to middle and high school teachers in NYC. Through the university partnership, UNL materials are being adapted and augmented to include authentic research experiences for undergraduates and teachers using NASA satellite data, geographic information system (GIS) tools, and/or locally collected microclimate data from urban gardens. Learners download NASA data, apply an Earth system approach, and employ GIS in the analysis of food production landscapes in a dynamically changing climate system. The resulting course will be offered via Blackboard courseware, supported by Web 2.0 technologies designed specifically to support dialogue, data, and web publication sharing between partners, teachers and middle school, high school and undergraduate student researchers. NYC is in the center of the urban farming movement. By exploring water and food topics of direct relevance to students' lives and community, we anticipate that students will be motivated and more empowered to make connections between climate change and potential impacts on the health and happiness of people in their community, in the United States and around the world. Final course will be piloted in 2012.

Secrets of the Sediments: Using ANDRILL's Scientific Adventure on Ice to Transfer Climate Change Science to K-12 Audiences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huffman, L. T.; Dahlman, L.; Frisch-Gleason, R.; Harwood, D.; Pound, K.; Rack, F.; Riesselman, C.; Trummel, E.; Tuzzi, E.; Winter, D.

2008-12-01

Antarctica's harsh environment and the compelling story of living and working there, provides the backdrop for hooking the interest of young learners on science research and the nature of science. By using the adventure stories of today's researcher-explorers, teachers accompanying the ANDRILL team have taken the technical science of drilling rock cores to understand the history of climate change and the advance and retreat of the Antarctic ice sheet, and translated it for non-technical audiences from K-12 school children, to adult community groups. In order to understand the important issues surrounding global climate change, members of the public need access to accurate and relevant information, high quality educational materials, and a variety of learning opportunities in different learning environments. By taking lessons learned from early virtual polar adventure learning expeditions like Will Steger's Trans-Antarctic Expedition, coupled with educators-in-the-field programs like TEA (Teachers Experiencing Antarctica and the Arctic), ARMADA and Polar Trec, ANDRILL's Education and Outreach Program has evolved into successful and far-reaching integrated education projects including 1) the ARISE (ANDRILL Research Immersion for Science Educators) Program, 2) Climate Change Student Summits, 3) the development of Flexhibit (flexible exhibit) teaching resources, 4) virtual online learning communities, and 5) partnering young researchers with teachers and classrooms. Formal evaluations indicate lasting interest in science studies on the part of students and an increase in teachers' scientific background knowledge.

The value of place-based and in-field education for climate literacy in the Great Lakes: What role for climate and ecological researchers?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Desai, A. R.

2012-12-01

Climate change is fundamentally global in scope and consequently, much education has focused on understanding and addressing global trends, impacts, and solutions. However, for education and outreach at the undergraduate and adult-learner level, the globe, seen as a whole, is a very abstract concept. What exactly does global temperature mean? The nature of this field can make it a frustrating experience when researchers and scholars try to educate their audiences about climate. How can climate scientists and ecologists, with limited time and training in pedagogy, make best use of their local research for regional climate education? Over the past several years, I have sought to use place-based and field-based education methods with undergraduate and graduate students at UW-Madison, tribal college students at the College of Menominee Nation, land managers, and the general public, including journalists, to help provide more concrete understanding of climate impacts in the Great Lakes region. Ecological research site fieldtrips, renewable energy installation visits, local climate measurement investigations, and short field experiments potentially have great value in this regard. I will present some case studies from these experiences and discuss what I have learned from them on effective ways that field experiences can help make the abstract global climate into concrete regional climate literacy.

Gender and climate change-induced migration: proposing a framework for analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chindarkar, Namrata

2012-06-01

This paper proposes frameworks to analyze the gender dimensions of climate change-induced migration. The experiences, needs and priorities of climate migrants will vary by gender and these differences need to be accounted for if policies are to be inclusive. Among the vulnerable groups, women are likely to be disproportionately affected due to climate change because on average women tend to be poorer, less educated, have a lower health status and have limited direct access to or ownership of natural resources. Both the process (actual movement) and the outcomes (rural-rural or rural-urban migration, out-migration mainly of men) of climate change-induced migration are also likely to be highly gendered.

Understanding Global Change: Frameworks and Models for Teaching Systems Thinking

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bean, J. R.; Mitchell, K.; Zoehfeld, K.; Oshry, A.; Menicucci, A. J.; White, L. D.; Marshall, C. R.

2017-12-01

The scientific and education communities must impart to teachers, students, and the public an understanding of how the various factors that drive climate and global change operate, and why the rates and magnitudes of these changes related to human perturbation of Earth system processes today are cause for deep concern. Even though effective educational modules explaining components of the Earth and climate system exist, interdisciplinary learning tools are necessary to conceptually link the causes and consequences of global changes. To address this issue, the Understanding Global Change Project at the University of California Museum of Paleontology (UCMP) at UC Berkeley developed an interdisciplinary framework that organizes global change topics into three categories: (1) causes of climate change, both human and non-human (e.g., burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, Earth's tilt and orbit), (2) Earth system processes that shape the way the Earth works (e.g., Earth's energy budget, water cycle), and (3) the measurable changes in the Earth system (e.g., temperature, precipitation, ocean acidification). To facilitate student learning about the Earth as a dynamic, interacting system, a website will provide visualizations of Earth system models and written descriptions of how each framework topic is conceptually linked to other components of the framework. These visualizations and textual summarizations of relationships and feedbacks in the Earth system are a unique and crucial contribution to science communication and education, informed by a team of interdisciplinary scientists and educators. The system models are also mechanisms by which scientists can communicate how their own work informs our understanding of the Earth system. Educators can provide context and relevancy for authentic datasets and concurrently can assess student understanding of the interconnectedness of global change phenomena. The UGC resources will be available through a web-based platform and scalable professional development programming to facilitate systemic changes in the teaching and learning about climate and global change. We are establishing a diverse community of scientists and educators across the country that are using these tools, and plan to create local networks supported by UGC staff and partners.

Climate Change Effects on Respiratory Health: Implications for Nursing.

PubMed

George, Maureen; Bruzzese, Jean-Marie; Matura, Lea Ann

2017-11-01

Greenhouse gases are driving climate change. This article explores the adverse health effects of climate change on a particularly vulnerable population: children and adults with respiratory conditions. This review provides a general overview of the effects of increasing temperatures, extreme weather, desertification, and flooding on asthma, chronic obstructive lung disease, and respiratory infections. We offer suggestions for future research to better understand climate change hazards, policies to support prevention and mitigation efforts targeting climate change, and clinical actions to reduce individual risk. Climate change produces a number of changes to the natural and built environments that may potentially increase respiratory disease prevalence, morbidity, and mortality. Nurses might consider focusing their research efforts on reducing the effects of greenhouse gases and in directing policy to mitigate the harmful effects of climate change. Nurses can also continue to direct educational and clinical actions to reduce risks for all populations, but most importantly, for our most vulnerable groups. While advancements have been made in understanding the impact of climate change on respiratory health, nurses can play an important role in reducing the deleterious effects of climate change. This will require a multipronged approach of research, policy, and clinical action. © 2017 Sigma Theta Tau International.

Imagining the future: The Power of Climate Change Fiction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buhr Sullivan, S. M.; Kellagher, E.; Poppleton, K. L.

2013-12-01

Fiction has galvanized the public imagination around societal concerns throughout US history, on issues including slavery, worker abuse and animal cruelty. A growing body of fiction concerned with climate change, 'cli-fi', provides the opportunity for students to engage with climate science in more visceral and affective ways. The Inspiring Climate Education Excellence (ICEE) project ran a climate and energy book club from Spring 2012 through Winter 2013, in which educators, scientists and writers participated. The fictional works were intended for audiences ranging from youth through adult, with themes of dystopia, renewal, hope, oppression, and innovation. This presentation will describe the benefits, opportunities and caveats of using these works within science teaching contexts, highlight some of the works which stood out from the rest and provide an annotated bibliography of books which were included or considered.

The Swedish Regional Climate Modelling Programme, SWECLIM: a review.

PubMed

Rummukainen, Markku; Bergström, Sten; Persson, Gunn; Rodhe, Johan; Tjernström, Michael

2004-06-01

The Swedish Regional Climate Modelling Programme, SWECLIM, was a 6.5-year national research network for regional climate modeling, regional climate change projections and hydrological impact assessment and information to a wide range of stakeholders. Most of the program activities focussed on the regional climate system of Northern Europe. This led to the establishment of an advanced, coupled atmosphere-ocean-hydrology regional climate model system, a suite of regional climate change projections and progress on relevant data and process studies. These were, in turn, used for information and educational purposes, as a starting point for impact analyses on different societal sectors and provided contributions also to international climate research.

Advancing Climate Change Education: Student Engagement and Teacher Talk in the Classroom

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Holthuis, N.; Saltzman, J.; Lotan, R.; Mastrandrea, M. D.; Diffenbaugh, P.; Gray, S.; Kloser, M.

2011-12-01

Stanford's Global Climate Change: Professional Development for K-12 Teachers is a unique collaboration between the Stanford School of Education and School of Earth Sciences to provide teacher professional development on the science of global climate change, pedagogical strategies, and curriculum materials. Scientists and education specialists developed a curriculum for middle and high school science classrooms. It addresses the fundamental issues of climate science, the impacts of climate change on society and on global resources, mitigation and adaptation strategies. This project documents in detail the full circle of curriculum development, teacher professional development, classroom implementation, analysis of student achievement data, and curriculum revision. Ongoing evaluation has provided understanding of the unique conditions and requirements of climate change education. In a sample of 750 secondary students in 25 Bay Area classrooms, we found statistically significant differences between post- (x=11.56, sd=4.75) and pre- (x=8.64, sd=4.58) test scores on standardized items and short open-ended essay questions. Through systematic classroom observations (300 observations in 25 classrooms), we documented student engagement and interactions, and the nature of teachers' talk in the classroom. We found that on average, 73.4% of the students were engaged, 14.4% were interacting with peers, and about 12.1% were disengaged. We also documented teacher talk (165 observations) and found that on the average, teachers delivered factual content and talked about classroom processes and spent less time on scientific argumentation, reasoning and/ or analysis. We documented significant differences in the quality of implementation among the teachers. Our study suggests that in addition to strengthening content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge, professional development for teachers needs to include classroom management strategies, explicit modeling of collaborative work, and greater attention to the quality of teachers' questions and interactions with the students to enhance the quality of student talk and understanding. In our final year of the project, we will focus our observations more tightly on the nature of teacher and student talk to explore student understanding of climate change.

National K-12 Educator Conference; "Earth Then, Earth Now: Our Changing Climate" (July 23-24, 2008)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Flammer, Karen; O'Shaughnessy, Tam

With the support of the Department of Energy, the National Science Teachers Association and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Imaginary Lines Inc. (dba Sally Ride Science) delivered a highly successful 2-day conference to 165 K-12 educators on climate change. The event took place on July 23rd and 24th, 2008 at the NOAA facility in Silver Spring, MD. The conference celebrated the 25th anniversary of Dr. Sally Ride’s first flight into space in 1983 and examined how our understanding of Earth has changed in those 25 years. One the first day of the conference, participants heard a keynote talk deliveredmore » by Dr. Sally Ride, followed by presentations by well-known climate change scientists: Dr. Richard Somerville, Dr. Inez Fung and Dr. Susan Solomon. These sessions were concurrently webcast and made available to educators who were unable to attend the conference. On the second day of the conference, participants attended breakout sessions where they performed climate change activities (e.g. “Neato Albedo!”, “Greenhouse in a Bottle”, “Shell-Shocked”) that they could take back to their classrooms. Additional break-out sessions on using remote sensing images to illustrate climate change effects on Earth’s surface and how to address the climate change debate, were also offered. During lunch, participants attended an Educator Street Fair and had the opportunity to interact with representatives from NOAA, NASA, the EPA, NEEF and the JASON project. A follow-up evaluation survey was administered to all conference attendees immediately following the conference to evaluate its effectiveness. The results of this survey were overwhelmingly positive. The conference materials: presentation Power Points, workshop handouts and activities were available for teachers to download after the conference from the Sally Ride Science website. In summary, the approximately $55K support for the Department of Energy was used to help plan, deliver and evaluate the “Earth Then, Earth Now: Our Changing Climate”, conference which took place on July 23rd and 24th, 2008 at the NOAA facility in Silver Spring, MD.« less

Project BudBurst - Meeting the Needs of Climate Change Educators and Scientists

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Henderson, S.

2015-12-01

It is challenging for many to get a sense of what climate change means as long periods of time are involved - like decades - which can be difficult to grasp. However, there are a number of citizen science based projects, including NEON's Project BudBurst, that provide the opportunity for both learning about climate change and advancing scientific knowledge. In this presentation, we will share lessons learned from Project BudBurst. Project BudBurst is a national citizen science initiative designed to engage the public in observations of phenological (plant life cycle) events and to increase climate literacy. Project BudBurst is important from an educational perspective, but also because it enables scientists to broaden the geographic and temporal scale of their observations. The goals of Project BudBurst are to 1) increase awareness of phenology as an area of scientific study; 2) Increase awareness of the impacts of changing climates on plants at a continental-scale; and 3) increase science literacy by engaging participants in the scientific process. It was important to better understand if and how Project BudBurst is meeting its goals. Specifically, does participation by non-experts advance scientific knowledge? Does participation advance educational goals and outcomes? Is participation an effective approach to advance/enhance science education in both formal and informal settings? Critical examination of Project BudBurst supports advancement of scientific knowledge and realization of educational objectives. Citizen science collected observations and measurements are being used by scientists as evidenced by the increase of such data in scientific publication. In addition, we found that there is a significant increase in educators utilizing citizen science as part of their instruction. Part of this increase is due to the resources and professional development materials available to educators. Working with partners also demonstrated that the needs of both science and education are being met. Project BudBurst, partners with the PhenoCam Network, National Geographic Society, US Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service botanic gardens, science centers and other organizations with both a scientific and educational mission.

Incorporating Student Activities into Climate Change Education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Steele, H.; Kelly, K.; Klein, D.; Cadavid, A. C.

2013-12-01

Under a NASA grant, Mathematical and Geospatial Pathways to Climate Change Education, students at California State University, Northridge integrated Geographic Information Systems (GIS), remote sensing, satellite data technologies, and climate modelling into the study of global climate change under a Pathway for studying the Mathematics of Climate Change (PMCC). The PMCC, which is an interdisciplinary option within the BS in Applied Mathematical Sciences, consists of courses offered by the departments of Mathematics, Physics, and Geography and is designed to prepare students for careers and Ph.D. programs in technical fields relevant to global climate change. Under this option students are exposed to the science, mathematics, and applications of climate change science through a variety of methods including hands-on experience with computer modeling and image processing software. In the Geography component of the program, ESRI's ArcGIS and ERDAS Imagine mapping, spatial analysis and image processing software were used to explore NASA satellite data to examine the earth's atmosphere, hydrosphere and biosphere in areas that are affected by climate change or affect climate. These technology tools were incorporated into climate change and remote sensing courses to enhance students' knowledge and understanding of climate change through hands-on application of image processing techniques to NASA data. Several sets of exercises were developed with specific learning objectives in mind. These were (1) to increase student understanding of climate change and climate change processes; (2) to develop student skills in understanding, downloading and processing satellite data; (3) to teach remote sensing technology and GIS through applications to climate change; (4) to expose students to climate data and methods they can apply to solve real world problems and incorporate in future research projects. In the Math and Physics components of the course, students learned about atmospheric circulation with applications of the Lorenz model, explored the land-sea breeze problem with the Dynamics and Thermodynamics Circulation Model (DTDM), and developed simple radiative transfer models. Class projects explored the effects of varying the content of CO2 and CH4 in the atmosphere, as well as the properties of paleoclimates in atmospheric simulations using EdGCM. Initial assessment of student knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors associated with these activities, particularly about climate change, was measured. Pre- and post-course surveys provided student perspectives about the courses and their learning about remote sensing and climate change concepts. Student performance on the tutorials and course projects evaluated students' ability to learn and apply their knowledge about climate change and skills with remote sensing to assigned problems or proposed projects of their choice. Survey and performance data illustrated that the exercises were successful in meeting their intended learning objectives as well as opportunities for further refinement and expansion.

Crises as Catalysts for Change: Re-Energising Teacher Education in Northern Ireland

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moran, Anne

2012-01-01

Background: Teacher education has been the subject of a seven-year review culminating with the issuing of a consultation document "Teacher education in a climate of change: The way forward" (Department for Employment and Learning and Department for Education 2010). Issues of rationalisation, demographic trends, the over-provision of…

Changing Supervision for Changing Times.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leeper, Robert R., Ed.

This collection of four addresses considers some important issues for educational supervisors in a society undergoing rapid social changes. Jacqueline Grennan Wexler suggests that open communication in a climate of mutual independence and responsibility among educational administrators, students, teachers, and taxpayers is a possible solution to…

A Self-Paced Online Module for Teachers Using Climate Change as a Context for Bringing Sustainability Education to the Classroom

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Metzger, E. P.; Santone, S.; Smith, G.; Cordero, E.

2013-12-01

Sustainability education is an approach to learning that builds knowledge, skills, and values needed to create lasting economic prosperity, environmental health, and social justice. In collaboration with Creative Change Educational Solutions (http://www.creativechange.net/) and with funding from the Clarence E. Heller Charitable Foundation and NASA, scientists and science educators at San José State University (SJSU) are developing an online 'Introduction for Sustainability' course for middle and high school educators. The module will introduce sustainability as a context for learning, highlight connections to climate change science and solutions, and provide strategies for linking the environmental, economic and social dimensions of climate destabilization to fundamental sustainability concepts. This self-paced course will be piloted during the 2013-2014 academic year. Upon completion, participants will receive inexpensive university credit ( $50/unit) from SJSU. Course goals are to demonstrate the applicability of sustainability themes across disciplines; increase learners' knowledge about the causes and impacts of climate change and related sustainability challenges; and support learners in integrating course content and methods into their classroom teaching. Course activities combine: 1) reading selections and questions; 2) online discussion; 3) digital media (short videos and tutorials); and 4) journal entries and other written assignments, including consideration of how course content aligns with the Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards. The module is divided into five sections: 1) Defining What Matters - What Do We All Need for a Fulfilling Life?; 2) The Commons and Ecosystem Services; 3) Causes and Impacts of Climate Change; 4) Individual and Collective Actions to Mitigate Its Effects; and 5) Integrating Sustainability into the Curriculum. Initial recruitment for the course will take place among participants in workshops offered by the Bay Area Earth Science Institute (BAESI), SJSU's long-standing teacher professional development program. The course will be refined based on teacher feedback and course assessments, and then will be made available to any teacher anywhere via links from the BAESI and Creative Change Educational Solutions web sites, and SJSU's Green Ninja Project (www.greenninja.org).

