Climate confusion among U.S. teachers

Plutzer, Eric; McCaffrey, M. S.; Hannah, A. Lee; Rosenau, Joshua; Berbeco, Minda; Reid, Ann

doi:10.1126/science.aab3907

Cited by 230 publications

(128 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…A teacher's beliefs can directly affect how they approach teaching and learning in their classroom. In science, where some topics are controversial, teacher beliefs can affect decisions as to whether or not to teach material or influence teacher's comfort in teaching that material (Plutzer et al, 2016).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These topics have not universally been included in state science standards and, due to their controversial nature, may create resistance to adopting the NGSS by teachers who do not want to make waves or who hold ideas that contradict the established science (Dawson, 2012;Plutzer, McCaffrey, Hannah, Rosenau, Berbeco, & Reid, 2016).…”

Section: Science Content In the Ngssmentioning

confidence: 99%

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High school science teachers' receptivity to the next generation science standards : an examination of discipline specific factors

Shapiro¹

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The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), are the biggest change to American science education since the National Science Education Standards (NSES) were published. While inquiry was central to the NSES, science assessment largely addressed factual knowledge acquisition.The NGSS represent a significant practical change for teachers as they mark a return to the ideals specified in the National Science Education Standards (NSES) and Benchmarks for Science Literacy. The purpose of this explanatory sequential, mixed-methods study was to identify and compare the factors that influenced high school science teachers' receptivity to the curricular shifts necessitated by the adoption of the NGSS. The survey data identified three factors as significant predictors of teacher receptivity: teachers' non-monetary cost-benefit analysis, alignment between the NGSS and their current teaching style, and concerns about student readiness. To understand how these factors operate in the classroom, both receptive and nonreceptive teachers were interviewed. In terms of cost-benefit analysis, all teachers agree that time is a significant cost. This includes the time it takes to adapt lessons to the NGSS, and the time it takes to teach in a way that integrates the three parts of the NGSS which are the practices of science and engineering, the crosscutting concepts, and the disciplinary core ideas. In terms of alignment between their teaching style and the NGSS, teachers talked about the lack of examples of what NGSS-aligned instruction looks like and the dearth of accessible high quality professional development. Finally, concerns about students' readiness focused on both inadequate preparation for college-level science coursework and deficits in science instruction in the lower grades.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Science Content In the Ngssmentioning

confidence: 99%

High school science teachers' receptivity to the next generation science standards : an examination of discipline specific factors

Shapiro¹

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“…Preparing students for a world in which the effects of climate change are omnipresent requires a new model for science education-one that emphasizes the intellectual and practical abilities needed to work across disciplines to develop responses to global challenges (Melillo et al 2014;Plutzer et al 2016). The need for new models of education is exacerbated by ongoing declines in literacy in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in the United States (Brewer and Smith 2011;PCAST 2012).…”

Section: Climate Change: a Call For New Forms Of Science Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate change, collections and the classroom: using big data to tackle big problems

et al. 2017

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Preparing students to explore, understand, and resolve societal challenges such as global climate change is an important task for evolutionary and ecological biologists that will require novel and innovative pedagogical approaches. Recent calls to reform undergraduate science education emphasize the importance of engaging students in inquirydriven, active, and authentic learning experiences. We believe that the vast digital resources (i.e., "big data") associated with natural history collections provide invaluable but underutilized opportunities to create such experiences for undergraduates in biology. Here, we describe an online, open-access educational module that we have developed that harnesses the power of collections-based information to introduce students to multiple conceptual and analytical elements of climate change, evolutionary, and ecological biology research. The module builds upon natural history specimens and data collected over the span of nearly a century in Yosemite National Park, California, to guide students through a series of exercises aimed at testing hypotheses regarding observed differences in response to climate change by two closely related and partially co-occurring species of chipmunks. The content of the module can readily be modified to meet the pedagogical goals and instructional levels of different courses while the analytical strategies outlined can be adapted to address a wide array of questions in evolutionary and ecological biology. In sum, we believe that specimen-based natural history data represent a powerful platform for reforming undergraduate instruction in biology. Because these efforts will result in citizens who are better prepared to understand complex biological relationships, the benefits of this approach to undergraduate education will have widespread benefits to society.

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“…For example, students often come to college confused about the causes of climate change. Plutzer et al [21] reported that 31% of middle school science and high school biology teachers explicitly send contradictory messages regarding the causes of climate change: they teach students that both anthropogenic and natural causes may be responsible for the observed changes to our climate. The instructors explicitly addressed this and other misconceptions about climate change as discussed in the public sphere.…”

Section: Curriculum Design and Pedagogymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, both the geographic location of Stonehill (located near Boston, a city determined to be experiencing higher than average sea level rise [36] and predicted to experience above average temperature increases [37] in the coming decades) and the timing of the course (one year after President Obama was re-elected, noting "the destructive power of a warming planet" in his victory speech) provided excellent opportunities to teach about climate change and its solutions to a broad student population in the general education program. Furthermore, the ENV faculty were eager to respond to both anecdotal evidence (later documented in [21]) that students' prior exposure to climate change education may have been misinformed or incomplete and to the evidence that even well-educated people often failed to alter their attitudes and behaviors to become part of the solution [38][39][40][41][42]. As such, in this study we aim to answer two primary research questions: (1) whether and to what extent The Ethics and Science of Climate Change contributed to shifts in student views on climate change; and (2) whether and to what extent such shifts were retained two years later.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Longitudinal Study of the Impacts of a Climate Change Curriculum on Undergraduate Student Learning: Initial Results

et al. 2017

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Abstract:The present study assesses the efficacy of a semester-long undergraduate sustainability curriculum designed from a systems approach. The three-course curriculum, which incorporated environmental science and ethics courses along with an integrative course using a community-based learning pedagogy, was intended to provide students with experience using knowledge and skills from distinct disciplines in a holistic way in order to address the complex problems of the human acceptance of and response to anthropogenic climate change. In the fall of 2013, 23 of the 24 sophomore general education students enrolled in the three courses were surveyed at the beginning and end of the semester; 17 of those same students completed the survey again in the spring of 2016, their senior year. Results, which focus on the 17 students who continued to participate through their senior year, were analyzed with quantitative and qualitative methodologies. The pre/post data from the surveys demonstrated significant improvement in climate literacy, certainty, concern and urgency over the course of the semester; the senior data indicated that those improvements were largely retained. The study also suggests that the nine-credit curriculum improved transferable skills such as interdisciplinary thinking, self-confidence and public speaking. A qualitative analysis of three student cases, informed by a focus group (n = 7) of seniors along with other sources of information, suggested retention of such transferable skills, and, in some cases, deeper involvement in climate and sustainability action.

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Climate confusion among U.S. teachers

Abstract: Teachers' knowledge and values can hinder climate education

Cited by 230 publications

References 8 publications

High school science teachers' receptivity to the next generation science standards : an examination of discipline specific factors

High school science teachers' receptivity to the next generation science standards : an examination of discipline specific factors

Climate change, collections and the classroom: using big data to tackle big problems

Longitudinal Study of the Impacts of a Climate Change Curriculum on Undergraduate Student Learning: Initial Results

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