Beliefs and Willingness to Act About Global Warming: Where to Focus Science Pedagogy?

Abstract

Science educators have a key role in empowering students to take action to reduce global warming. This involves assisting students to understand its causes as well as taking pedagogical decisions that have optimal probabilities of leading to students being motivated to take actions based on empirically based science beliefs. To this end New South Wales’ (Australia) (n = 500) and English (n = 785) secondary students’ (Grades 7–10) beliefs about the effectiveness of various specific actions in reducing global warming, and their self‐reported willingness to take those actions, were determined and compared, using a specially designed questionnaire. Using novel derived indices, the relationship between beliefs and willingness to act for specific actions was explored. In general, both cohorts were less inclined to act than their beliefs in the effectiveness of the actions might warrant, although the extent of this disparity varied between different actions. However, further analysis identified those actions for which science education may be more effective in encouraging proenvironmental behavior. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed 97:191–217, 2013

Help the climate, change your diet: A cross-sectional study on how to involve consumers in a transition to a low-carbon society

“…Communicating information on these links appears to be a challenge for science education (Skamp et al, 2013), as it requires some understanding of the whole production process (e.g. the inefficient conversion of plant protein into meat protein, the impacts of fertilizer use and of methane produced by livestock (Aiking, 2014;Westhoek et al, 2014)).…”

“…However, research has shown that consumers often underestimate the impacts of meat consumption on the environment, in general (Lea & Worsley, 2008;Tobler, Visschers, & Siegrist, 2011), and on climate change, in particular (Bostrom et al, 2012;Skamp, Boyes, & Stanisstreet, 2013;Truelove & Parks, 2012;Vanhonacker, Van Loo, Gellynck, & Verbeke, 2013). Hence, an important question is whether the transition to a low-carbon society requires a special focus on food-related options for consumers, such as eating less meat and more seasonal food, as compared to energy-related options, such as using energy saving light bulbs.…”

Pre-Service Teachers and Climate Change: A Stalemate?

“…An important tool for this purpose is knowledge. This is because knowledge has been shown to be one of the predictors of pro-environmental behaviour generally (Heberlein, 2012), in youth (for example, Meinhold & Malkus, 2005), in college students (Levine & Strube, 2012) and school students (for instance, Skamp, Boyes & Stanisstreet, 2013).…”

“…Given that research has shown that the two most frequently cited socializers of children's pro-environmental behaviour are the family and teachers (Chawla, 2009;Duarte, Escario, & Sanagustín, 2015) it is vital that teachers are well equipped to provide students with the best sources of information to enable them to make reasoned decisions about the environment and other socioeconomic issues that will confront them. Discernible connections between PSTs' knowledge, their enacted pedagogy in the classroom and their students' subsequent pro-environmental attitudes and behaviours have been empirically demonstrated in secondary school students (Skamp, Boyes & Stanisstreet 2013) in a cross cultural study of Australian and English students. Therefore, when teachers elaborate and discuss particular subjects like climate change through their teaching, whether explicitly or via their expressed attitudes or the hidden curriculum that they adopt, it all becomes part of the perceived pedagogy that students experience so it can play a significant role in the formation of the students' environmental attitudes (Strong, 1998).…”

Survey Development to Measure the Gap Between Student Awareness, Literacy, and Action to Address Human-caused Climate Change

“…However, just knowing about climate change does not guarantee action to address climate change (Skamp et al, 2013). Students must perceive they can bring about change using their own skills and abilities.…”