Reaching Regional and Local Learners via a Great Lakes MOOC

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mooney, M. E.; Ackerman, S. A.

2015-12-01

The Cooperative Institute of Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) took a regional approach to climate change education in a 4-week MOOC (Massive Open On-line Course) on the Changing Weather and Climate in the Great Lakes Region launched in February 2015. Featuring a different season each week, this Great Lakes MOOC includes lectures about seasonal weather conditions, observed changes, and societal impacts of regional climate change, as well as actions with co-benefits to slow future climate change. To better connect with learners, CIMSS facilitated 21 discussion groups at public libraries around Wisconsin each week. Participants discussed climate change impacts in their communities as well as strategies to mitigate climate change. Not surprisingly, initial survey results show library participants were more committed, engaged, climate literate, and community minded. This session will share lessons learned and survey results from the Great Lakes MOOC which remains open and accessible on Coursera through February 2016 at https://www.coursera.org/course/greatlakesclimate.

Climate Change and Health: A Position Paper of the American College of Physicians.

PubMed

Crowley, Ryan A

2016-05-03

Climate change could have a devastating effect on human and environmental health. Potential effects of climate change on human health include higher rates of respiratory and heat-related illness, increased prevalence of vector-borne and waterborne diseases, food and water insecurity, and malnutrition. Persons who are elderly, sick, or poor are especially vulnerable to these potential consequences. Addressing climate change could have substantial benefits to human health. In this position paper, the American College of Physicians (ACP) recommends that physicians and the broader health care community throughout the world engage in environmentally sustainable practices that reduce carbon emissions; support efforts to mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change; and educate the public, their colleagues, their community, and lawmakers about the health risks posed by climate change. Tackling climate change is an opportunity to dramatically improve human health and avert dire environmental outcomes, and ACP believes that physicians can play a role in achieving this goal.

77 FR 70805 - Presquile National Wildlife Refuge, Chesterfield County, VA; Final Comprehensive Conservation...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-11-27

... opportunities, including environmental education programs for approximately 120 school-aged students each year... species, protect cultural resources, monitor for climate change impacts, distribute refuge revenue sharing..., and a more aggressive response to habitat changes associated with invasive species, global climate...

Why We Don't Collaborate in Response to Climate Change: The Knowledge Deficit, Co-Production, and the Future of the IPCC.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cook, B. R.; Overpeck, J. T.

2014-12-01

Scientific knowledge production is based on recognizing and filling knowledge deficits or 'gaps' in understanding, but for climate adaptation and mitigation, the applicability of this approach is questionable. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) mandate is an example of this type of 'gap filling,' in which the elimination of uncertainties is presumed to enable rational decision making for individuals and rational governance for societies. Presumed knowledge deficits, though, are unsuited to controversial problems with social, cultural, and economic dimensions; likewise, communication to educate is an ineffective means of inciting behavioural change. An alternative is needed, particularly given the economic, social, and political scale that action on climate change requires. We review the 'deficit-education framing' and show how it maintains a wedge between those affected and those whose knowledge is required. We then review co-production to show how natural and social scientists, as well as the IPCC, might more effectively proceed.

Aquariums Inspiring Hope and Action Against Climate Change (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vernon, C. L.

2010-12-01

The mission of the Monterey Bay Aquarium is to “inspire conservation of the oceans.” We do this by connecting people emotionally with the animals, plants, and habitats of Monterey Bay and beyond, and by giving them tools and encouragement to act on behalf of ocean health. Because of our mission, it would seem natural to talk with visitors about the greatest threat to our ocean: global climate change. But does interpreting climate change conflict with the expectations of most visitors to spend a fun, social time with their friends and family? How do informal science education venues, which are seen as trusted sources of information about natural history and conservation, most effectively convey information that is at best distressing and at worst, downright depressing? This presentation will highlight ways that the Monterey Bay Aquarium is meeting the challenge of engaging and educating visitors about climate change and the ocean through exhibits, auditorium programs, humorous video, musical theater, and conversations.

Integrating Climate Change into Great Lakes Protection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hedman, S.

2012-12-01

Climate change is now recognized as one of the greatest threats to the Great Lakes. Projected climate change impacts to the Great Lakes include increases in surface water and air temperature; decreases in ice cover; shorter winters, early spring, and longer summers; increased frequency of intense storms; more precipitation falling as rain in the winter; less snowfall; and variations in water levels, among other effects. Changing climate conditions may compromise efforts to protect and restore the Great Lakes ecosystem and may lead to irrevocable impacts on the physical, chemical, and biological integrity of the Great Lakes. Examples of such potential impacts include the transformation of coastal wetlands into terrestrial ecosystems; reduced fisheries; increased beach erosion; change in forest species composition as species migrate northward; potential increase in toxic substance concentrations; potential increases in the frequency and extent of algal blooms; degraded water quality; and a potential increase in invasive species. The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, signed into law by President Obama in 2010, represents the commitment of the federal government to protect, restore, and maintain the Great Lakes ecosystem. The GLRI Action Plan, issued in February 2010, identifies five focus areas: - Toxic Substances and Areas of Concern - Invasive Species - Nearshore Health and Nonpoint Source Pollution - Habitat and Wildlife Protection and Restoration - Accountability, Education, Monitoring, Evaluation, Communication, and Partnerships The Action Plan recognizes that the projected impacts of climate change on the Great Lakes have implications across all focus areas and encourages incorporation of climate change considerations into GLRI projects and programs as appropriate. Under the GLRI, EPA has funded climate change-related work by states, tribes, federal agencies, academics and NGOs through competitive grants, state and tribal capacity grants, and Interagency Agreements. EPA has provided GLRI funding for a diverse suite of climate change-related projects including Great Lakes climate change research and modeling; adaptation plan development and implementation; ecosystem vulnerability assessments; outreach and education programs; habitat restoration and protection projects that will increase ecosystem resilience; and other projects that address climate change impacts. This presentation will discuss how the GLRI is helping to improve the climate change science needed to support the Action Plan. It will further describe how the GLRI is helping coordinate climate change efforts among Great Lakes states, tribes, Federal agencies, and other stakeholders. Finally, it will discuss how the GLRI is facilitating adaptation planning by our Great Lakes partners. The draft Lake Superior Ecosystem Climate Change Adaptation Plan serves as a case study for an integrated, collaborative, and coordinated climate change effort.

Mapping Trends and Framing Issues in Higher Music Education: Changing Minds/Changing Practices

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Minors, Helen Julia; Burnard, Pamela; Wiffen, Charles; Shihabi, Zaina; van der Walt, J. Simon

2017-01-01

This article presents five case studies from within music in higher education programmes that collectively explore key questions concerning how we look at the challenges and trends, and the need for change to react to the recent higher education (HE) climate, through reference to teaching musicians the skills, knowledge and diverse career…

Who trusts scientists for information about climate change? Nuclear power? Vaccines?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hamilton, L.

2015-12-01

US public acceptance/rejection of science on the topic of climate change has become highly polarized, with a demographic profile well established through survey research. Trust in scientists for information about climate change tends to increase with education, decrease with age, and is higher among self-identified liberals and moderates than among conservatives. Demographic profiles of people who do or do not trust scientists regarding other disputed topics are less well established. Some observers have argued that certain domains such as vaccines, nuclear power or genetically modified organisms (GMOs) could present a mirror image of climate change, with liberals instead of conservatives disproportionately rejecting science on that topic. Evidence for this mirror-image hypothesis has been mainly anecdotal, however. Here we test it systematically using statewide survey data on more than 1200 interviews, comparing five similarly worded questions that ask respondents whether they trust, don't trust, or are unsure about scientists as a source of information about ... climate change, vaccines, evolution, nuclear power safety, or GMOs. Climate change proves to be the most polarized of these topics, but all five exhibit roughly similar age, education and ideological effects -- contrary to the mirror-image hypothesis. The common patterns across five science domains, chosen for their hypothetical contrasts, map out an unexpectedly cohesive picture of who trusts scientists for information, and who does not. Implications of these survey results for public outreach and science communication are explored.

Climate change is a bioethics problem.

PubMed

Macpherson, Cheryl Cox

2013-07-01

Climate change harms health and damages and diminishes environmental resources. Gradually it will cause health systems to reduce services, standards of care, and opportunities to express patient autonomy. Prominent public health organizations are responding with preparedness, mitigation, and educational programs. The design and effectiveness of these programs, and of similar programs in other sectors, would be enhanced by greater understanding of the values and tradeoffs associated with activities and public policies that drive climate change. Bioethics could generate such understanding by exposing the harms and benefits in different cultural, socioeconomic, and geographic contexts, and through interdisciplinary risk assessments. Climate change is a bioethics problem because it harms everyone and involves health, values, and responsibilities. This article initiates dialog about the responsibility of bioethics to promote transparency and understanding of the social values and conflicts associated with climate change, and the actions and public policies that allow climate change to worsen. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Outward migration may alter population dynamics and income inequality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shayegh, Soheil

2017-11-01

Climate change impacts may drive affected populations to migrate. However, migration decisions in response to climate change could have broader effects on population dynamics in affected regions. Here, I model the effect of climate change on fertility rates, income inequality, and human capital accumulation in developing countries, focusing on the instrumental role of migration as a key adaptation mechanism. In particular, I investigate how climate-induced migration in developing countries will affect those who do not migrate. I find that holding all else constant, climate change raises the return on acquiring skills, because skilled individuals have greater migration opportunities than unskilled individuals. In response to this change in incentives, parents may choose to invest more in education and have fewer children. This may ultimately reduce local income inequality, partially offsetting some of the damages of climate change for low-income individuals who do not migrate.

Where High-Tech Meets High-Touch: an example of effective cross-disciplinary collaboration in education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Holzhauer, B.; Mooney, M. E.

2012-12-01

How can non-formal education programs effectively blend hands-on, place-based field science lessons with technology and digital media to teach abstract global concepts in a local setting? Using climate change as an overarching concept, the Aldo Leopold Nature Center (ALNC) in Madison, WI, is developing exhibits and digital curricula, strengthened through partnerships with local and national experts from scientific and education fields, to effectively increase the public's interest in and understanding of science and technology, how the world works, and what we can do to adapt, mitigate, and innovate sustainable solutions. The exhibits and multimedia content, centered on topics such as climate, energy, weather, and phenology, have been developed in consultation with partners like the National Academy of Sciences and various departments at the University of Wisconsin (UW). Outdoor "high-touch" programs are complemented with "high-tech" exhibits and media, including touchscreen kiosks and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Science On a Sphere® global display system, tying together multimedia experiences with peer-reviewed cutting-edge science to ensure maximum comprehension by appealing and connecting to learners of all ages and learning modalities. The curriculum is being developed in alignment with local and national education standards and science and climate literacy frameworks (such as "The Essential Principles of Climate Sciences," U.S. Global Change Research Program / U.S. Climate Change Science Program). Its digital format allows it to be easily adapted to visitors' learning styles and cognitive levels and updated with relevant new content such as real-time climate data or current visualizations from the UW Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies. Drawing upon ALNC's award-winning environmental education experiences, professional development networks such as NOAA's Climate Stewards Education Program, and existing resources for teaching through formal STEM education, ALNC has combined the unique benefits of place-based outdoor citizen-science in the community setting with digital, multimedia, and interactive components to address local, regional, and global scientific concepts with all audiences of all ages. This innovative, replicable and broadly accessible approach, geared towards formal school groups and the general public in a non-formal educational setting, is being piloted, evaluated, and disseminated through a variety of networks and professional development in order to serve as a model of continued collaborative education.;

Cool Science: Engaging Adult and K-16 Audiences in Climate Change Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lustick, D.; Lohmeier, J.; Chen, R. F.

2012-12-01

A team of educators and scientists from the University of Massachusetts Lowell and the University of Massachusetts Boston will report on an informal science learning research project using mass transit spaces in Lowell, MA. Cool Science (CS) uses advertising spaces on buses and terminals to engage the public with an Out of Home Multi-Media (OHMM) learning experience. K-16 classrooms throughout Massachusetts will submit original artwork that conveys a scientific concept central to understanding climate change. The best 6 works submitted will be printed and placed on every bus in the city over a 6 month period during the first half of 2013. CS aims to promote and evaluate learning about climate change science among the general adult public and k-16 students/teachers. Cool Science offers teachers an efficient and effective means of seamlessly bringing the study of climate change into classroom learning both within science and across disciplines. The products of this effort are then used to improve public engagement with the science of climate change in mass transit environments. Cool Science is an example of Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math education (STEAM). The goals of CS are: 1) Engage professors, teachers, and their respective students in a climate change science communication competition. 2) Run the winning 6 selected placards and posters throughout the LRTA. 3) Identify how different communities of risk among the riding public approach and understand climate change. 4) Identify the advantages and disadvantages of using buses as a context for research on informal science learning. 5) Determine the extent to which student artwork serves as a trusted source of information. As advances in technology allow for more scientific knowledge to be generated, the role of informal education to improve adult understanding of science has never been greater. We see the convergence of circumstances (ISE, climate change, OHMM, mobile technology) as an enormous opportunity develop and evaluate a new approach to improving the level of scientific literacy among adults. Cool Science is an example of how an individual's daily routine may be enhanced with an informal science learning opportunity. This paper will report on project progress, research challenges encountered to date, and present preliminary findings. Among the results presented will be the 6 winning student artworks, analysis of teacher/student interviews, and audience attitudes and knowledge of climate change prior to the intervention. In addition, a comparison of website use before and during the implementation of the public learning campaign will be available.; Learning the Climate Change Science on the Go!

3-D Teaching of Climate Change: An innovative professional learning model for K-12 teachers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stapleton, M.; Wolfson, J.; Sezen-Barrie, A.

2017-12-01

In spite of the presumed controversy over the evidence for climate change, the recently released Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) for K-12 include a focus on climate literacy and explicitly use the term `climate change.' In addition to the increased focus on climate change, the NGSS are also built upon a new three dimensional framework for teaching and learning science. Three dimensional learning has students engaging in scientific and engineering practices (Dimension 1), while using crosscutting concepts (Dimension 2) to explore and explain natural phenomena using disciplinary core ideas (Dimension 3). The adoption of these new standards in many states across the nation has created a critical need for on-going professional learning as in-service science educators begin to implement both climate change instruction and three dimensional teaching and learning in their classrooms. In response to this need, we developed an innovative professional learning model for preparing teachers to effectively integrate climate change into their new curriculum and engage students in three dimensional learning. Our professional learning model utilized ideas that have emerged from recent science education research and include: a) formative assessment probes for three dimensional learning that monitor students' progress; b) collaboration with scientists with expertise in climate science to understand the domain specific ways of doing science; and c) development of a community of practice for in-service teachers to provide feedback to each other on their implementation. In this poster presentation, we will provide details on the development of this professional learning model and discuss the affordances and challenges of implementing this type of professional learning experience.

Supporting Students' Learning and Socioscientific Reasoning About Climate Change—the Effect of Computer-Based Concept Mapping Scaffolds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eggert, Sabina; Nitsch, Anne; Boone, William J.; Nückles, Matthias; Bögeholz, Susanne

2017-02-01

Climate change is one of the most challenging problems facing today's global society (e.g., IPCC 2013). While climate change is a widely covered topic in the media, and abundant information is made available through the internet, the causes and consequences of climate change in its full complexity are difficult for individuals, especially non-scientists, to grasp. Science education is a field which can play a crucial role in fostering meaningful education of students to become climate literate citizens (e.g., NOAA 2009; Schreiner et al., 41, 3-50, 2005). If students are, at some point, to participate in societal discussions about the sustainable development of our planet, their learning with respect to such issues needs to be supported. This includes the ability to think critically, to cope with complex scientific evidence, which is often subject to ongoing inquiry, and to reach informed decisions on the basis of factual information as well as values-based considerations. The study presented in this paper focused on efforts to advance students in (1) their conceptual understanding about climate change and (2) their socioscientific reasoning and decision making regarding socioscientific issues in general. Although there is evidence that "knowledge" does not guarantee pro-environmental behavior (e.g. Schreiner et al., 41, 3-50, 2005; Skamp et al., 97(2), 191-217, 2013), conceptual, interdisciplinary understanding of climate change is an important prerequisite to change individuals' attitudes towards climate change and thus to eventually foster climate literate citizens (e.g., Clark et al. 2013). In order to foster conceptual understanding and socioscientific reasoning, a computer-based learning environment with an embedded concept mapping tool was utilized to support senior high school students' learning about climate change and possible solution strategies. The evaluation of the effect of different concept mapping scaffolds focused on the quality of student-generated concept maps, as well as on students' test performance with respect to conceptual knowledge as well as socioscientific reasoning and socioscientific decision making.

Turning Misinformation into Climate Change Education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Borah, N.; Cook, J.

2017-12-01

Misinformation reduces science literacy and interferes with new learning. This undermines the application of science to understanding and addressing important societal issues. Intentional misinformation and fake news is of growing concern to the scientists, educators and policymakers. Specifically, misinformation about human-caused climate change has become prominent in recent times creating confusion among the public. Hence, interventions that inoculate people against climate change misinformation are very much necessary. One of the most promising applications of inoculation is in the classroom, using a teaching approach known as misconception-based learning. This involves explaining scientific concepts while directly refuting related misconceptions. Misconception-based learning is a powerful way to neutralize the influence of climate change misinformation by increasing both science literacy and critical thinking skills. Students do not possess as many erroneous preconceptions about climate change relative to adults and hence correcting such misconceptions among students is more effective using this teaching approach. The misconception-based teaching approach has a number of benefits. It results in greater and longer-lasting learning gains relative to standard lessons. It equips students with the tools and knowledge to distinguish between facts and myths and increases confidence to engage in constructive discussion with family and friends about climate change. Further, research has shown that students have an effect on parents' environmental attitudes and behavior. Consequently, misconception-based learning presents the opportunity to reach the adult community through the students. We have developed a high school climate change curriculum based on the misconception-based learning framework. Our intent is to run a pilot project that tests the impact of this curriculum on students' climate perceptions, and any second-order influence on their parents. This research project will establish the effectiveness of this teaching approach in raising climate literacy, neutralizing the influence of misinformation, and equipping students with the tools and confidence to converse with their friends and family about climate change.

Effective Social Media Practices for Communicating Climate Change Science to Community Leaders

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Estrada, M.; DeBenedict, C.; Bruce, L.

