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- Title
Improving Climate Literacy With Project-Based Modules Rich in Educational Rigor and Relevance.
- Authors
DeWaters, Jan E.; Andersen, Christopher; Calderwood, Andrew; Powers, Susan E.
- Abstract
Project-based climate change instructional modules were developed and used in middle and high school classrooms. The modules were created to develop higher-order thinking skills with real-world data and models describing climate systems and approaches to mitigate or adapt to changes. The objective of this paper is to identify the relationships between specific attributes of the project-based climate modules used in classrooms and resulting gains in middle and high school students' climate literacy. Modules were assessed to define the level of rigor and relevance associated with the learning activities. A climate literacy questionnaire that included cognitive, affective (including self-efficacy), and behavioral items was administered to students before and after the modules were taught. Overall, students made modest but statistically significant gains on the cognitive (p ≪ 0.001) and the affective (p < 0.01) climate literacy subscales. Results of the fixed effects analysis of covariance showed a significant difference among classrooms on students' cognitive (p < 0.001), behavioral (p = 0.001), and self-efficacy (p = 0.015) performance; both the teacher and the specific content taught varied among classrooms. Two specific teachers and the modules they developed and taught were defined as exemplars based on the significant climate literacy gains made by their students. Both of these modules, one middle school level and one high school level, used roleplay projects that expected students to acquire and analyze historical temperature data and predictions of the future climate at various locations around the world. Middle school students played the role of an individual living in a different country and culture, while the high school students each acted as a science adviser to a political delegate attending a world climate conference. Students at both levels made highly significant gains in the cognitive subscale, and the middle school students improved their literacy in the affective, self-efficacy, and behavioral subscales. The breadth of climate issues covered and the depth of analysis of real-world data and situations were identified as critical attributes of these particular modules that led to improved climate literacy.
- Subjects
UNITED States; CLIMATOLOGY education; HIGH school students; SCIENCE education; EDUCATIONAL quality
- Publication
Journal of Geoscience Education, 2014, Vol 62, Issue 3, p469
- ISSN
1089-9995
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.5408/13-056.1