Measuring Misconceptions About Climate Change Between Freshmen and Senior Civil Engineering Students

Abstract

Anthropogenic climate change is irreversibly affecting the planet and society. Civil engineers hold responsibility to design and construct built-environment spaces that decrease climate changing emissions. The purpose of the research presented in this paper is to assess how undergraduate civil engineering programs contribute to this goal. A cross-sectional comparison between data from a prior national survey of freshmen engineering students interested in civil engineering and pilot data from a national survey to senior undergraduate engineering students was used to assess students' belief in climate change, their understanding of climate science, and desire to address climate change in their careers. The results indicate that senior undergraduate civil engineering students are more likely to believe that climate change is caused by humans (67%) compared to freshmen engineering students (47%). These seniors are also more likely (73%) to agree that action should be taken to address climate change. Yet, only 37 percent hope to personally address climate change in their careers. Senior civil engineering students are more likely than their peers in other engineering disciplines to take classes that include sustainability and climate change as topics (predominately in engineering electives), yet their knowledge of climate science is no better, and in several instances, worse than their engineering peers. For example, civil engineering students are more likely to agree with the statement, "I believe a cause of global climate change is nuclear power generation," and "I believe a cause of global climate change is the ozone hole in the upper atmosphere." Undergraduate education is likely contributing to increased belief and recognition to address climate change but an educational gap still persists in understanding. Future research should explore why misconceptions still exist even when climate change is taught in engineering courses and how particular concepts are explained and how student experiences shape understanding and interest.

Is Climate Change Induced by Humans? The Impact of the Gap in Perceptions on Cooperation

“…Leiserowitz et al (2010) report that approximately 97 % of publications by climate scientists advocate human-induced climate change, while only half of the American public believe in human-induced climate change (Doran and Zimmerman, 2009, Anderegg et al, 2010, Carlton et al, 2015. Shealy et al (2016) and Shealy (2018) find that civil engineering students in America who do not believe in human-induced climate change are less likely or never desire to take jobs associated with addressing climate change in their careers. Saleh Safi et al (2012) examine the relationships among the vulnerability, beliefs and risk perception of human-induced climate change in rural Nevada.…”

Environmentally and Socially Responsible Engineering - Assessing Student Empowerment

“…The surveys were deployed near the end of each of the semesters online and according to IRB specifications and approval requirements. During the survey creation process, the team of instructors used current literature to get ideas for possible questions (K. Skamp et al (2013), Bielefeldt et al (2016), T. Shealy (2018), Shillaber et al (2017), Strobel et al (2009), Bielefeldt (2015)). The team decided on questions that would measure both students' perceptions and students' actions.…”