2016-12-01

Climate Education Partners (CEP) uses an action research approach to increase climate knowledge and informed decision-making among key influential (KI) leaders in San Diego county. Social media has been one method for disseminating knowledge. During CEP's project years, social media use has proliferated. To capitalize on this trend, CEP iteratively developed a strategic method to engage KIs. First, as with all climate education, CEP identified the audience. Three primary Facebook and Twitter audiences were CEP's internal team, local KIs, and strategic partner organizations. Second, post contents were chosen based on interest to CEP key audiences and followed CEP's communications message triangle, which incorporates the Tripartite Integration Model of Social Influence (TIMSI). This message triangle focuses on San Diegan's valued quality of life, future challenges we face due to the changing climate, and ways in which we are working together to protect our quality of life for future generations. Third, an editorial calendar was created to carefully time posts, which capitalize on when target audiences were using social media most and to maintain consistency. The results of these three actions were significant. Results attained utilizing Facebook and Twitter data, which tracks post reach, total followers/likes, and engagement (likes, comments, mentions, shares). For example we found that specifically mentioning KIs resulted in more re-tweets and resulted in reaching a broader audience. Overall, data shows that CEP's reach to audiences of like-minded individuals and organizations now extends beyond CEP's original local network and reached more than 20,000 accounts on Twitter this year (compared with 460 on Twitter the year before). In summary, through posting and participating in the online conversation strategically, CEP disseminated key educational climate resources and relevant climate change news to educate and engage target audience and amplify our work.

Changes in Your Watershed.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hill, Mindy

1995-01-01

Encourages educators to teach with concepts so that students may then proceed individually to link important information into a larger context. The lessons are particularly applicable to environmental education and are centered around the concept of change. The activities include information about geologic, climatic, and cultural change. (AIM)

Topical Collection: Climate-change research by early-career hydrogeologists

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Re, Viviana; Maldaner, Carlos H.; Gurdak, Jason J.; Leblanc, Marc; Resende, Tales Carvalho; Stigter, Tibor Y.

2018-05-01

Scientific outreach, international networking, collaboration and adequate courses are needed in both developed and developing countries to enable early-career hydrogeologists to promote long-term multidisciplinary approaches to cope with climate-change issues and emphasize the importance of groundwater in a global strategy for adaptation. One such collaboration has involved the Early Career Hydrogeologists' Network of the International Association of Hydrogeologists (ECHN-IAH) and the UNESCO International Hydrological Programme's (IHP) Groundwater Resources Assessment under the Pressures of Humanity and Climate Changes (GRAPHIC) project. This collaboration seeks to foster the education and involvement of the future generation of water leaders in the debate over groundwater and climate change.

Adapting to climate change

Treesearch

Constance I. Millar; Christopher W. Swanston; David L. Peterson

2014-01-01

Federal agencies have led the development of adaptation principles and tools in forest ecosystems over the past decade. Successful adaptation efforts generally require organizations to: (1) develop science-management partnerships, (2) provide education on climate change science, (3) provide a toolkit of methods and processes for vulnerability assessment and adaptation...

Beyond "The Lorax": Examining Children's Books on Climate Change

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boggs, George L.; Wilson, Nance S.; Ackland, Robert T.; Danna, Stephen; Grant, Kathy B.

2016-01-01

Five teacher educators discuss children's literature addressing Earth's changing climate. They present tools for evaluating the quality of resources likely to help teachers and students stimulate conceptual and emotional development rather than anxiety or oversimplification. An annotated selection of current books along with a checklist to…

Climate Solutions Presentations on Science On a Sphere (SOS) and SOS Explorer achieve acceptance of Climate Science among Policymakers as well as the Public: US National Academy of Sciences Symposium/Open House Example

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sievering, H.

2015-12-01

The outcomes of climate science are inherently rife with discussions of dire consequences for humans that leave many listeners feeling helpless and hopeless. We have found that a focus on clean energy solutions, without reference to dirty energy, substantially reduces (may even eliminate) the negativity associated with sea level rise, extreme weather and other climate change presentations. US audiences respond well to discussion of California's clean energy transformation with solar, wind, geothermal and water power together now approaching 25% of total energy supply for the world's sixth largest economy. For both policymakers and the general public, a "positive climate change" presentation does not generally suffice on its own. Clear visual display of climate science information is essential. We have found the Science On a Sphere (SOS) National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration science education tool, to be exceptional in this regard. Further, broad dissemination is possible given the SOS network consists of over 120 sites in 23 countries. The new SOS Explorer system, an advanced science education tool, can readily utilize the over 500 available SOS data sets. We have recently developed an arctic amplification and mid-latitude climate change impacts program for the upcoming US National Academy of Sciences' Arctic Matters Symposium/Open House. This SOS and SOS Explorer education program will be described with emphasis on the climate solutions incorporated into this module targeted at US policymakers and invited open house public.

Experience real-time climate change: Environmental education at Jamtal glacier.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fischer, Andrea; Seiser, Bernd; Hartl, Lea; Bendler, Gebhard

2016-04-01

Kids hear about climate change in everyday news, but, unlike grown-ups, they find it much harder to imagine changes over decades, i.e. much longer than their own life span. So how to teach them the issues of climate change? Jamtalferner is an Alpine glacier with an ongoing mass balance monitoring programme started in 1988/89. Surveys of glacier length changes by the Austrian Alpine Club date back even longer, so that the glacier retreat after the Little Ice Age is well documented. As the glacier is easy to access, at just one hour's easy walk from the mountain hut, Jamtalferner was selected to compile materials on climate change for the use in schools and for preparing excursions for a hands-on confrontation with climate change and to give an impression of decadal changes. The materials will be available at www.umweltbildung-jamtal.info and include time series of photographs, maps, tables, background information and exercises.

Climate Literacy Partnership in the Southeast (CLiPSE): A Focus on Climate Change-related Dialogs with Faith-Based Groups as a form of Network Building in the Southeast United States - Lessons Learned

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carroll, F. J.; McNeal, K. S.; Hammerman, J.; Christiansen, J.

2013-05-01

The Climate Literacy Partnership in the Southeast (CLiPSE, http://CLiPSE-project.org), funded through the National Science Foundation Climate Change Education Partnership program, is dedicated to improving climate literacy in the Southeastern United States (SE US). By promoting science-based formal and informal educational resources, CLiPSE works through a diverse network of key partner organizations in the SE US to conduct effective public dialogues that address diverse audiences and support learning about climate, climate change, and its impact on human and environmental systems. The CLiPSE project successfully created partnerships with more than fifty key stakeholders, including agriculture, education, leisure, and religious organizations, along with culturally diverse communities. This presentation will explain the CLiPSE model for reaching key publics who hold traditional ideologies typically perceived as incompatible with climate change science. We will discuss the results of our interactions with the leaders of our partnering organizations, their knowledge, perceptions, needs, and input in crafting effective messages for their audiences, through addressing both learners' affective and cognitive domains. For the informal education sector, CLiPSE utilized several open discussion and learning forums aimed to promote critical thinking and civil conversation about climate change. Focusing on Faith-based audiences, a key demographic, in the Southeast US, CLiPSE also conducted an online, moderated, author-attended book study, discussing the thoughts and ideas contained in the work, "Green Like God," by Jonathan Merritt. We will share the questions we faced as we focused on and learned about faith-based audiences, such as: What are the barriers and opportunities?; How do we break out of the assumptions that we have to find the common ground?; How do the audiences understand the issues?; How do we understand the issues?; What common language can we find?; What happens when we bringing the multiple the multiple identities of faith and science together within ourselves and those we are trying to build relationships with? We will also share the lessons we learned while attempting to answer these questions, such as the role of trust and key influentials/leaders in talking with target audiences, the importance of face-to-face dialog and relationships in trust building.

Conveying the Science of Climate Change: Explaining Natural Variability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chanton, J.

2011-12-01

One of the main problems in climate change education is reconciling the role of humans and natural variability. The climate is always changing, so how can humans have a role in causing change? How do we reconcile and differentiate the anthropogenic effect from natural variability? This talk will offer several approaches that have been successful for the author. First, the context of climate change during the Pleistocene must be addressed. Second, is the role of the industrial revolution in significantly altering Pleistocene cycles, and introduction of the concept of the Anthropocene. Finally the positive feedbacks between climatic nudging due to increased insolation and greenhouse gas forcing can be likened to a rock rolling down a hill, without a leading cause. This approach has proven successful in presentations to undergraduates to state agencies.

USGCRP assessments: Meeting the challenges of climate and global change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dickinson, T.; Kuperberg, J. M.

2016-12-01

The United States Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) is a confederation of the research arms of 13 Federal departments and agencies. Its mission is to build a knowledge base that informs human responses to climate and global change through coordinated and integrated Federal programs of research, education, communication, and decision support. USGCRP has supported several initiatives to promote better understanding of climate change impacts on health, support responses, and build on the progress of the 2014 National Climate Assessment. Most recently, USGCRP released a new report, "The Impacts of Climate Change on Human Health: A Scientific Assessment". This presentation will provide an overview of USGCRP, highlight the importance of assessments, and introduce ways in which assessment findings and underlying data can be translated into critical tools to build resilience.

Diarrheal Diseases and Climate Change in Cambodia.

PubMed

McIver, Lachlan J; Imai, Chisato; Buettner, Petra G; Gager, Paul; Chan, Vibol S; Hashizume, Masahiro; Iddings, Steven N; Kol, Hero; Raingsey, Piseth P; Lyne, K

2016-10-01

The DRIP-SWICCH (Developing Research and Innovative Policies Specific to the Water-related Impacts of Climate Change on Health) project aimed to increase the resilience of Cambodian communities to the health risks posed by climate change-related impacts on water. This article follows a review of climate change and water-related diseases in Cambodia and presents the results of a time series analysis of monthly weather and diarrheal disease data for 11 provinces. In addition, correlations of diarrheal disease incidence with selected demographic, socioeconomic, and water and sanitation indicators are described, with results suggesting education and literacy may be most protective against disease. The potential impact of climate change on the burden of diarrheal disease in Cambodia is considered, along with the implications of these findings for health systems adaptation.

Emerging Leader for Education and Outreach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bartholow, S.

2013-12-01

Polar Educators International (PEI) is a global professional network for those who educate in, for, and about the polar regions. Our goal is to connect educators, scientists, and community members to share expertise around the world and to rekindle student and public engagement with global environmental change. The growing membership in over 30 countries is now recognized as a leading organization capable of fulfilling E&O goals of international science organizations and training educators to facilitate outstanding polar science and climate change education in classrooms. This session will address the importance of dedicated, high-caliber, interpersonal professional networks that are linked directly to the expert science community to better serve science goals and education in classrooms. Discover that the educators and scientists in the network are resources themselves to help you become a leader in polar and climate education; arguably our most important content at the international level.

Predator or Proprietor? Challengers to the Liberal Education Throne

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wittnebel, Leo

2012-01-01

The nature of the changing economic climate has resulted in drastic changes in the postsecondary education landscape. With record numbers of adult learners seeking to further their education, they are faced with numerous outlets, including traditional liberal universities and a variety of for-profit colleges and vocational schools that have…

Advancing Transdisciplinary and Translational Research Practice: Issues and Models of Doctoral Education in Public Health

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Neuhauser, Linda; Richardson, Dawn; Mackenzie, Sonja; Minkler, Meredith

2007-01-01

Finding solutions to complex health problems, such as obesity, violence, and climate change, will require radical changes in cross-disciplinary education, research, and practice. The fundamental determinants of health include many interrelated factors such as poverty, culture, education, environment, and government policies. However, traditional…

A Professional Development Climate Course for Sustainable Agriculture in Australia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

George, David; Clewett, Jeff; Birch, Colin; Wright, Anthony; Allen, Wendy

2009-01-01

There are few professional development courses in Australia for the rural sector concerned with climate variability, climate change and sustainable agriculture. The lack of educators with a sound technical background in climate science and its applications in agriculture prevents the delivery of courses either stand-alone or embedded in other…

Traditional Ecological Knowledge of Stem Concepts in Informal and Place-Based Western Educational Systems: Lessons from the North Slope, Alaska

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nicholas-Figueroa, Linda

Upon regaining the right to direct education at the local level, the North Slope Borough (NSB) of Alaska incorporated Inupiat educational philosophies into the educational system. The NSB in partnership with the University of Alaska Fairbanks established Ilisagvik College, the only tribal college in Alaska. Ilisagvik College seeks to broaden science, technology, engineering, and mathematical education on the North Slope. Incorporation of place-based and informal lessons with traditional ecological knowledge engages students in education. Ilisagvik hosted a 2-week climate change program from 2012 - 2015 for high school and middle school students that examined climate science and the effects of a warming climate on the local environment from a multitude of perspectives from scientists, Inupiat Elders, and instructor-led field trips. Pre-assessments and post-assessments using the Student Assessment of Learning Gains tool measured students' interests and conceptual understanding. Students developed and enhanced their understanding of science concepts and, at the end of the program, could articulate the impact of climatic changes on their local environment. Similarly, methods to incorporate Indigenous knowledge into research practices have been achieved, such as incorporating field trips and discussion with Elders on the importance of animal migration, whale feeding patterns, and the significance of sea-ice conditions, which are important community concerns.

Controversy in Biology Classrooms—Citizen Science Approaches to Evolution and Applications to Climate Change Discussions

PubMed Central

Yoho, Rachel A.; Vanmali, Binaben H.

2016-01-01

The biological sciences encompass topics considered controversial by the American public, such as evolution and climate change. We believe that the development of climate change education in the biology classroom is better informed by an understanding of the history of the teaching of evolution. A common goal for science educators should be to engender a greater respect for and appreciation of science among students while teaching specific content knowledge. Citizen science has emerged as a viable yet underdeveloped method for engaging students of all ages in key scientific issues that impact society through authentic data-driven scientific research. Where successful, citizen science may open avenues of communication and engagement with the scientific process that would otherwise be more difficult to achieve. Citizen science projects demonstrate versatility in education and the ability to test hypotheses by collecting large amounts of often publishable data. We find a great possibility for science education research in the incorporation of citizen science projects in curriculum, especially with respect to “hot topics” of socioscientific debate based on our review of the findings of other authors. Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education PMID:27047604

Convening Young Leaders for Climate Resilience in New York State

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kretser, J.

2017-12-01

This project, led by The Wild Center, will partner with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Delaware County, the Kurt Hahn Expeditionary Learning School in Brooklyn, and the Alliance for Climate Education to do the following over three years: 1) increase climate literacy and preparedness planning in high school students through place-based Youth Climate Summits in the Adirondacks, Catskills, and New York City; 2) enhance young people's capacity to lead on climate issues through a Youth Climate Leadership Practicum 3) increase teacher comprehension and understanding of climate change through a Teacher Climate Institute and 4) communicate climate change impacts and resilience through student-driven Community Climate Outreach activities. The project will align with New York State's climate resiliency planning by collaborating with the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation Office of Climate (OCC), NYS Energy Research Development Authority (NYSERDA), and NOAA's Climate Program Office to provide accurate scientific information, resources, and tools. This collaboration will result in an increase in understanding of the impacts of climate change in rural (Adirondacks, Catskills) and urban (New York City) regions of New York State; a wider awareness of the threats and vulnerabilities that are associated with a community's location; and a stronger connection between current community resilience initiatives, educators, and youth. All three of the project sites are critically underserved in both climate literacy and action, making addressing the need of these sites to be resilient and proactive in the face of climate change critical. Our model will provide pilot lessons for how youth in both rural and urban areas can draw on local assets to address resiliency in ways appropriate for their own areas, and these lessons may be able to be applied across the United States.The proposed project is informed by best practices and specifically strengthens and replicates The Wild Center's past success with the Adirondack Youth Climate Summit, student leadership, and student-led community outreach for climate awareness - all work that has been tested or piloted over the last seven years.

How Climate Science got to be in the Next Generation Science Standards (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wysession, M. E.

2013-12-01

Climate science plays a prominent role in the new national K-12 Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). This represents the culmination of a significant amount of effort by many different organizations that have worked hard to educate the public on one of the most interesting, complex, complicated, and societally important aspects of geoscience. While there are significant challenges to the full implementation of the NGSS, especially those aspects that relate to climate change, the fact that so many states are currently adopting the NGSS represents a significant milestone in geoscience education. When grade 6-12 textbooks were written ten years ago, such as Pearson's high school Physical Science: Concepts in Action (Wysession et al., 2004), very little mention of climate change was incorporated because it did not appear in state standards. Now, climate and climate change are an integral part of the middle school and high school NGSS standards, and textbook companies are fully incorporating this content into their programs. There are many factors that have helped the shift toward teaching about climate, such as the IPCC report, Al Gore's 'An Inconvenient Truth,' and the many reports on climate change published by the National Research Council (NRC). However, four major community-driven literacy documents (The Essential Principles of Ocean Science, Essential Principles and Fundamental Concepts for Atmospheric Science Literacy, The Earth Science Literacy Principles, and The Essential Principles of Climate Science) were essential in that they directly informed the construction of the Earth and Space Science (ESS) content of the NRC's 'Framework for K-12 Science Education' by the ESS Design Team. The actual performance expectations of the NGSS were then informed directly by the disciplinary core ideas of the NRC Framework, which were motivated by the community-driven literacy documents and the significant credentials these bore. The work in getting climate science into classrooms has just begun: having standards that address climate science does not ensure that it will reach students. However, the fact that climate science plays an important role in the nation's first attempt at a national K-12 science program represents a significant advancement.

How Climate Science got to be in the Next Generation Science Standards (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Westnedge, K. L.; Dallimore, A.; Salish Sea Expedition Team

2011-12-01

Climate science plays a prominent role in the new national K-12 Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). This represents the culmination of a significant amount of effort by many different organizations that have worked hard to educate the public on one of the most interesting, complex, complicated, and societally important aspects of geoscience. While there are significant challenges to the full implementation of the NGSS, especially those aspects that relate to climate change, the fact that so many states are currently adopting the NGSS represents a significant milestone in geoscience education. When grade 6-12 textbooks were written ten years ago, such as Pearson's high school Physical Science: Concepts in Action (Wysession et al., 2004), very little mention of climate change was incorporated because it did not appear in state standards. Now, climate and climate change are an integral part of the middle school and high school NGSS standards, and textbook companies are fully incorporating this content into their programs. There are many factors that have helped the shift toward teaching about climate, such as the IPCC report, Al Gore's 'An Inconvenient Truth,' and the many reports on climate change published by the National Research Council (NRC). However, four major community-driven literacy documents (The Essential Principles of Ocean Science, Essential Principles and Fundamental Concepts for Atmospheric Science Literacy, The Earth Science Literacy Principles, and The Essential Principles of Climate Science) were essential in that they directly informed the construction of the Earth and Space Science (ESS) content of the NRC's 'Framework for K-12 Science Education' by the ESS Design Team. The actual performance expectations of the NGSS were then informed directly by the disciplinary core ideas of the NRC Framework, which were motivated by the community-driven literacy documents and the significant credentials these bore. The work in getting climate science into classrooms has just begun: having standards that address climate science does not ensure that it will reach students. However, the fact that climate science plays an important role in the nation's first attempt at a national K-12 science program represents a significant advancement.

