Supporting and Understanding Students' Epistemological Discourse About Climate Change

Holthuis, Nicole; Lotan, Rachel A.; Saltzman, Jennifer; Mastrandrea, Mike; Wild, Andrew

doi:10.5408/13-036.1

Cited by 34 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…If students enter their science courses already accepting climate change, our courses may often be preaching to the choir—but that does not mean instruction has no effect or value. After instruction, participants became more certain that climate change is happening, that humans are primarily responsible, and that there is a strong scientific consensus that climate change is happening and caused by people—findings broadly consistent with earlier studies (e.g., Holthuis et al, ). However, considering that participants already accepted that climate change is happening when they entered the course, class time might be better devoted to more advanced or nuanced topics—topics that take the realities of climate change as their starting premise, and that build on, extend, and add meaningful complexity to student understandings.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 84%

“…In both semesters, students received an invitation to take the survey before the course module on climate change and again after the course module was completed. In the first semester, the premodule survey invitation (Leiserowitz, Maibach, Roser-Renouf, Feinberg, & Rosenthal, 2016), iterations of which have provided a basis for other climate science education studies (e.g., Holthuis et al, 2014). In response to a lowerthan-expected response rate in 2017 (possibly from survey fatigue), we administered a shorter survey in 2018.…”

Section: Me Thodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Preaching to the choir or composing new verses? Toward a writerly climate literacy in introductory undergraduate biology

Duffy

Hammond

Cheng

2019

Ecology and Evolution

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Climate change is one of the most pressing issues facing society today, yet a wide range of misconceptions exist in society about whether or why climate change is happening, what its consequences are, and what can be done to address it. Large introductory biology courses present an opportunity to teach a large number of students—some of whom may never take another course focused on climate, ecology, or the environment—about climate change. However, content knowledge alone may not be enough to prepare students to transform their knowledge into action. To begin understanding how content knowledge interacts with student constructions of climate change solutions, we administered and quantitatively analyzed a survey that examined student views of climate change and how they shifted with instruction during an undergraduate introductory biology course at a large Midwestern university. Almost all participants entered the course agreeing that climate change is occurring, and their certainty about the science of climate change increased after instruction. After taking the course, more participants described climate change as having more immediate impacts, reporting that climate change is already harming people and that climate change will harm them personally. However, both at the beginning and end of the course, participants tended to think that humans would either be unable or unwilling to reduce climate change. They were also more worried about climate change at the end of the course than they were before. Increased concern might result from students becoming more certain of the science and severity of climate change, while remaining pessimistic that humans will effectively act on climate change. This pattern suggests instructors have opportunities to modify curricula in ways that leave students with a greater sense of empowerment and efficacy; we suggest questions that instructors can ask themselves in order to modify their courses with this goal in mind.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 84%

Section: Me Thodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Preaching to the choir or composing new verses? Toward a writerly climate literacy in introductory undergraduate biology

Duffy

Hammond

Cheng

2019

Ecology and Evolution

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“…We may not be able to completely stop climate change in its tracks but with appropriate adaptation measures, the effects can be minimized to a large extent (Ekborg and Areskoug, 2006). Similar sentiments have been shared by Holthuis et al (2014) who recommend that teacher professional development is needed to help teachers upgrade their climate change knowledge.…”

Section: Teacher Professional Developmentmentioning

confidence: 81%

“…On this note, numerous teacher training institutions have called for the inclusion of science content related to climate change in their teacher education programs. They hope this inclusion will improve teachers' preparedness to address climate change issues at school level (Ekborg and Areskoug, 2006;Hestness et al, 2014;Holthuis et al, 2014). Since our students are digital natives, Hestness et al (2014) has strongly recommended that trainee teachers should be well equipped with technological knowledge so that they are able to integrate technology into their teaching.…”

Section: Teacher Trainingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Green Leadership as an Emerging Style for Addressing Climate Change Issues in Schools

Ali¹

2019

Journal of Social Sciences

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This paper attempts to investigate the concept of green leadership towards creating a greener environment through addressing issues of climate change and global warming. This initiative has been undertaken because principals take on a leading role in climate change education. As such an exploratory study was undertaken aimed at eliciting the views of principals about climate concepts and their opinions about green leadership. A survey using Likert type scale was implemented and the data was analysed using SPSS according to the survey methods conventions. Current work also consists of a thorough meta-analysis on available research in form of literature review in pertinent field. Findings reveal that the efforts taken by school principals are appreciable but a lot more can be done by them. Likewise, there is advisement for principles as to how they can undertake eco-friendly drives and become effective green leaders. This paper provides opportunities for reflection for curriculum developers and teacher educators and it hopes to encourage dialogue among policy makers, educators, stakeholders and also provides a solid platform for further research.

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“…Argumentation has been identified as a mechanism for conceptual change (Mercer, Dawes, Wegerif, & Sams, 2004;Nussbaum & Sinatra, 2003). Specifically, Holthuis, Lotan, Saltzman, Mastrandrea, and Wild (2014) found that argumentative discourse supported students' understanding of climate change. Clayton (2006) agrees, stressing the importance of teaching students to think critically, evaluate claims related to the global environment, and emphasizing the need for educators to help students distinguish between scientific knowledge and opinion.…”

Section: Climate Science Education and Scientific Argumentationmentioning

confidence: 97%

Argumentation as a Strategy for Increasing Preservice Teachers’ Understanding of Climate Change, a Key Global Socioscientific Issue

Lambert¹,

Bleicher²

2016

IJEMST

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Article HistoryReceived: 17 June 2016Findings of this study suggest that scientific argumentation can play an effective role in addressing complex socioscientific issues (i.e. global climate change). This research examined changes in preservice teachers' knowledge and perceptions about climate change in an innovative undergraduate-level elementary science methods course. The preservice teachers' understanding of fundamental concepts (e.g., the difference between weather and climate, causes of recent global warming, etc.) increased significantly. Their perceptions about climate change became more aligned to those of climate scientists. A key assignment was to develop and present an evidence-based scientific argument based on an adaptation of Toulmin's argumentation model (1958). The participants were assigned a typical question and claim of climate skeptics and asked to conduct research on the scientific findings to prepare a counterargument (rebuttal). The preservice teachers indicated that the integration of scientific argumentation was an effective strategy for increasing their understanding and perceptions about climate change as a socioscientfic issue.

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Supporting and Understanding Students' Epistemological Discourse About Climate Change

Cited by 34 publications

References 11 publications

Preaching to the choir or composing new verses? Toward a writerly climate literacy in introductory undergraduate biology

Preaching to the choir or composing new verses? Toward a writerly climate literacy in introductory undergraduate biology

Green Leadership as an Emerging Style for Addressing Climate Change Issues in Schools

Argumentation as a Strategy for Increasing Preservice Teachers’ Understanding of Climate Change, a Key Global Socioscientific Issue

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