America's Climate Choices: Informing an Effective Response to Climate Change (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liverman, D. M.; McConnell, M. C.; Raven, P.

2010-12-01

At the request of Congress, the National Academy of Sciences convened a series of coordinated activities to provide advice on actions and strategies that the nation can take to respond to climate change. As part of this suite of activities, this study examines information needs and recommends ways the federal government can better inform responses by enhancing climate change and greenhouse gas information and reporting systems and by improving climate communication and education. Demand for better information to support climate-related decisions has grown rapidly as people, organizations, and governments have moved ahead with plans and actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to adapt to the impacts of climate change. To meet this demand, good information systems and services are needed. Without such systems, decision makers cannot evaluate whether particular policies and actions are achieving their goals or should be modified. Although the many non-federal efforts to reduce emissions and/or adapt to future climate changes carry considerable potential to reduce risks related to climate change, there is currently no comprehensive way to assess the effectiveness of those efforts. In addition, the diverse climate change responses to date have resulted in a patchwork of regional, state, and local policies that has prompted many state and business leaders to call for the development of a more predictable and coherent policy environment at the federal level. This report demonstrates that the nation lacks comprehensive, robust, and credible information and reporting systems to inform climate choices and evaluate their effectiveness. This report also argues that decision makers can benefit from a systematic and iterative framework for responding to climate change, in which decisions and policies can be revised in light of new information and experience and that improved information and reporting systems allow for ongoing evaluation of responses to climate risks. The climate-related decisions that society will confront over the coming decades will require an informed and engaged public and an education system that provides students with the knowledge to make informed choices. Although nearly all Americans have now heard of climate change, many have yet to understand the full implications of the issue and the opportunities and risks that lie in the solutions. Nonetheless, national surveys demonstrate a clear public desire for more information about climate change and how it might affect local communities. A majority of Americans want the government to take action in response to climate change and are willing to take action themselves. Although communicating about climate change and choices is vitally important, it can be difficult. This report summarizes some simple guidelines for more effective communications.

Educating for Hope in Troubled Times: Climate Change and the Transition to a Post-Carbon Future

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hicks, David

2014-01-01

This book explores three global issues--climate change, peak oil and the limits to growth. It sets out the facts about the inevitable yet still largely unknown changes, and examines the feelings and attitudes the coming changes engender. It offers teachers ways to engage with vital but too often avoided issues, and to share success stories and…

Investigating Climate Change Issues With Web-Based Geospatial Inquiry Activities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dempsey, C.; Bodzin, A. M.; Sahagian, D. L.; Anastasio, D. J.; Peffer, T.; Cirucci, L.

2011-12-01

In the Environmental Literacy and Inquiry middle school Climate Change curriculum we focus on essential climate literacy principles with an emphasis on weather and climate, Earth system energy balance, greenhouse gases, paleoclimatology, and how human activities influence climate change (http://www.ei.lehigh.edu/eli/cc/). It incorporates a related set of a framework and design principles to provide guidance for the development of the geospatial technology-integrated Earth and environmental science curriculum materials. Students use virtual globes, Web-based tools including an interactive carbon calculator and geologic timeline, and inquiry-based lab activities to investigate climate change topics. The curriculum includes educative curriculum materials that are designed to promote and support teachers' learning of important climate change content and issues, geospatial pedagogical content knowledge, and geographic spatial thinking. The curriculum includes baseline instructional guidance for teachers and provides implementation and adaptation guidance for teaching with diverse learners including low-level readers, English language learners and students with disabilities. In the curriculum, students use geospatial technology tools including Google Earth with embedded spatial data to investigate global temperature changes, areas affected by climate change, evidence of climate change, and the effects of sea level rise on the existing landscape. We conducted a designed-based research implementation study with urban middle school students. Findings showed that the use of the Climate Change curriculum showed significant improvement in urban middle school students' understanding of climate change concepts.

Cool Science Explains a Warming World: Using Ice Core Science to Bridge the Gap Between Researchers and the K-12 Classroom

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huffman, L. T.

2017-12-01

Changing ice has urgent implications for people around the world. The Ice Drilling Program Office (IDPO) provides scientific leadership and oversight of ice coring and drilling activities funded by the US National Science Foundation and also has goals to enhance education and communication of current research information. In a time when misinformation is rampant and climate change science is suspect, it is essential that students receive accurate scientific information and engage in learning activities that model complex ideas through engaging and age appropriate ways, while also learning to validate and recognize reliable sources. The IDPO Education and Outreach (EO) office works to create resources, activities and professional development that bridge the gap between ice core science research and educators and their students. Ice core science is on the cutting edge of new discoveries about climate change and understanding better the past to predict the future. Hands-on inquiry activities based on ice core data allow teachers to lead their students to new discoveries about climate secrets hidden deep in the ice. Capitalizing on the inherent interest in the extremes of the Polar Regions, IDPO materials engage students in activities aligned with NGSS standards. Ice drilling technologies make an ideal platform for intertwining engineering concepts and practices with science research to meet the SEP (Science and Engineering Practices) in the NGSS. This session will highlight how the IDPO EO office has built a community of ice core scientists willing to take part in education and outreach projects and events and share some of the resources available to K-12 educators. We will highlight some of the successes and lessons learned as we continually evolve our work toward more effective science education and communication highlighting ice core and climate change science.

Collaborative Projects Weaving Indigenous and Western Science, Knowledge and Perspectives in Climate Change Education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sparrow, E. B.; Chase, M.; Brunacini, J.; Spellman, K.

2017-12-01

The "Reaching Arctic Communities Facing Climate Change" and "Feedbacks and Impacts of A Warming Arctic: Engaging Learners in STEM Using GLOBE and NASA Assets" projects are examples of Indigenous and western science communities' collaborative efforts in braiding multiple perspectives and methods in climate change education. Lessons being learned and applied in these projects include the need to invite and engage members of the indigenous and scientific communities in the beginning as a project is being proposed or formulated; the need for negotiated space in the project and activities where opportunity to present and access both knowledge systems is equitable, recognizes and validates each knowledge and method, and considers the use of pedagogical practices including pace/rhythm and instructional approach most suitable to the target audience. For example with Indigenous audiences/participants, it is important to follow local Indigenous protocol to start an event and/or use a resource that highlights the current experience or voices of Indigenous people with climate change. For mixed audience groups, it is critical to have personal introductions at the beginning of an event so that each participant is given an opportunity and encouraged to voice their ideas and opinions starting with how they want to introduce themselves and thus begin to establish a welcoming and collegial atmosphere for dialog. It is also important to communicate climate science in humanistic terms, that people and communities are affected not just the environment or economies. These collaborative partnerships produce mutual benefits including increased awareness and understanding of personal connections to climate change impacts; opportunities for cultural enrichment; opportunities for accessing elder knowledge which is highly valued as well as science, education and communication tools that are needed in working together in addressing issues and making communities resilient and adaptive.

Cyberlearning for Climate Literacy: Challenges and Opportunities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McCaffrey, M. S.; Buhr, S. M.; Gold, A. U.; Ledley, T. S.; Mooney, M. E.; Niepold, F.

2010-12-01

Cyberlearning tools provide cost and carbon-efficient avenues for fostering a climate literate society through online engagement with learners. With climate change education becoming a Presidential Priority in 2009, funding for grants from NSF, NASA and NOAA is leading to a new generation of cyberlearning resources that supplement existing online resources. This paper provides an overview of challenges and opportunities relating to the online delivery of high quality, often complex climate science by examining several existing and emerging efforts, including the Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network (CLEAN,) a National Science Digital Library Pathway, the development by CIRES Education and Outreach of the Inspiring Climate Education Excellence (ICEE) online course, TERC’s Earth Exploration Toolbook (EET,) DataTools, and EarthLab modules, the NOAA Climate Stewards Education Program (CSEP) that utilizes the NSTA E-Learning Center, online efforts by members of the Federation of Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP), UCAR’s Climate Discovery program, and the Climate Adaptation, Mitigation e-Learning (CAMeL) project. In addition, we will summarize outcomes of the Cyberlearning for Climate Literacy workshop held in Washington DC in the Fall of 2009 and examine opportunities for teachers to develop and share their own lesson plans based on climate-related web resources that currently lack built-in learning activities, assessments or teaching tips.

Global Climate Change and Ocean Education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Spitzer, W.; Anderson, J.

2011-12-01

The New England Aquarium, collaborating with other aquariums across the country, is leading a national effort to enable aquariums and related informal science education institutions to effectively communicate the impacts of climate change and ocean acidification on marine animals, habitats and ecosystems. Our goal is to build on visitors' emotional connection with ocean animals, connect to their deeply held values, help them understand causes and effects of climate change and motivate them to embrace effective solutions. Our objectives are to: (1) Build a national coalition of aquariums and related informal education institutions collaborating on climate change education; (2) Develop an interpretive framework for climate change and the ocean that is scientifically sound, research-based, field tested and evaluated; and (3) Build capacity of aquariums to interpret climate change via training for interpreters, interactive exhibits and activities and communities of practice for ongoing support. Centers of informal learning have the potential to bring important environmental issues to the public by presenting the facts, explaining the science, connecting with existing values and interests, and motivating concern and action. Centers that work with live animals (including aquariums, zoos, nature centers, national parks, national marine sanctuaries, etc.) are unique in that they attract large numbers of people of all ages (over 140 million in the US), have strong connections to the natural, and engage many visitors who may not come with a primary interest in science. Recent research indicates that that the public expects and trusts aquariums, zoos, and museums to communicate solutions to environmental and ocean issues, and to advance ocean conservation, and that climate change is the environmental issue of most concern to the public; Ironically, however, most people do not associate climate change with ocean health, or understand the critical role that the ocean plays in the Earth's climate system. The problem is not simply that the public lacks information. In fact, the problem is often that there is too much information available with much of it complicated and even contradictory. The news media, both print and electronic, tend to exacerbate this by aiming for "balance" even when there is an overwhelming scientific or policy consensus. An additional problem is "reinforcement bias," which tends to lead people to focus on information that supports what they already believe or think they know. Instead, we need an approach that facilitates "meaning-making." A "framing" approach to communication (Frameworks Institute, 2010) supports meaning-making by appealing to strongly held values, providing metaphoric language and models, and illustrating specific applications to real world problems. This approach translates complex science in a way that allows people to examine evidence, make well-informed decisions, and embrace science-based solutions. However, interpreters need specialized training, resources, up-to-date information, and ongoing support to help understand a complex topic such as climate change, its connections to the ocean, and how to relate it to the live animals, habitats and exhibits they interpret.

Assessing the Credibility of Climate Science Information: A Roadmap for Educators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mandia, S. A.

2017-12-01

Although there is an overwhelming scientific consensus that humans are driving modern day climate change, a significant portion of Americans are still not convinced. One reason for this gap in understanding results from a large body of misinformation that is easily accessible by students and educators. Here the author presents an effective teaching model to allow students to assess the credibility of organizations and their authors who publish climate science information aimed toward the general public.

Secondary Climate Change Education in the Pacific Northwest

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

White, P. Troy; Wolf, Kattlyn J.; Johnson-Maynard, Jodi L.; Velez, Jonathan J.; Eigenbrode, Sanford D.

2014-01-01

Climate change (CC) is an important issue students should understand to be productive members of society. The objectives were to evaluate the instruction and teacher perceptions relating to CC in the Inland Pacific Northwest (IPNW) secondary (7-12) classes across disciplines. The teacher perceptions, instructional frequency, perceived barriers to…

Local Communities and Schools Tackling Sustainability and Climate Change

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Flowers, Rick; Chodkiewicz, Andrew

2009-01-01

Local communities and their schools remain key sites for actions tackling issues of sustainability and climate change. A government-funded environmental education initiative, the Australian Sustainable Schools Initiative (AuSSI), working together with state based Sustainable Schools Programs (SSP), has the ability to support the development of…

Assessing the Influence of an Educational Presentation on Climate Change Beliefs at an Evangelical Christian College

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Webb, Brian S.; Hayhoe, Doug

2017-01-01

Despite an overwhelming scientific consensus, a significant proportion of the American public continues to reject anthropogenic climate change. This disparity is particularly evident among evangelical Christians, for whom theological conservatism, general scientific skepticism, political affiliations, and sociocultural influences may impede their…

Cool Science: K-12 Climate Change Art Displayed on Buses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, R. F.; Lustick, D. S.; Lohmeier, J.; Thompson, S. R.

2015-12-01

Cool science is an art contest where K12 students create placards (7" x 22") to educate the public about climate change. Students are prompted to create their artwork in response to questions such as: What is the evidence for climate change? How does climate change impact your local community? What can you do to reduce the impacts of climate change? In each of three years, 500-600 student entrees have been submitted from more than 12 school districts across Massachusetts. A panel of judges including scientists, artists, rapid transit representatives, and educators chooses elementary, middle, and high school winners. Winners (6), runners-up (6), and honorable mentions (12) and their families and teachers are invited to an annual Cool Science Award Ceremony to be recognized and view winning artwork. All winning artwork is posted on the Cool Science website. The winning artwork (2 per grade band) is converted into placards (11" x 28") and posters (2.5' x 12') that are placed on the inside (placards) and outside (posters) of buses. Posters are displayed for one month. So far, Cool Science was implemented in Lowell, MA where over 5000 public viewers see the posters daily on the sides of Lowell Rapid Transit Authority (LRTA) buses, making approximately 1,000,000 impressions per year. Cool Science acts to increase climate literacy in children as well as the public, and as such promotes intergenerational learning. Using art in conjunction with science learning about climate change appears to be effective at engaging not just traditionally high achieving science students, but also those interested in the creative arts. Hearing winners' stories about how they created their artwork and what this contest meant to them supports the idea that Cool Science attracts a wide diversity of students. Parents discuss climate change with their children. Multiple press releases announcing the winners further promotes the awareness of climate change throughout school districts and their communities. Pre- and post-surveys of LRTA riders suggests that public viewers of winning artwork increase their awareness that climate change is happening, that climate change is human caused, and that they want to learn more. Using student voices (artwork) appears to be an effective way to communicate climate change issues to public audiences.

The Role of Social Influences on Pro-Environment Behaviors in the San Diego Region.

PubMed

Estrada, Mica; Schultz, P Wesley; Silva-Send, Nilmini; Boudrias, Michel A

2017-04-01

From a social psychological perspective, addressing the threats of climate change involves not only education, which imparts objective facts upon a passive individual, but also a socializing process. The Tripartite Integration Model of Social Influence (TIMSI) provides a theoretical framework that connects acquiring climate change knowledge with integration into a community, which results in greater engagement in climate friendly behaviors. Survey data were collected from 1000 residents in San Diego County. Measures included (a) knowledge about climate change; (b) self-efficacy, what pro-environmental actions they felt they could do; (c) identity, to what extent they identified as part of a community that is concerned about climate change; (d) values, endorsement of values of the community that is concerned about climate change; and (e) pro-environmental behavior, engagement in conservation behaviors. Results indicated that self-efficacy and values mediated the relationship between knowledge and pro-environmental behavior.

Meta-analyses of the determinants and outcomes of belief in climate change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hornsey, Matthew J.; Harris, Emily A.; Bain, Paul G.; Fielding, Kelly S.

2016-06-01

Recent growth in the number of studies examining belief in climate change is a positive development, but presents an ironic challenge in that it can be difficult for academics, practitioners and policy makers to keep pace. As a response to this challenge, we report on a meta-analysis of the correlates of belief in climate change. Twenty-seven variables were examined by synthesizing 25 polls and 171 academic studies across 56 nations. Two broad conclusions emerged. First, many intuitively appealing variables (such as education, sex, subjective knowledge, and experience of extreme weather events) were overshadowed in predictive power by values, ideologies, worldviews and political orientation. Second, climate change beliefs have only a small to moderate effect on the extent to which people are willing to act in climate-friendly ways. Implications for converting sceptics to the climate change cause--and for converting believers’ intentions into action--are discussed.

Yinong Sun | NREL

Science.gov Websites

integration Impacts of climate change on energy system evolution Energy policy analysis Education M.E.M. in . Electric Sector Climate Impacts. International Energy Workshop, Maryland. View all NREL publications for

Issues in Integrating Information Technology in Learning and Teaching EFL: The Saudi Experience

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Al-Maini, Yousef Hamad

2013-01-01

The Saudi education system is facing a climate of change characterized by an interest in integrating new technology and educational approaches to improve teaching and learning. In this climate, the present paper explores the issues in integrating information technology in learning and teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) in government…

Advancing Science Literacy Through the Climate Change National Forum

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nielsen-Gammon, J. W.; Quirke, M.; Lefer, B. L.; Hester, T.

2014-12-01

The Climate Change National Forum (http://climatechangenationalforum.org) was established almost a year ago to provide a publicly visible platform for discussion of scientific issues related to climate change and, at a later date, policy options motivated by climate change science. The site is also designed to promote public literacy in the culture and conduct of science by incorporating dozens of active scientists in a broad range of climate science and related fields and encouraging dialogue among those scientists. The forum provides a rare window into scientific debate, allowing non-scientists to see how scientists evaluate the work of others, construct meaning out of various bits of evidence, formulate ideas, challenge their colleagues, and (on occasion) develop a consensus. As such, the site is intended to have educational value well beyond its climate science focus.

Using an interdisciplinary MOOC to teach climate science and science communication to a global classroom

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cook, J.

2016-12-01

MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) are a powerful tool, making educational content available to a large and diverse audience. The MOOC "Making Sense of Climate Science Denial" applied science communication principles derived from cognitive psychology and misconception-based learning in the design of video lectures covering many aspects of climate change. As well as teaching fundamental climate science, the course also presented psychological research into climate science denial, teaching students the most effective techniques for responding to misinformation. A number of enrolled students were secondary and tertiary educators, who adopted the course content in their own classes as well as adapted their teaching techniques based on the science communication principles presented in the lectures. I will outline how we integrated cognitive psychology, educational research and climate science in an interdisciplinary online course that has had over 25,000 enrolments from over 160 countries.

Evaluating the effects of ideology on public understanding of climate change science: how to improve communication across ideological divides?

PubMed

Zia, Asim; Todd, Anne Marie

2010-11-01

While ideology can have a strong effect on citizen understanding of science, it is unclear how ideology interacts with other complicating factors, such as college education, which influence citizens' comprehension of information. We focus on public understanding of climate change science and test the hypotheses: [H1] as citizens' ideology shifts from liberal to conservative, concern for global warming decreases; [H2] citizens with college education and higher general science literacy tend to have higher concern for global warming; and [H3] college education does not increase global warming concern for conservative ideologues. We implemented a survey instrument in California's San Francisco Bay Area, and employed regression models to test the effects of ideology and other socio-demographic variables on citizen concern about global warming, terrorism, the economy, health care and poverty. We are able to confirm H1 and H3, but reject H2. Various strategies are discussed to improve the communication of climate change science across ideological divides.

Can "Ozzie" the Ostrich Prepare the Public for Better Learning about Climate Change?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, R. F.; Lustick, D. S.; Lohmeier, J.; Lockwood, L.

2016-02-01

Climate change is one of the most pressing societal issues today, and educators are struggling with how to inform people of all ages and backgrounds about the reality and relevance of climate change. ScienceToGo.org has designed 12 posters that were placed on the Boston subways over the course of 15 months. Surveys of T-riders suggest that Ozzie the Ostrich is highly recognizable, is non-threatening, and is connecting Boston with climate change impacts and solutions. We hypothesize that our advertising campaign not only raises awareness about climate change in Boston and engages the public in thinking and talking about climate change, but also prepares them for learning more about climate change in the future. By exposing students to the 12 posters, we think that fears associated with climate change are lessened, and that students are more willing to explore a variety of media (newspaper articles, internet postings, peer-reviewed journal articles, data, and graphs) compared to students that are not exposed to the posters. Students will complete an initial survey, be exposed (or not exposed) to Ozzie posters, asked to explore a variety of media related to climate change, then surveyed again. Finally, focus groups will be conducted to gain insights on how students interact about climate change with or without exposure to Ozzie. We are interested in learning if exposure to brief, engaging, and humorous advertising messages will change the way students learn about climate change. This presentation will present initial results of this study.

Climate Discovery: Integrating Research With Exhibit, Public Tours, K-12, and Web-based EPO Resources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Foster, S. Q.; Carbone, L.; Gardiner, L.; Johnson, R.; Russell, R.; Advisory Committee, S.; Ammann, C.; Lu, G.; Richmond, A.; Maute, A.; Haller, D.; Conery, C.; Bintner, G.

2005-12-01

The Climate Discovery Exhibit at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Mesa Lab provides an exciting conceptual outline for the integration of several EPO activities with other well-established NCAR educational resources and programs. The exhibit is organized into four topic areas intended to build understanding among NCAR's 80,000 annual visitors, including 10,000 school children, about Earth system processes and scientific methods contributing to a growing body of knowledge about climate and global change. These topics include: 'Sun-Earth Connections,' 'Climate Now,' 'Climate Past,' and 'Climate Future.' Exhibit text, graphics, film and electronic media, and interactives are developed and updated through collaborations between NCAR's climate research scientists and staff in the Office of Education and Outreach (EO) at the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR). With funding from NCAR, paleoclimatologists have contributed data and ideas for a new exhibit Teachers' Guide unit about 'Climate Past.' This collection of middle-school level, standards-aligned lessons are intended to help students gain understanding about how scientists use proxy data and direct observations to describe past climates. Two NASA EPO's have funded the development of 'Sun-Earth Connection' lessons, visual media, and tips for scientists and teachers. Integrated with related content and activities from the NASA-funded Windows to the Universe web site, these products have been adapted to form a second unit in the Climate Discovery Teachers' Guide about the Sun's influence on Earth's climate. Other lesson plans, previously developed by on-going efforts of EO staff and NSF's previously-funded Project Learn program are providing content for a third Teachers' Guide unit on 'Climate Now' - the dynamic atmospheric and geological processes that regulate Earth's climate. EO has plans to collaborate with NCAR climatologists and computer modelers in the next year to develop lessons and ancillary exhibit interactives and visualizations for the final Teachers' Guide unit about 'Climate Future.' Units developed so far are available in downloadable format on the NCAR EO and Windows to the Universe web sites for dissemination to educators and the general public public. Those web sites are, respectively, (http://eo.ucar.edu/educators/ClimateDiscovery) and (http://www.windows.ucar.edu). Encouragement from funding agencies to integrate and relate resources and growing pressure to implement efficiencies in educational programs have created excellent opportunities which will be described from the viewpoints of EO staff and scientists'. Challenges related to public and student perceptions about climate and global change, the scientific endeavor, and how to establish successful dialogues between educators and scientists will also be discussed.

Tools for enhancing motivation in teaching climate change and impacts for students in forest- and environmental engineering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gálos, Borbála

2017-04-01

Climate change is observed to have severe impacts on forest ecosystems. Ongoing research projects are dealing with the complex analysis of the causes of the health status decline and mortality of the vulnerable tree species. In the Carpathian Basin, recurrent long lasting drought periods and heatwaves of the last decades initiated the sequence of abiotic and biotic impacts in the beech and oak forests. Threatening extreme events are very likely to occur more frequent under changing climate conditions until the end of the 21st century. Therefore adaptation strategies and renewed regulations of the tree species selection are necessary. Learning material of forest education needs to be continuously updated with the new aspects and results of recent research and forest management planning. Therefore ideas and tools have been developed for teaching climate change impacts for students in forest- and environmental engineering. Using examples from world sport championships (e.g. losers and winners of climate change) these tools are applied to communicate the basic research questions in an easily understandable way as well as to motivate students and raise their awareness for the complex processes of forest - climate interactions. By the application of the developed examples for motivation, the key competences and learning outcomes can be the following: • students get an insight into the observed and projected tendencies of climate extremes; • they get an impression on the complexity of the climate change related damage chains; • they will be able to identify the climatic drivers of forest decline and mortality; • with the skill of critical thinking they will be able to evaluate the ecological role of forests that are already affected and that could be affected by the consequences of changing climate conditions; • they recognize the importance and urgency of the appropriate decisions in forestry and nature conservation. Keywords: climate change impacts, forest education, teaching tools for motivation The research is supported by the ÚNKP-16-4-3 New National Excellence Program of the Ministry of Human Capacities.

Improving 6th Grade Climate Literacy using New Media (CLINM) and Teacher Professional Development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, G.; Schmidt, C.; Metzger, E. P.; Cordero, E. C.

2012-12-01

The NASA-funded project, Improving 6th Grade Climate Literacy using New Media (CLINM), is designed to improve the climate literacy of California's 450,000 6th-grade students through teacher professional development that presents climate change as an engaging context for teaching earth science standards. The project fosters experience-based interaction among learners and encourages expressive creativity and idea-exchange via the web and social media. The heart of the CLINM project is the development of an online educator-friendly experience that provides content expert-reviewed, teacher-tested, standards-based educational resources, classroom activities and lessons that make meaningful connections to NASA data and images as well as new media tools (videos, web, and phone applications) based on the Green Ninja, a climate-action superhero who fights global warming by inspiring personal action (www.greenninja.info). In this session, we will discuss this approach to professional development and share a collection of teacher-tested CLINM resources. CLINM resources are grounded in earth system science; classroom activities and lessons engage students in exploration of connections between natural systems and human systems with a particular focus on how climate change relates to everyone's need for food, water, and energy. CLINM uses a team-based approach to resource development, and partners faculty in San José State University's (SJSU) colleges of Science, Education, and Humanities and the Arts with 6th-grade teachers from local school districts, a scientist from NASA Ames Research Center and climate change education projects at Stanford University, the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, and the University of Idaho. Climate scientists and other content experts identify relevant concepts and work with science educators to develop and/or refine classroom activities to elucidate those concepts; activities are piloted in pre-service science methods courses at SJSU and in teacher professional development workshops offered through the Bay Area Earth Science Institute (BAESI); workshop attendees frame the activities as lessons appropriate for their 6th grade students; participants who use the lessons and resources in their classrooms provide iterative feedback, which is used to improve the resources for other teachers involved in the project.

Global Change Education Resource Guide.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mortensen, Lynn L., Ed.

This guide is intended as an aid to educators who conduct programs and activities on climate and global change issues for a variety of audiences. The selected set of currently available materials are appropriate for both formal and informal programs in environmental education and can help frame and clarify some of the key issues associated with…

The Future of Climate Change Education and Communication: Preparing Our Posterity for Risks and Opportunity? (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ledley, T. S.; Niepold, F.

2013-12-01

Climate change will have impacts on all aspects of life. As such it is a topic that is interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary and thus requires input from a professionally diverse group of experts to be addressed effectively. This represents the next step in an evolution of how geoscientists see their work and their responsibility communicate and collaborate with other professionals to enable their findings and understanding of the Earth system to benefit society. In the late 1970's geoscience research extended beyond the traditional disciplinary perspectives to investigate the interactions of the components of the Earth system and the impacts of those interactions. Geoscience research became interdisciplinary. In the last 10 years as the reality of climate change has become more apparent,it is clear that the conversation needs to extend well beyond the geosciences to include for example agriculture, economics, psychology, architecture, urban planning, engineering and the social sciences. Climate change education and communication needs to become both interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary. This presentation will discuss the obstacles that need to be overcome to achieve interdisciplinary and transdiciplinary ways of addressing the problems and opportunities resulting from climate change, the efforts that are underway to help develop a common language and shared understanding to enable transdisciplinary solutions to societal issues in the future.

Climate change: could it help develop 'adaptive expertise'?

PubMed

Bell, Erica; Horton, Graeme; Blashki, Grant; Seidel, Bastian M

2012-05-01

Preparing health practitioners to respond to the rising burden of disease from climate change is emerging as a priority in health workforce policy and planning. However, this issue is hardly represented in the medical education research. The rapidly evolving wide range of direct and indirect consequences of climate change will require health professionals to have not only broad content knowledge but also flexibility and responsiveness to diverse regional conditions as part of complex health problem-solving and adaptation. It is known that adaptive experts may not necessarily be quick at solving familiar problems, but they do creatively seek to better solve novel problems. This may be the result of an acquired approach to practice or a pathway that can be fostered by learning environments. It is also known that building adaptive expertise in medical education involves putting students on a learning pathway that requires them to have, first, the motivation to innovatively problem-solve and, second, exposure to diverse content material, meaningfully presented. Including curriculum content on the health effects of climate change could help meet these two conditions for some students at least. A working definition and illustrative competencies for adaptive expertise for climate change, as well as examples of teaching and assessment approaches extrapolated from rural curricula, are provided.

Leading Schools of Education in the Context of Academic Capitalism: Deans' Responses to State Policy Changes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McClure, Kevin R.; Teitelbaum, Kenneth

2016-01-01

State education policy changes have contributed to a reduced interest in teaching and a decreased enrollment in education degree programs in North Carolina, USA. Pressure to cut budgets and generate revenue has added to a climate of academic capitalism influencing the ways in which deans lead schools of education. The purpose of this mixed-methods…

Historians probe geophysics in Seattle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fleming, James R.

The history of geophysics is becoming a “hot topic” among historians of science and technology. While previous annual meetings of the History of Science Society had few papers on the topic, the latest meeting of the society on October 25-28, 1990, in Seattle featured three sessions with a total of 11 papers. Two “works in progress” papers were also on geophysical topics.The first session on the history of geophysics was Climate Change in Historical Perspective. In spite of all the recent attention given to global warming, it is important to remember that climatic change is not a new issue. Indeed, measured over the course of centuries, approaches to the study of climate and ideas about climatic change have been changing more rapidly than the climate itself. In addition to being interesting in its own right, the history of climatic change is beginning to play a crucial role in global change education, research, and policy decisions. Papers in this session spanned 200 years of the history of climatology as a science and climatic change as an issue.

Exploring students' epistemological knowledge of models and modelling in science: results from a teaching/learning experience on climate change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tasquier, Giulia; Levrini, Olivia; Dillon, Justin

2016-03-01

The scientific community has been debating climate change for over two decades. In the light of certain arguments put forward by the aforesaid community, the EU has recommended a set of innovative reforms to science teaching such as incorporating environmental issues into the scientific curriculum, thereby helping to make schools a place of civic education. However, despite these European recommendations, relatively little emphasis is still given to climate change within science curricula. Climate change, although potentially engaging for students, is a complex topic that poses conceptual difficulties and emotional barriers, as well as epistemological challenges. Whilst the conceptual and emotional barriers have already been the object of several studies, students' reactions to the epistemological issues raised by climate changes have so far been rarely explored in science education research and thus are the main focus of this paper. This paper describes a study concerning the implementation of teaching materials designed to focus on the epistemological role of 'models and the game of modelling' in science and particularly when dealing with climate change. The materials were implemented in a course of 15 hours (five 3-hour lessons) for a class of Italian secondary-school students (grade 11; 16-17 years old). The purpose of the study is to investigate students' reactions to the epistemological dimension of the materials, and to explore if and how the material enabled them to develop their epistemological knowledge on models.

Techniques for integrating the animations, multimedia, and interactive features of NASA’s climate change website, Climate Change: NASA’s Eyes on the Earth, into the classroom to advance climate literacy and encourage interest in STEM disciplines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tenenbaum, L. F.; Jackson, R.; Greene, M.

2009-12-01

I developed a variety of educational content for the "Climate Change: NASA’s Eyes on the Earth" website, notably an interactive feature for the "Key Indicators: Ice Mass Loss" link that includes photo pair images of glaciers around the world, changes in Arctic sea ice extent videos, Greenland glacial calving time lapse videos, and Antarctic ice shelf break up animations, plus news pieces and a Sea Level Quiz. I integrated these resources and other recent NASA and JPL climate and oceanography data and information into climate change components of Oceanography Lab exercises, Oceanography lectures and Introduction to Environmental Technology courses. I observed that using these Internet interactive features in the classroom greatly improved student participation, topic comprehension, scientific curiosity and interest in Earth and climate science across diverse student populations. Arctic Sea Ice Extent Summer 2007 Credit: NASA

Engaging Students In The Science Of Climate Change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rhew, R. C.; Halversen, C.; Weiss, E.; Pedemonte, S.; Weirman, T.

2013-12-01

Climate change is arguably the defining environmental issue of our generation. It is thus increasingly necessary for every member of the global community to understand the basic underlying science of Earth's climate system and how it is changing in order to make informed, evidence-based decisions about how we will respond individually and as a society. Through exploration of the inextricable interconnection between Earth's ocean, atmosphere and climate, we believe students will be better prepared to tackle the complex issues surrounding the causes and effects of climate change and evaluate possible solutions. If students are also given opportunities to gather evidence from real data and use scientific argumentation to make evidence-based explanations about climate change, not only will they gain an increased understanding of the science concepts and science practices, the students will better comprehend the nature of climate change science. Engaging in argument from evidence is a scientific practice not only emphasized in the Framework for K-12 Science Education and the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), but also emphasized in the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies and Science (CCSS). This significant overlap between NGSS and CCSS has implications for science and language arts classrooms, and should influence how we support and build students' expertise with this practice of sciences. The featured exemplary curricula supports middle school educators as they address climate change in their classrooms. The exemplar we will use is the NOAA-funded Ocean Sciences Sequence (OSS) for Grades 6-8: The ocean-atmosphere connection and climate change, which are curriculum units that deliver rich science content correlated to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) Disciplinary Core Ideas and an emphasis on the Practices of Science, as called for in NGSS and the Framework. Designed in accordance with the latest research on learning this curriculum provides numerous opportunities for students to use real data to make evidence-based explanations. During the session, we will discuss ways in which students can use scientific data related to climate change as evidence in their construction of scientific arguments.

A Survey of Registered Dietitians’ Concern and Actions Regarding Climate Change in the United States

PubMed Central

Hawkins, Irana W.; Balsam, Alan L.; Goldman, Robert

2015-01-01

Dietary choices are a tool to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. While registered dietitians are on the front lines of food and nutrition recommendations, it is unclear how many are concerned with climate change and take action in practice in the United States. We explored concern about climate change among registered dietitians, and identified factors that may influence practice-related behaviors. Our study population included a random sample of all registered dietitians credentialed in the United States. Primary data were gathered using a cross-sectional survey. Of the 570 survey responses, 75% strongly agreed or agreed that climate change is an important issue while 34% strongly agreed or agreed that dietitians should play a major role in climate change mitigation strategies. Thirty-eight percent engaged in activities that promoted diet as a climate change mitigation strategy. Vegetarian (p = 0.002) and vegan dietitians (p = 0.007) were significantly more likely than non-vegetarian and non-vegan dietitians to engage in activities that promoted diet as a climate change mitigation strategy. Overall, concern for climate change among dietitians varied significantly by the region of the country in which the dietitian resided, and awareness that animal products are implicated in climate change. Registered dietitians in the United States are concerned with climate change. However, there is a discrepancy between concern and practice-based actions. These results suggest the need for educational and experiential opportunities connecting climate change mitigation to dietetics practice. PMID:26217666

Neo-Liberal Educational Reform and the Role of Teachers' Unions in the Context of Private Schools in Nepal: Possibility or Paralysis?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Poudyal, Chandra Sharma

2015-01-01

Nepal experienced political change from absolute monarchy to constitutional monarchy in 1990 and finally to a republic in 2008. These changes in the political climate were followed by subsequent change in the educational policy as the incoming regimes tried to incorporate its ideology in the educational policy. This paper analyses the role of…

Sciencetogo.Org: Using Humor to Engage a Public Audience with the Serious Issue of Climate Change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lustick, D. S.; Lohmeier, J.; Chen, R. F.; Rabkin, D.; Wilson, R.

2014-12-01

A team of educators, scientists, and communication experts from multiple universities as well as a Science museum will report on the impact of ScienceToGo.org, which is an Out of Home Multi-Media (OHMM) exhibit targeting adults riding a major subway system. The campaign's goal is to design, implement, and study the efficacy of an OHMM model for free choice science learning about our changing climate. Subway riders represent a diverse and captive audience with most of them spending an average of one hour a day in the subway system. Through the use of specially designed OHMM such as train placards, platform posters, and virtual resources the campaign engages a potential audience of 500,000 riders/day with opportunities to learn climate change science informally. The primary goal of the ScienceToGo.org campaign is to engage, entertain, and educate the adult subway riding community in major U.S. city about climate change as a real, relevant, and solvable local challenge. A naturalistic quasi-experimental inquiry employing a mixed methodology approach best describes our research design with half of the subway system exposed to the project signage (experimental group) and the other half not being exposed to the project signage (control group). To identify possible outcomes, data was collected in the several forms: survey, analytic data associated with website, social media, web app, focus groups, and observations. This campaign is an example of how an individual's daily routine may be enhanced with an informal science learning opportunity. We see an urgent need to improve both the public's engagement with climate change science and to the profile of climate change science in formal education settings. The campaign makes deliberate use of humor and fun to engage a public and diverse audience with the serious issue of climate change. The research that will be presented will reveal some of the strengths and weaknesses of this strategy when communicating science to a diverse audience. Overall, the preponderance of evidence indicates that humor and fun are effective at engaging riders on mass transit. Mass transit spaces represent a promsing medium for further exploration and development when it comes to informal learning about climate change science.

The Challenges of Creating Climate Change Education Cross-Sector Partnerships

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ledley, T. S.

2017-12-01

Communities will have to address the impacts of climate change on their environment whether it is for adaptation - to build resilience and establish preparedness, or for mitigation - to migrate to cleaner energy sources and reduce energy use. To effectively address these impacts community leaders and professionals will need to develop an understanding of and solutions to the problems that result from climate change. The effort will need to be conducted with a cross-sector approach as all members of a community (individuals and organizations/businesses/ groups) will be impacted. Students should be involved in this effort to help them develop the critical thinking and data analysis skills they will need in the future to make responsible decisions for themselves, their community, and professionally. However, engaging businesses, organizations, and government in a coherent aligned partnership that addresses short and long term local impacts of climate change as well as the longer-term goal of preparing the future climate ready workforce has multiple challenges. Each business, organization and government agency has it own mission and goals, and metrics of achieving them. In creating an effective cross-sector partnership it is essential to determine for each partner where their mission, services, products, and activities can benefit the partnership and where the partnership can help them improve their multiple bottom lines (financial, social, envionmental) and show the value of their participation to their boards and leadership. Cross-sector partnerships have begun to form in many communities, however, financing them is difficult and most do not include education, a critical leverage element, for either the future workforce or to support current decision makers. In this presentation we will examine community partnerships that are working to address local climate issues and explore the obstacles to integrating education in these cross-sector climate change partnerships and how to overcome them.

The Need to Introduce System Thinking in Teaching Climate Change

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roychoudhury, Anita; Shepardson, Daniel P.; Hirsch, Andrew; Niyogi, Devdutta; Mehta, Jignesh; Top, Sara

2017-01-01

Research related to teaching climate change, system thinking, current reform in science education, and the research on reform-oriented assessment indicate that we need to explore student understanding in greater detail instead of only testing for an incremental gain in disciplinary knowledge. Using open-ended items we assessed details in student…

The "Spring Bulbs for Schools" Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cowell, Danielle; Watkins, Richard

2007-01-01

It is becoming clear that human influences are a significant factor driving climate change. Education is one of the main weapons in influencing patterns of behaviour and teachers inevitably have a crucial role to play. Teachers need to be fully aware of issues surrounding climate change in order to be positive role models for children and to…

Creating Climate Change Awareness in South African Schools through Practical Chemistry Demonstrations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sunassee, Suthananda N.; Young, Ryan M.; Sewry, Joyce D.; Harrison, Timothy G.; Shallcross, Dudley E.

2012-01-01

In accordance with the requirements for the National Curriculum Statement for both Life sciences and Physical sciences and the importance of community engagement in Higher Education in South Africa, this paper described the use of the lecture-demonstration "A Pollutant's Tale" to create climate change awareness amongst school learners.…

Western Australian High School Students' Understandings about the Socioscientific Issue of Climate Change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dawson, Vaille

2015-05-01

Climate change is one of the most significant science issues facing humanity; yet, teaching students about climate change is challenging: not only is it multidisciplinary, but also it is contentious and debated in political, social and media forums. Students need to be equipped with an understanding of climate change science to be able to participate in this discourse. The purpose of this study was to examine Western Australian high school students' understanding of climate change and the greenhouse effect, in order to identify their alternative conceptions about climate change science and provide a baseline for more effective teaching. A questionnaire designed to elicit students' understanding and alternative conceptions was completed by 438 Year 10 students (14-15 years old). A further 20 students were interviewed. Results showed that students know different features of both climate change and the greenhouse effect, however not necessarily all of them and the relationships between. Five categories of alternative conceptions were identified. The categories were (1) the greenhouse effect and the ozone layer; (2) types of greenhouse gases; (3) types of radiation; (4) weather and climate and (5) air pollution. These findings provide science educators a basis upon which to develop strategies and curriculum resources to improve their students' understanding and decision-making skills about the socioscientific issue, climate change.

Service-Learning in the Undergraduate Geoscience Classroom: Establishing Community Partnerships to Enhance Education in Climate Change Science in Local Schools

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Joseph, L. H.; Faust, R.

2009-12-01

The complexity of the science surrounding global climate change makes effective communication about this issue to the public difficult, especially at a time when many would argue that public understanding of science in general has decreased. As a service-learning project, a partnership was created between an upper-level environmental studies climate change class at Ursinus College (UC) and the UC Science In Motion (SIM) program to construct an appropriate lab activity that would foster scientific knowledge and abilities in high school students particularly in relation to basic climate change science. The Pennsylvania SIM program is a state-funded initiative to make a selection of lab activities, equipment, and expertise available to teachers at secondary schools at no cost to the schools with the goal to “strengthen the quality of science education for all.” The twelve SIM sites are dispersed throughout PA and serve over 200 school districts overall. The UC SIM program has served over 30 local schools with labs and activities from which the teachers may select. Prior to the partnership discussed here, there were no labs in the UC SIM program that incorporated the concepts of climate change and though a “drop-off” climate change lab was desired, the staff would have no time to design one. The adaptation of a previously written lab set on climate change was assigned as a project for the 9 environmental studies majors at UC enrolled in a Fall 2008 course exploring the science of global climate change. While an advanced course within the environmental studies curriculum, the science backgrounds of the college students themselves were mixed, ranging from science majors to students for whom this was the first or second science course taken at college. In addition to the typical load of coursework, the students worked in small groups on this project throughout the semester, collecting the supplies, testing and adapting the labs, creating a video to guide users through the lab, visiting a local high school for a trial run, and editing and writing the worksheets and teacher guides. It was necessary for the students to clearly understand the concepts behind the labs so the activities could be adapted and presented appropriately. Effective communication of the concepts through visuals and written work was also important. Continued coordination with UC SIM staff was required and helpful and the final product was turned over to the UC SIM for further adaptation and use. The college students appreciated the positive impact the lab could have on climate change science education even after the end of the semester and found it both motivating and rewarding. Partnering with an organization already established and utilized as a source of science education activities for the local school districts ensured quick dissemination of the lab activity. Between 1/09-6/09, ~12 teachers have used this global climate change lab with ~500 students of mixed academic levels. The lab has received positive feedback from teachers and supplies have been duplicated to meet demand, likely indicative of a desire for accessible lab activities within the field of environmental science.

Climate Projections and Uncertainty Communication.

PubMed

Joslyn, Susan L; LeClerc, Jared E

2016-01-01

Lingering skepticism about climate change might be due in part to the way climate projections are perceived by members of the public. Variability between scientists' estimates might give the impression that scientists disagree about the fact of climate change rather than about details concerning the extent or timing. Providing uncertainty estimates might clarify that the variability is due in part to quantifiable uncertainty inherent in the prediction process, thereby increasing people's trust in climate projections. This hypothesis was tested in two experiments. Results suggest that including uncertainty estimates along with climate projections leads to an increase in participants' trust in the information. Analyses explored the roles of time, place, demographic differences (e.g., age, gender, education level, political party affiliation), and initial belief in climate change. Implications are discussed in terms of the potential benefit of adding uncertainty estimates to public climate projections. Copyright © 2015 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Climate Change, Climate Justice, and Environmental Health: Implications for the Nursing Profession.

PubMed

Nicholas, Patrice K; Breakey, Suellen

2017-11-01

Climate change is an emerging challenge linked to negative outcomes for the environment and human health. Since the 1960s, there has been a growing recognition of the need to address climate change and the impact of greenhouse gas emissions implicated in the warming of our planet. There are also deleterious health outcomes linked to complex climate changes that are emerging in the 21st century. This article addresses the social justice issues associated with climate change and human health and discussion of climate justice. Discussion paper. A literature search of electronic databases was conducted for articles, texts, and documents related to climate change, climate justice, and human health. The literature suggests that those who contribute least to global warming are those who will disproportionately be affected by the negative health outcomes of climate change. The concept of climate justice and the role of the Mary Robinson Foundation-Climate Justice are discussed within a framework of nursing's professional responsibility and the importance of social justice for the world's people. The nursing profession must take a leadership role in engaging in policy and advocacy discussions in addressing the looming problems associated with climate change. Nursing organizations have adopted resolutions and engaged in leadership roles to address climate change at the local, regional, national, and global level. It is essential that nurses embrace concepts related to social justice and engage in the policy debate regarding the deleterious effects on human health related to global warming and climate change. Nursing's commitment to social justice offers an opportunity to offer significant global leadership in addressing the health implications related to climate change. Recognizing the negative impacts of climate change on well-being and the underlying socioeconomic reasons for their disproportionate and inequitable distribution can expand and optimize the profession's role in education, practice, research, and policy-making efforts to address climate change. © 2017 Sigma Theta Tau International.

The Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network (CLEAN) - Enabling Collective Impact on Climate and Energy Literacy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ledley, T. S.; Gold, A. U.; Niepold, F., III

2015-12-01

Numerous climate change education efforts exist that aim to enable citizens and society to make informed decisions addressing environmental and societal issues arising from climate change. To extend the reach and impact of these efforts, it is necessary to coordinate them in order to reach a greater collective impact. The Collective Impact model, as described by Kania & Kramer (2011), requires five elements: 1) a common agenda; 2) shared measurement systems; 3) mutually reinforcing activities; 4) continuous communication; and 5) a well-funded backbone support organization. The CLEAN Network, as an example of a rudimentary form of such an organization, engages in continuous communication through weekly teleconferences, an active listserv and other activities to share resources, activities, and ideas that is moving the network to develop common understandings that will likely lead to the development of effective collective impact on increasing climate and energy literacy. A Spring 2013 survey of the CLEAN Network provided insight as to how the CLEAN Network was addressing member needs and identified what other support was needed to increase its collective impact. In addition, community discussions identified the components needed for an effective overarching backbone support organization. A Fall 2015 survey of the CLEAN Network and the broader climate change education community is being conducted to examine 1) how the CLEAN Network make up and needs have evolved and how they compare to the broader community, and 2) to gather further input into the shaping of the elements of collective impact on climate and energy literacy. This presentation will describe the results from the 2015 survey and compare them to the 2013 survey and the community discussions. This will include describing the CLEAN Network's evolving professional make up, engagement of its members network activities, the importance of the network to members; how the findings compare with the broader climate change education community, and how the collective impact can be increased.

Climate Consensus and "Misinformation": A Rejoinder to "Agnotology, Scientific Consensus, and the Teaching and Learning of Climate Change"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Legates, David R.; Soon, Willie; Briggs, William M.; Monckton of Brenchley, Christopher

2015-01-01

Agnotology is the study of how ignorance arises via circulation of misinformation calculated to mislead. Legates et al. ("Sci Educ" 22:2007-2017, 2013) had questioned the applicability of agnotology to politically-charged debates. In their reply, Bedford and Cook ("Sci Educ" 22:2019-2030, 2013), seeking to apply agnotology to…

A Comparative Case Study of the Influence of Educational Governance Team Decision-Making Processes on District Climate and Student Achievement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thompson, Debra A.

2010-01-01

This study explored how the educational governance team, composed of the superintendent and school board, can, in their collaborative efforts and decision-making processes, influence school district climate and impact student achievement. Though in form and function, school boards have not changed much in their almost 200 years of existence,…

Chapter 11: City-Wide Collaborations for Urban Climate Education

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Snyder, Steven; Hoffstadt, Rita Mukherjee; Allen, Lauren B.; Crowley, Kevin; Bader, Daniel A.; Horton, Radley M.

2014-01-01

Although cities cover only 2 percent of the Earth's surface, more than 50 percent of the world's people live in urban environments, collectively consuming 75 percent of the Earth's resources. Because of their population densities, reliance on infrastructure, and role as centers of industry, cities will be greatly impacted by, and will play a large role in, the reduction or exacerbation of climate change. However, although urban dwellers are becoming more aware of the need to reduce their carbon usage and to implement adaptation strategies, education efforts on these strategies have not been comprehensive. To meet the needs of an informed and engaged urban population, a more systemic, multiplatform and coordinated approach is necessary. The Climate and Urban Systems Partnership (CUSP) is designed to explore and address this challenge. Spanning four cities-Philadelphia, New York, Pittsburgh, and Washington, DC-the project is a partnership between the Franklin Institute, the Columbia University Center for Climate Systems Research, the University of Pittsburgh Learning Research and Development Center, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, New York Hall of Science, and the Marian Koshland Science Museum of the National Academy of Sciences. The partnership is developing a comprehensive, interdisciplinary network to educate urban residents about climate science and the urban impacts of climate change.

Connecting Alaskan Youth, Elders, and Scientists in Climate Change Research and Community Resilience

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Spellman, K.; Sparrow, E.

2017-12-01

Integrated science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) solutions and effective, relevant learning processes are required to address the challenges that a changing climate presents to many Arctic communities. Learning that can both enhance a community's understanding and generate new knowledge about climate change impacts at both local and continental scales are needed to efficiently build the capacity to navigate these changes. The Arctic and Earth STEM Integrating GLOBE and NASA (SIGNs) program is developing a learning model to engage Alaskan rural and indigenous communities in climate change learning, research and action. Youth, elders, educators, community leaders and scientists collaborate to address a pressing local climate change concern. The program trains teams of educators and long-time community members on climate change concepts and environmental observing protocols in face-to-face or online workshops together with Arctic and NASA subject matter experts. Community teams return to their community to identify local data or information needs that align with their student's interests and the observations of local elders. They deepen their understanding of the subject through culturally responsive curriculum materials, and collaborate with a scientist to develop an investigation with their students to address the identified need. Youth make observations using GLOBE (Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment) protocols that best fit the issue, analyze the data they have collected, and utilize indigenous or knowledge, and NASA data to address the issue. The use of GLOBE protocols allow for communities to engage in climate change research at both local and global scales, as over 110 nations worldwide are using these standardized protocols. Teams work to communicate their investigation results back to their community and other scientists, and apply their results to local stewardship action or climate adaptation projects. In this presentation, we report the progress of community teams currently engaged in this program from throughout Alaska.

Educating Professional Accountants for the Twenty-First Century: A Point of View.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bloom, Robert; Debessay, Araya

1984-01-01

Points out the need to change the direction of accounting education. Indicates that students need to learn to think and be critical and be prepared to cope with future issues and controversies. Accountancy must be viewed as a dynamic profession that changes as the socioeconomic and political climate changes. (JOW)

Enabling Climate Science Investigations by Students Using Cryosphere Climate Data Records (CDRs)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ledley, T. S.; Youngman, B.; Meier, W.; Bardar, E.

2010-12-01

The polar regions are particularly sensitive to changes in the climate system, and as such changes can be recognized there first. Scientists make use of this to help them develop and execute research programs that will deepen and expand our understanding of the climate system. However, the same cryosphere CDRs collected by scientists are a useful and reliable resource for helping students investigate and discover the manifestations and implications of global climate change. We have developed a number of avenues to facilitate the use of cryosphere CDRs in educational contexts. These include the Earth Exploration Toolbook (EET, http://serc.carleton.edu/eet), DataSheets (http://serc.carleton.edu/usingdata/browse_sheets.html), and Cryosphere-EarthLabs (http://serc.carleton.edu/dev/earthlabs/cryosphere). The EET is an online resource comprised of “chapters”, each of which focuses on a specific Earth science dataset and data analysis tool. Chapters provide step-by-step instructions for accessing the dataset and analysis tool, putting the data into the tool, and conducting an analysis around a specific scientific concept or issue. There are a number of EET chapters that utilize cryosphere CDRs. The EET chapter “Whither Arctic Sea Ice?” uses ~30 years of Arctic sea ice extent images and image processing software to study changes in sea ice extent. “Is Greenland Melting?” uses ice thickness data, ice melting extents and weather station data to examine the changes in the Greenland Ice Sheet. Other EET chapters that utilize cryosphere CDRs include “Using NASA NEO and ImageJ to Explore the Role of Snow Cover in Shaping Climate” and “Envisioning Climate Change Using a Global Climate Model.” In addition to creating these activities to facilitate the use of cryosphere CDRs we have also created DataSheets for these CDRs. DataSheets are educationally relevant human readable metadata about a dataset that provide both the scientific background information about the dataset as well as the topics and skills that can be taught using the dataset. DataSheets enable an educator to make effective use of a dataset outside the context of an educational activity. A DataSheet created for the sea ice index used in the “Whither Arctic Sea Ice? EET chapter is “Exploring Sea Ice Data From Satellites.” An EarthLabs module is a suite of 7-9 labs intended to be the laboratory component of a high-school capstone Earth and Space Science course. The Cryosphere-EarthLabs module focuses on sea ice to help students deepen their understanding of change over time in the climate system on multiple and embedded time scales. The module contains hands-on activities and investigations using online cryosphere CDRs to help students understand the how sea ice forms and varies, how the cryosphere changes, and the causes of those changes on time scales ranging from the seasonal to ice age time scales. In this presentation we will examine the EET and EarthLabs resources that help educators and students explore climate change using cryosphere CDRs; examine the DataSheets for these datasets; and describe how your cryosphere CDRs can be made available through these resources.

A Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on Climate Change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Somerville, R. C. J.

2015-12-01

A climate change MOOC is a way to reach a global audience of many thousands of students. What was it like to teach climate change to an invisible class over the Internet, and how well did it work? The need to educate many people about climate change seems obvious. Climate change is one of the most important existential issues of our time. Sound science can inform wise policy, and coping successfully with climate change is surely an urgent global challenge that requires scientific input and a scientifically informed public. Today many scientists have opportunities to communicate what science has learned about climate and climate change. Yet being a scientific expert on these subjects does not necessarily mean having the skills to communicate effectively to a broad audience. Like learning to ski or to drive a car skillfully, learning to communicate climate science well takes time and effort. The MOOC format has its own special challenges. Effective communication should always resemble a conversation rather than a monologue, but a conversation can be difficult when the teacher will never see or hear from the great majority of students in the class. In addition, a well-funded and effective professional disinformation campaign has been successful in sowing widespread confusion about climate change. As a result, many people mistakenly think climate change science is unreliable or is controversial within the expert community. One can expect that some of the students taking the MOOC will have been influenced by this sort of erroneous information. Thus, one appealing topic to include in a MOOC on climate change is to give useful guidelines for recognizing and rejecting junk science and disinformation. This talk will describe one climate scientist's first-person participation in teaching a climate change MOOC.

Confronting Misinformation in Climate Change Higher Education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bedford, D. P.

2012-12-01

Among the many challenges faced by climate change educators is the highly politicized nature of the subject matter (e.g. McCright and Dunlap, 2011) and the associated misinformation from key media outlets and websites (e.g. see Oreskes and Conway, 2010). Students typically do not enter the classroom as 'blank slates', but often have already formed some opinion about climate change which may or may not be based on reputable sources. Further, many students have lives outside the classroom and/or off campus, and even those who do live in an isolated bubble of campus life will eventually graduate. Thus, providing students with a level of climate change knowledge and understanding robust enough to cope with misinformation may be an important goal for educators. This paper presents a case study of the direct use of climate change misinformation as a college-level classroom activity. Some research from other fields (notably psychology) has found that directly addressing misconceptions in the classroom can be the most effective means of dispelling them (Kowalski and Taylor, 2009). However, directly confronting misinformation in the classroom carries inherent risks, such as reinforcing misconceptions (e.g. Cook and Lewandowsky, 2011). This paper therefore considers approaches to minimizing those risks while attempting to maximize the possible benefits. This paper argues that use of misinformation as a teaching tool can provide useful exercises in critical thinking, testing of content knowledge, and consideration of the nature of science. Cook, J. and S. Lewandowsky. 2011. The Debunking Handbook. Online publication available www.skepticalscience.com/docs/Debunking_Handbook.pdf. Accessed 7 July 2012. Kowalski, P. and A.K. Taylor. 2009. DOI: 10.1080/00986280902959986. McCright, A., and R.T. Dunlap. 2011. The politicization of climate change and polarization in the American public's views of global warming, 2001-2010. The Sociological Quarterly 52:2, 155-194. Oreskes, N. and E. Conway. 2010. Merchants of Doubt. Bloomsbury Press.

Connecting Spatial Literacy and Climate Literacy Using a Place-Based GIS Approach in a Collaborative Online Educational Setting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Low, R.; Boger, R. A.; Mandryk, C. A.

2014-12-01

On-line learning is already revolutionizing higher education, and emerging cloud-based Geographic Information System (GIS) capabilities are poised to revolutionize the acquisition and sharing of spatial knowledge in a variety of fields. In this project, we deployed ESRI's ArcGIS Online in an on-line course environment to provide a place-based quantitative exploration of the impacts of environmental changes specifically related to climate change. As spatial thinking is not necessarily transferrable from one domain to another, we hypothesized that combining spatial literacy and climate change domain knowledge would transform student conceptions and mental models of climate change in measurable ways. To this end, we adapted and employed existing instruments for pre- post testing of general pattern recognition, interpretation, and spatial transformational skills, as well as climate system content knowledge and attitudes. A collaborative on-line course platform offered to students from University of Nebraska, Lincoln and from City College of New York (CUNY) colleges, Brooklyn and Lehman, brought to the discussion distinct urban and rural perspectives, which were the basis of place-based climate, water and food explorations in the course. The course has been offered 3 times in a shared LMS over the past 3 years. Participants in the most recent iteration of the course demonstrated statistically significant improvements in spatial skills, but they did not show the expected statistically significant improvement overall in climate knowledge that we see in other online courses where climate change literacy is the sole focus of the course. Ongoing research by our team shows strong correlation between active peer engagement in online discussions and student learning outcomes. Student-initiated discussions in the GIS-based climate change courses revealed a shift away from discussing the climate change science and a focus on technology and analyzing the spatial products created using GIS. As we improve the effectiveness of this course, we will be developing interventions in the discussion board activities that we hypothesize will increase the effectiveness of climate knowledge construction in future iterations.

Scaling Climate Change Communication for Behavior Change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rodriguez, V. C.; Lappé, M.; Flora, J. A.; Ardoin, N. M.; Robinson, T. N.

2014-12-01

Ultimately, effective climate change communication results in a change in behavior, whether the change is individual, household or collective actions within communities. We describe two efforts to promote climate-friendly behavior via climate communication and behavior change theory. Importantly these efforts are designed to scale climate communication principles focused on behavior change rather than soley emphasizing climate knowledge or attitudes. Both cases are embedded in rigorous evaluations (randomized controlled trial and quasi-experimental) of primary and secondary outcomes as well as supplementary analyses that have implications for program refinement and program scaling. In the first case, the Girl Scouts "Girls Learning Environment and Energy" (GLEE) trial is scaling the program via a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) for Troop Leaders to teach the effective home electricity and food and transportation energy reduction programs. The second case, the Alliance for Climate Education (ACE) Assembly Program, is advancing the already-scaled assembly program by using communication principles to further engage youth and their families and communities (school and local communities) in individual and collective actions. Scaling of each program uses online learning platforms, social media and "behavior practice" videos, mastery practice exercises, virtual feedback and virtual social engagement to advance climate-friendly behavior change. All of these communication practices aim to simulate and advance in-person train-the-trainers technologies.As part of this presentation we outline scaling principles derived from these two climate change communication and behavior change programs.

Tracking Middle Grades Climate Data to Inform School Change. REL West Research Digest

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Regional Educational Laboratory West, 2015

2015-01-01

A growing body of research shows that positive school climate is a key lever for students' academic and social development and success. This research digest shows how an alliance of California schools and districts, school climate experts, and state education agency personnel have teamed up to use school climate data to drive a continuous cycle of…

On-line Education Initiatives to Galvanize Climate Mitigation in the Great Lakes Region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mooney, M. E.; Ackerman, S. A.

2014-12-01

The Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) is supporting two different on-line education initiatives that teach about climate change while emphasizing informed and effective responses. The first is an on-line introductory level course for undergraduate students (http://c3.ssec.wisc.edu/) offered through the University of Wisconsin-Madison Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences (AOS) department. Along with a lighter carbon footprint and the convenience of web-based access, students interact via Drupal forums, Google hangouts and twitter. Activities include several pedagogical tools with sustainability-related content and a final project requiring a discussion of regionally relevant mitigation responses to achieve low emission scenarios for assigned locations. The other initiative is a MOOC (massive open online course) focusing on the changing weather and climate in the Great Lakes Region. This 4-week course is set to launch February 23 2015. One of the primary goals of this MOOC will be having participants change four habits, one per week. Each behavior change will provide a personal benefit to participating individuals while also helping to mitigate the collective impacts of climate change. This presentation will share strategies and insights from both projects.

Nordic exchange of students and climate change.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thomsson, A.

2012-04-01

Since the end of 2010 and until the summer of 2011 two upper secondary schools in Höyanger, Norway and Ronneby, Sweden had the possibility to take part in a project called Nordplus junior. The main aims of the program are: • To promote Nordic languages and culture and mutual Nordic-Baltic linguistic and cultural understanding. • To contribute to the development of quality and innovation in the educational systems for life-long learning in the participating countries by means of educational cooperation, development projects, exchanges and networking. • To support, develop, draw benefit from and spread innovative products and processes in education through systematic exchange of experiences and best practice. • To strengthen and develop Nordic educational cooperation and contribute to the establishment of a Nordic-Baltic educational area. The students did research on climate change and the impact on local and regional areas. Many questions had to be answered, giving an explanation to what happens if the climate changes. Questions related to Höyanger, Norway What happens to life in Norwegian fiords? Which attitudes do youngsters and adults have about climate change and what actions do they take? What does a rise in sea level mean for Höyanger? How are different tourist attractions affected in western Norway? Questions related to Ronneby, Sweden How is the regional fauna and flora affected? What will happen to agriculture and forestry? What do adults and youngsters know about consequences of a possible climate change? What happens to the people of Ronneby if the sea level rises? Are there any positive outcomes if the climate changes? Conclusions In Norwegian fiords there could be benefits because fish are growing faster in the winter because of an increased temperature. At the same time there could be an imbalance in the ecosystem because of a change in the living ranges of different species. Most of the young boys and girls in Höyanger, Norway were consistent with their attitudes towards the environment. In the survey of adults (Höyanger) women between 50-60 years old were the ones that were friendliest towards the environment. The students of Sweden (Ronneby) believe both young Norwegian and Swedish people are well educated in climate changes issues. A rise in the sea level will have serious impact on both Ronneby and Höyanger. In Höyanger people could lose their jobs and landslides could take place. In Ronneby, ground water could be polluted by salt and sewage water. In Ronneby parks would be flooded and restrictions on building new houses below 2.2 meters above sea level would be enforced. In Bergen, Norway, the Hanseatic buildings will be flooded, there will be huge economic problems, new roads have to be built etc. The regional flora and fauna in Sweden will move northwards and new species will enter from Central Europe. The vegetation season will be longer and the crops will benefit from a higher carbon dioxide concentration. The plants could be exposed to parasites. The students of Ronneby also see possibilities due to climate change. There might be more tourists as the temperature increases. It could mean faster development for renewable energy sources. It could be possible to grow exotic fruits and vegetables in Ronneby if the temperature increases. Written by Mr. Anders Thomsson, teacher of Geography and Biology.

THE IMPACT OF CHANGING SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE ON SCIENCE EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES SINCE 1850.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

DEL GIORNO, BETTE JOYCE

ANALYZED WAS THE IMPACT OF CHANGING SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE ON SCIENCE EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES FROM 1850 THROUGH 1954. THE OBJECTIVES WERE TO IDENTIFY (1) MAJOR DEVELOPMENTS IN SCIENCE, (2) IMPORTANT EVENTS IN EDUCATION, (3) THE PHILOSOPHICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL CLIMATE, (4) THE SCIENCE CURRICULUM AND SUBJECT MATTER, AND (5) THE APPROACH TO…

Modeling the influence of climate change on watershed systems: Adaptation through targeted practices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dudula, John; Randhir, Timothy O.

2016-10-01

Climate change may influence hydrologic processes of watersheds (IPCC, 2013) and increased runoff may cause flooding, eroded stream banks, widening of stream channels, increased pollutant loading, and consequently impairment of aquatic life. The goal of this study was to quantify the potential impacts of climate change on watershed hydrologic processes and to evaluate scale and effectiveness of management practices for adaptation. We simulate baseline watershed conditions using the Hydrological Simulation Program Fortran (HSPF) simulation model to examine the possible effects of changing climate on watershed processes. We also simulate the effects of adaptation and mitigation through specific best management strategies for various climatic scenarios. With continuing low-flow conditions and vulnerability to climate change, the Ipswich watershed is the focus of this study. We quantify fluxes in runoff, evapotranspiration, infiltration, sediment load, and nutrient concentrations under baseline and climate change scenarios (near and far future). We model adaptation options for mitigating climate effects on watershed processes using bioretention/raingarden Best Management Practices (BMPs). It was observed that climate change has a significant impact on watershed runoff and carefully designed and maintained BMPs at subwatershed scale can be effective in mitigating some of the problems related to stormwater runoff. Policy options include implementation of BMPs through education and incentives for scale-dependent and site specific bioretention units/raingardens to increase the resilience of the watershed system to current and future climate change.

Farmers perceptions on climate change in lowland and highland vegetable production centers of South Sulawesi, Indonesia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adiyoga, W.

2018-02-01

A survey was carried out in South Sulawesi, Indonesia interviewing 220 vegetable farmers. It was aimed at examining the vegetable farmers’ perception of climate change and assessing the consistency of farmers’ perception with available time series meteorological data. Results suggest that meteorological data analysis is in agreement with farmers’ perception regarding faster start, longer ending, and longer duration of rainy season. Further data analysis supports the claim of most farmers who perceive the occurrence of increasing air temperature, changing or shifting of the hottest and coldest month. Most respondents also suggest that climate change has affected vegetable farm yield and profitability. Other respondents even predict that climate change may affect the quality of life of their future descendants. Meanwhile, significant number of farmers is quite optimistic that they can cope with climate change problems through adaptation strategy. However, the attitude of farmers towards climate change is mostly negative as compared to positive or neutral feeling. Informative and educational campaign should be continuously carried out to encourage farmers in developing positive attitude or positive thinking towards climate change. Positive attitude may eventually lead to constructive behavior in selecting and implementing adaptation options.

Global climate changes, natural disasters, and travel health risks.

PubMed

Diaz, James H

2006-01-01

Whether the result of cyclical atmospheric changes, anthropogenic activities, or combinations of both, authorities now agree that the earth is warming from a variety of climatic effects, including the cascading effects of greenhouse gas emissions to support human activities. To date, most reports of the public health outcomes of global warming have been anecdotal and retrospective in design and have focused on heat stroke deaths following heat waves, drowning deaths in floods and tsunamis, and mosquito-borne infectious disease outbreaks following tropical storms and cyclones. Accurate predictions of the true public health outcomes of global climate change are confounded by several effect modifiers including human acclimatization and adaptation, the contributions of natural climatic changes, and many conflicting atmospheric models of climate change. Nevertheless, temporal relationships between environmental factors and human health outcomes have been identified and may be used as criteria to judge the causality of associations between the human health outcomes of climate changes and climate-driven natural disasters. Travel medicine physicians are obligated to educate their patients about the known public health outcomes of climate changes, about the disease and injury risk factors their patients may face from climate-spawned natural disasters, and about the best preventive measures to reduce infectious diseases and injuries following natural disasters throughout the world.

Engaging Minority University STEM Education Professors in the Science of Climate Change: Recruitment, Implementation and Evaluation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hayden, L. B.; Hale, S. R.; Johnson, D.

2013-12-01

Elizabeth City State University has joined with the University of New Hampshire under the NASA Innovations in Climate Education (NICE) to empower faculty of education programs at Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) to better engage their pre-service teachers in teaching and learning about global climate change through the use of NASA Earth observation data sets. This project is designed to impact teaching first on college campuses within science education classes. Second, as pre-service teachers transition into in-service teachers, the impact will extend to elementary and secondary classrooms. Our goal is to empower faculty of education programs at Minority Serving Institutions to better engage their pre-service teachers in teaching and learning about global climate change through the use of NASA Earth observation data sets. This presentation documents the efforts to recruit two cohorts of STEM education faculty from MSIs along with the associated implementation and program evaluation efforts. To date, thirty-four (34) faculty from over a dozen MSIs have participated in the summer workshops. Recruitment efforts have focused on interactions with faculty in campus and conference settings. This has included the Johnson C. Smith University conference, the Minorities (QEM) Network Workshop on Evidence-Based STEM Instructional Strategies and the Annual Minority Serving Institutions Technical Assistance and Capacity Conference. The primary implementation mechanism was a one-week summer workshop conducted each year. ECSU hosted the first summer workshop and UNH hosted the second workshop. During each workshop, faculty had an opportunity to engage in activities using NASA Earth observation data, and benefited from engaged instruction and interaction with scientists who routinely use these datasets in their professional practice. This provided a comprehensive learning environment ensuring the transfer of the know-how on utilizing NASA datasets and tools in climate change education from researcher to science educator to pre-service STEM teacher. The faculty conducted field work that emphasizes place-based pedagogy. They worked with NASA satellite imagery data from the MODIS and SeaWiFS sensors, and discussed the challenges and approaches to integrating all or some of the lessons into their courses. Program Evaluation efforts, led by Learning Innovations at WestEd, includes formative and summative evaluation related to the outcomes of the project. Evaluators worked with project staff to create a logic model that clearly articulates a theory of action for the project. Included in the evaluation model were online questionnaires and focus group protocols. There exist evidence to show that the MSI faculty who participate in the workshop are using the information learned to engage their pre-service teachers in teaching and learning about global climate change through the use of NASA Earth observation sets.

Creationism & Climate Change (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Newton, S.

2009-12-01

Although creationists focus on the biological sciences, recently creationists have also expanded their attacks to include the earth sciences, especially on the topic of climate change. The creationist effort to deny climate change, in addition to evolution and radiometric dating, is part of a broader denial of the methodology and validity of science itself. Creationist misinformation can pose a serious problem for science educators, who are further hindered by the poor treatment of the earth sciences and climate change in state science standards. Recent changes to Texas’ science standards, for example, require that students learn “different views on the existence of global warming.” Because of Texas’ large influence on the national textbook market, textbooks presenting non-scientific “different views” about climate change—or simply omitting the subject entirely because of the alleged “controversy”—could become part of K-12 classrooms across the country.

A Science-Driven Photojournalistic Documentation of Climate Change (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Braasch, G.; Rothlein, J. E.

2013-12-01

World View of Global Warming is an independent photojournalistic documentation of global warming and rapid climate change begun in 1999. The intended outcomes of the work - the photographs, reportage and publications - are based on the principles of scientific accuracy, a journalistic approach, strong photographic skills, long-term observations, science literacy, education, documentation for policy makers and inspiration to others. During the course of this project the team of photojournalist and public health toxicologist visited, interviewed and/or had correspondence with more than 150 scientists in the field on every continent. Hundreds more have influenced and informed the work. World View of Global Warming has tested the idea that climate change can be more easily understood by the public and government officials through photographs which accurately and engagingly depict the locations and the scientists involved in research, communities responding to impacts of climate change and innovations for mitigation. Use of the photographs by scientists to further their own work and outreach was an immediate and continuing result, including use in journals, reports, textbooks and conferences. This presentation will demonstrate the many uses of photography in climate change communications and discuss how scientists and educators can more effectively interact with the public and media and artists. The website for this project was established in 2002 and now has more than 100 pages of photographs and information. It is strictly non-commercial and documented. Wide and repeated publication indicates the value of the project's climate communication: Exhibition at the Boston Museum of Science (2013), the National Academy of Sciences and the American Assn. for the Advancement of Science and other venues; extended use by the United Nations, UNFCCC, World Meteorological Organization, Environmental Protection Agency and the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive Office of the President; two original books (one for middle schools with a co-author); publication in hundreds of magazines, textbooks and public interest websites; use during university, government and civic seminars and scientific meetings; and distribution among and use by Congressional offices. Most recently the project inspired films about youth involvement in citizen science and climate change education; and co-developed Apps for the iPad and iPhone which graphically show climate-driven changes in repeat photographs and maps. Financial support for this work has come principally from publication fees and grants from small foundations and individuals (via Blue Earth Alliance of Seattle).

Climate Change and its Impacts on Tourism and Livelihood in Manaslu Conservation Area, Nepal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

K C, A.

2016-12-01

The Hindukush Himalayan region including Nepal, a country reliant on tourism, is particularly sensitive to climate change. However, there are considerable gaps in research regarding tourism, livelihood and climate change in Nepal. The present research assesses the impact of climate change on tourism and livelihood in the Manaslu Conservation Area (MCA) of Nepal. Seventy-six households were interviewed followed by three focus group discussions and five key informant interviews. The empirical data collected at the site are complemented by secondary scientific data on climate and tourism. Correlation, regression, descriptive and graphical analysis was carried out for the presentation and analysis of data. Local people perceived that temperature and rainfall have been increasing in the study site as a result of climate change. It was also verified by the observed scientific data of temperature and precipitation. Socioeconomic variables such as marital status, size of household, education and landholding status had positive effect on tourism participation while livestock-holding status and occupation of the household had negative effect on tourism participation. Number of visitors is increasing in MCA in recent years, and tourism participation is helping local people to earn more money and improve their living standard. Till the date, there is positive impact of climate change on tourism sector in the study area. But, unfavorable weather change phenomena, intense rainfall and snowfall, melting of snow, occurrence of hydrological and climatic hazards and increase in temperature may have adverse impact on the tourism and livelihood in the mountainous area. Such type of adverse impact of climate change and tourism is already experienced in the case of Annapurna region and Mt. Everest region as tourist were trapped and affected by unfavorable weather change phenomena. In response to gradually warming temperature and decreasing snowfall, there seems an urgent need for tourism promotional activities in the study area. Also awareness and education related to tourism, gender empowerment of women, advertisement and publicity on tourism promotion, adequate subsidy and training on ecotourism and skill development training on handicraft are recommended.

Increasing the Chances of Implementing NGSS by Bolstering High School Teacher Knowledge and Views about Climate Change, a NICE NASA Example

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bleicher, R. E.

2013-12-01

Purpose of Presentation This paper will highlight how the results of this initial study foreshadow possibilities of NGSS (NGSS, 2013) playing out in high school classrooms in the near future. Research findings from a three-year NASA-funded project, Promoting Educational Leadership in Climate Science (PEL) will be presented. Objectives and Research Questions PEL aims to increase climate science literacy in high school teachers and students through scientific argumentation using authentic NASA data. This initial study focuses on the following questions: 1. Are teachers increasing their climate science knowledge? 2. Are there changes in teachers' views about climate change? 3. What resources and are provided to assist teachers to develop their students' scientific argumentation skills? Theoretical Framework Because of the changing nature of climate science knowledge and its relevance to societal issues, teachers must be able to understand the basic concepts and remain up-to-date on scientific issues. The need for a more thorough understanding of the concepts of climate change are highlighted by recent studies on the public perceptions and attitudes on the subject (Leiserowitz et al., 2013). Teachers need to understand the difference between skepticism as a characteristic of the nature of science and denial of climate change (Sommervillle & Hasol, 2011). Teachers need to understand the natural and human-induced factors affecting climate, and the potential consequences, and ways to mitigate and adapt to climate change. Generally, when teachers learn about a subject, they demonstrate more self-efficacy to teach about it (Bleicher & Lindgren, 2005). Analytic Strategy Data were analyzed using paired-samples t-tests, independent t -tests, and ANOVA. Latent class analysis was employed to analyze the Six America's Survey data. Correlational studies were conducted to examine possible relationships among variables. Findings in Brief Teachers' content knowledge increased significantly and teachers were more concerned about climate change after participation in PEL. Teachers with higher self-efficacy demonstrated higher climate change science knowledge. Teachers indicated that they felt more confident and were motivated to implement classroom lessons with their students that employed resources rich in NASA climate data and focused on scientific argumentation. References Bleicher, R.E., & Lindgren, J. (2005). Success in learning science and preservice science teaching self-efficacy. Journal of Science Teacher Education. 16, 205-225. Leiserowitz, A., Maibach, E., Roser-Renouf, C., Feinberg, G., & Howe, P.(2013) Climate change in the American mind: Americans' global warming beliefs and attitudes in April, 2013 Yale University and George Mason University. New Haven, CT: Yale Project on Climate Change Communication. Retrieved 7/26/13 from: http://climatechangecommunication.org/sites/default/files/reports/Climate-Beliefs-April-2013.pdf Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). (2013). Available at http://www.nextgenscience.org/print/121. Somerville, R. C. J. & Hassol, S. J. (2011). Communicating the science of climate change. Physics Today, 64(10), 48-53.

The Impact of Project-Based Climate Change Learning Experiences on Students' Broad Climate Literacy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

DeWaters, J.; Powers, S. E.; Dhaniyala, S.

2014-12-01

Evidence-based pedagogical approaches such as project- and inquiry-based techniques have been shown to promote effective learning in science and engineering. The impact of project-based learning experiences on middle school (MS), high school (HS), and undergraduate (UG) students' climate literacy was investigated as part of a NASA Innovations in Climate Education (NICE) project. Project-based modules were developed and taught by MS and HS teachers who participated in climate change education workshops. UG students enrolled in a climate science course completed independent research projects that provided the basis for several of the HS/MS modules. All modules required students to acquire and analyze historical temperature data and future climate predictions, and apply their analysis to the solution of a societal or environmental problem related to our changing climate. Three versions of a quantitative survey were developed and used in a pre-test/post-test research design to help evaluate the project's impact on MS, HS, and UG students' climate literacy, which includes broad climate knowledge as well as affective and behavioral aspects. Content objectives were guided primarily by the 2009 document, Climate Literacy: The Essential Principles of Climate Sciences. All three groups of students made modest but statistically significant cognitive (p<<0.001) and affective (p<0.01) gains; UG students also showed an increase in behavior scores (p=0.001). Results of an ANCOVA showed significant differences in students' cognitive (p<0.001), behavioral (p=0.005) and self-efficacy (p=0.012) outcomes among the 9 participating MS and HS classrooms, where both teacher and module content varied. The presentation will include a description of some key aspects of the project-based curricula developed and used in this research, the development and content of the climate literacy survey, and the interpretation of specific pre/post changes in participating students relative to the content of and approach used in the project-based modules.

Disturbing Information and Denial in the Classroom and Beyond: Climate Change, Emotions and Everyday Life

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Norgaard, K. M.

2015-12-01

Global warming is the most significant environmental issue of our time, yet public response in Western nations has been meager. Why have so few taken any action? Most studies of public response to climate change have focused on information deficit approaches. Many in the general public and environmental community have presumed that the public's failure to engage is a function of lack of concern about climate change. Instead, using interviews and ethnographic research on how knowledge of climate change is experienced in everyday life I describe "the social organization of climate denial" and discuss how it impacts classroom learning and the broader social understanding of climate change. Disturbing emotions of guilt, helplessness and fear of the future arose when people were confronted with the idea of climate change. People then normalized these disturbing emotions by changing the subject of conversations, shifting their attention elsewhere, telling jokes, and drawing on stock social discourses that deflected responsibility to others. The difficulty people have in making sense of climate change is in direct relation to the social world around them. This research suggests that educational strategies in the classroom and for the general public that consider and target the social, cultural and political aspects of the meaning of climate change will be most effective (in addition to factors that affect individual cognition).

Overview of the Implementation of the Climate Data Initiative

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tilmes, C.; Goodman, H. M.; Privette, A. P.

2014-12-01

One of the efforts described in the President's Climate Action Plan is the Climate Data Initiative, a broad effort to leverage the federal government's extensive, freely-available climate-relevant data resources data to spur innovation and private-sector entrepreneurship in order to advance awareness of and preparedness for the impacts of climate change. The Climate Data Initiative, launched in March 2014, leverages commitments from government and the private sector to unleash data and make it accessible in ways that can be used by communities and companies to prepare for climate change. It builds on the White House's other Open Data Initiatives—in areas such as health, education, and safety. The Climate Data Initiative unleashes federal data relevant to addressing climate-related risks and vulnerabilities through the Climate.Data.gov web site. This talk will describe the Climate Data Initiative and its support and interactions with the Climate Resilience Toolkit.

A CLEAN Network Initiative - Accelerating Transition to Post Carbon and Resilient Communities through Education and Engagement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ledley, T. S.; Niepold, F., III; Bozuwa, J.; Davis, A.; Fraser, J.; Kretser, J.; Poppleton, K. L. I.; Qusba, L.; Ruggiero, K.; Spitzer, W.; Stylinski, C.

2016-12-01

The Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network (CLEAN) was formed in 2008 to help climate and energy literacy stakeholders implement the Climate and Energy Literacy Essential Principles to enable effective and responsible decisions with regard to actions that may affect climate. The ongoing conversations of the CLEAN Network have cultivated a culture of shared resources and expertise and allowed for the development of collective impact strategies. However, it has become clear that to accelerate and scale change, effective mitigation, adaptation, and resilience strategies must be developed by a diverse network of stakeholders at the community level to deal with the local impacts of climate change and move toward decarbonized and resilient economies. A group of CLEAN Network members, experienced in establishing effective networks and representing mature climate change education programs, came together to discuss at the community level 1) how we can collectively enable larger scale efforts to 2) develop effective strategies, 3) identify gaps in the system that limit action, and 4) coordinate possible vectors for interceding to advance community level decisions related to climate. We will describe our Theory of Change, based on both the power of communities and increasing climate literacy as a key requirement for sustained progress on the crisis climate change presents. From our Theory of Change, we have begun to outline a national monitoring strategy that can provide communities a measured way to understand their local readiness to respond to the impacts of climate change and understand the magnitude of those impacts in relation to their political and ecological economies. The scale would help describe the robustness of their programs and partnerships to address those impacts, the political climate for working in advance of pending change, and the degree of citizen engagement in resilience planning and action. The goal is to provide a common tool equivalent to GDP that communities could use to see their strengths and leverage points, and where they have the local resources to build solutions or co-develop solutions with others. Though this new tool, communities may be better able to focus on mitigation, adaptation, and the building of resilience that will put into practice the identified Theory of Change.

Communicating Ocean Acidification and Climate Change to Public Audiences Using Scientific Data, Interactive Exploration Tools, and Visual Narratives

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miller, M. K.; Rossiter, A.; Spitzer, W.

2016-12-01

The Exploratorium, a hands-on science museum, explores local environmental conditions of San Francisco Bay to connect audiences to the larger global implications of ocean acidification and climate change. The work is centered in the Fisher Bay Observatory at Pier 15, a glass-walled gallery sited for explorations of urban San Francisco and the Bay. Interactive exhibits, high-resolution data visualizations, and mediated activities and conversations communicate to public audiences the impacts of excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and ocean. Through a 10-year education partnership with NOAA and two environmental literacy grants funded by its Office of Education, the Exploratorium has been part of two distinct but complementary strategies to increase climate literacy beyond traditional classroom settings. We will discuss two projects that address the ways complex scientific information can be transformed into learning opportunities for the public, providing information citizens can use for decision-making in their personal lives and their communities. The Visualizing Change project developed "visual narratives" that combine scientific visualizations and other images with story telling about the science and potential solutions of climate impacts on the ocean. The narratives were designed to engage curiosity and provide the public with hopeful and useful information to stimulate solutions-oriented behavior rather than to communicate despair about climate change. Training workshops for aquarium and museum docents prepare informal educators to use the narratives and help them frame productive conversations with the pubic. The Carbon Networks project, led by the Exploratorium, uses local and Pacific Rim data to explore the current state of climate change and ocean acidification. The Exploratorium collects and displays local ocean and atmosphere data as a member of the Central and Northern California Ocean Observing System and as an observing station for NOAA's Pacific Marine Environment Lab's carbon buoy network. Other Carbon Network partners, the Pacific Science Center and Waikiki Aquarium, also have access to local carbon data from NOAA. The project collectively explores the development of hands-on activities, teaching resources, and workshops for museum educators and classroom teachers.

How Many Disciplines Does It Take to Tackle Climate Change?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Campbell, S.; Calderazzo, J.

2015-12-01

Through my involvement in two multidisciplinary climate change education and outreach projects, the website 100 Views of Climate Change and Changing Climates @ Colorado State, I have come to understand that just as this problem is everybody's business, almost everybody has something to contribute to understanding and dealing with it. This is certainly true of the academic disciplines represented on college campuses, where faculty from nearly every department have relevant things to teach their students: speakers in a climate-change lecture series we organized came from 27 departments in 8 colleges, plus numerous other campus and local entities, and more could have been included. As one convener of this AGU session, I have worked to include a good sample of these varied and complementary disciplinary perspectives. Inevitably, though, this sample leaves significant gaps in what would constitute a robust cross-campus climate literacy, and I will talk about some of these missing disciplinary perspectives and why they are important.

Prospective Primary Teachers' Understanding of Climate Change, Greenhouse Effect, and Ozone Layer Depletion

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Papadimitriou, Vasiliki

2004-01-01

Climate change is one of the most serious global environmental problems and for that reason there has been lately a great interest in educating pupils, the future citizens, about it. Previous research has shown that pupils of all ages and teachers hold many misconceptions and misunderstandings concerning this issue. This paper reports on research…

A Climate Change Board Game for Interdisciplinary Communication and Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eisenack, Klaus

2013-01-01

This article reports and reflects on the design and use of the board game KEEP COOL on climate change. The game covers and integrates central biophysical, economic, and political aspects of the issue. By using a board game as common language between students and scientists from different scientific cultures, knowledge of different disciplines can…

Creating Extension Programs for Change: Forest Landowners and Climate Change Communication

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Krantz, Shelby; Monroe, Martha; Bartels, Wendy-Lin

2013-01-01

The Cooperative Extension Service in the United States can play an important role in educating forest landowners to improve forest resilience in the face of climatic uncertainty. Two focus groups in Florida informed the development of a program that was conducted in Leon County; presurveys and postsurveys and observation provided evaluation data.…

Adaptation resources for agriculture: Responding to climate variability and change in the midwest and northeast

Treesearch

Maria K. Janowiak; Daniel D. Dostie; Michael A. Wilson; Michael J. Kucera; R. Howard Skinner; Jerry L. Hatfield; David Hollinger; Christopher W. Swanston

2016-01-01

Changes in climate and extreme weather are already increasing challenges for agriculture nationally and globally, and many of these impacts will continue into the future. This technical bulletin contains information and resources designed to help agricultural producers, service providers, and educators in the Midwest and Northeast regions of the United States integrate...

Climate Change and Morality: Students' Perspectives on the Individual and Society

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sternang, Li; Lundholm, Cecilia

2011-01-01

There is a growing interest in addressing moral aspects in the research and education of socio-scientific issues. This paper investigates students' interpretations of climate change from a moral perspective. The students were 14 years old, studying at Green Schools in the Beijing area, China. The study was based on semi-structured group interviews…

Build a Catastrophe: Using Digital World and Policy Models to Engage Political Science Students with Climate Change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Horodyskyj, L.; Lennon, T.; Mead, C.; Anbar, A. D.

2017-12-01

Climate change is a problem that involves science, economics, and politics. Particularly in the United States, political resistance to addressing climate change has been exacerbated by a concerted misinformation campaign against the basic science, a negative response to how the proposed solutions to climate change intersect with values. Scientists often propose more climate science education as a solution to the problem, but preliminary studies indicate that more science education does not necessarily reduce polarization on the topic (Kahan et al. 2012). Is there a way that we can better engage non-science students in topics related to climate change that improve their comprehension of the problem and its implications, overcoming polarization? In an existing political science course, "Do You Want to Build a Nation?", we are testing a new digital world-building model based on resource development and consequent environmental and societal impacts. Students spend half the class building their nations based on their assigned ideology (i.e., socialist, absolute monarchy, libertarian) and the second half of the class negotiating with other nations to resolve global issues while remaining true to their ideologies. The course instructor, co-author Lennon, and ASU's Center for Education Through eXploration have collaborated to design a digital world model based on resources linked to an adaptive decision-making environment that translates student policies into modifications to the digital world. The model tracks students' exploration and justification of their nation's policy choices. In the Fall 2017 offering of the course, we will investigate how this digital world model and scenarios built around it affect student learning outcomes. Specifically, we anticipate improved understanding of the policy trade-offs related to energy development, better understanding of the ways that different ideologies approach solutions to climate change, and that both will result in more realistic diplomatic negotiations in the latter half of the course. We will report on the technical details of how the digital world model and scenarios are constructed as well as how students responded to the scenario.

Put a Frame on It: Contextualizing Climate Change for Museum Visitors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Canning, Katharine

Public opinion polls continue to show that Americans are divided---particularly along political and ideological lines---on whether climate change is real and warrants immediate action. Those in the natural and social sciences have recognized that effective communication is key to closing the gap that exists between scientific and public understanding on this issue. A body of social science research on climate change communication has emerged within the last decade. This field has identified strategies for climate change communicators and educators, emphasizing the importance of framing climate change issues in ways that help it resonate with a wider range of public concerns and values in order to develop a shared belief regarding the necessity of action. Museum exhibits and programs on climate change that were developed within the last five years are likely to have benefitted from this body of work. This qualitative research seeks to examine and analyze the various ways museums in the United States are communicating about climate change related issues to the public. Three case studies of museum exhibits on climate change issues were examined. The scope and purpose of climate change communication in museums, the specific messages that museums are choosing to communicate, and how those messages are being framed for public audiences were explored through these case studies. The findings suggest that museums are considering their audience when framing messages about climate change and have used work from the climate change communication field to inform message development. In particular, museums are making climate change issues more relevant by emphasizing social, economic, and human health concerns, and are considering strategies to counteract fear-fatigue and empower visitors to take action.

Exploring Climate Science with WV Educators: A Regional Model for Teacher Professional Development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ruberg, L. F.; Calinger, M.

2014-12-01

The National Research Council Framework for K-12 Science Literacy reports that children reared in rural agricultural communities, who experience regular interactions with plants and animals, develop more sophisticated understanding of ecology and biological systems than do urban and suburban children of the same age. West Virginia (WV) is a rural state. The majority of its residents live in communities of fewer than 2,500 people. Based on the features of the population being served and their unique strengths, this presentation focuses on a regional model for teacher professional development that addresses agricultural and energy vulnerabilities and adaptations to climate change in WV. The professional development model outlined shows how to guide teachers to use a problem-based learning approach to introduce climate data and analysis techniques within a scenario context that is locally meaningful. This strategy engages student interest by focusing on regional and community concerns. Climate science standards are emphasized in the Next Generation Science Standards, but WV has not provided its teachers with appropriate instructional resources to meet those standards. The authors addressed this need by offering a series of climate science education workshops followed by online webinars offered to WV science educators free of charge with funding by the West Virginia Space Grant Consortium. The authors report on findings from this series of professional development workshops conducted in partnership with the West Virginia Science Teachers Association. The goal was to enhance grades 5-12 teaching and learning about climate change through problem-based learning. Prior to offering the climate workshops, all WV science educators were asked to complete a short questionnaire. As Figure 1 shows, over 40% of the teacher respondents reported being confident in teaching climate science content. For comparison post workshops surveys measure teacher confidence in climate science instruction after the professional development sessions. In summary, this report describes how this professional approach can serve as a regional model to address the need for climate science literacy throughout Appalachia.

University-Level Teaching of Anthropogenic Global Climate Change (AGCC) via Student Inquiry

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bush, Drew; Sieber, Renee; Seiler, Gale; Chandler, Mark

2017-01-01

This paper reviews university-level efforts to improve understanding of anthropogenic global climate change (AGCC) through curricula that enable student scientific inquiry. We examined 152 refereed publications and proceedings from academic conferences and selected 26 cases of inquiry learning that overcome specific challenges to AGCC teaching. This review identifies both the strengths and weaknesses of each of these case studies. It is the first to go beyond examining the impact of specific inquiry instructional approaches to offer a synthesis of cases. We find that inquiry teaching can succeed by concretising scientific processes, providing access to global data and evidence, imparting critical and higher order thinking about AGCC science policy and contextualising learning with places and scientific facts. We recommend educational researchers and scientists collaborate to create and refine curricula that utilise geospatial technologies, climate models and communication technologies to bring students into contact with scientists, climate data and authentic AGCC research processes. Many available science education technologies and curricula also require further research to maximise trade-offs between implementation and training costs and their educational value.