Search

In the last few years, young people around the globe have increasingly been engaging with climate change via collective, political activism. In this dissertation research, I explore youth climate activism in the San Francisco Bay Area of California. To do this, I spent seven months as a participant-observer with the Sunrise Movement, a national youth climate activism group. During this time, I conducted twenty oral history interviews with racially, economically and gender diverse youth within this group and gathered archival materials. I then analyzed these data sources to answer questions about the experiences and understandings of these young climate activists. In the first chapter of this dissertation, I explore the young people’s experiences of formalized climate education, questioning the extent to which it has been “a critical agent” (United Nations, n.d.) in their activism. From this analysis, I provide recommendations on climate pedagogy. In the second chapter, I explore the narrative the young people have about becoming climate activism. This illuminates the pathways and factors shaping climate activism among young people. In the third chapter, I examine how this group is defining and understanding the issue of climate change and put this in conversation with previous ways of defining it. The fourth chapter shares about a community-engaged element of this research, which is a website that showcases parts of the oral histories and provides tools for educators around climate change.

The field of science education has historically focused on developing mastery of discrete content at the expense of scientific practices (Zeidler, 2016). This emphasis has shifted in recent years through a new vision for science education put forth in documents such as the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS; NGSS Lead States, 2013). New standards like the NGSS focus on developing well-rounded students by incorporating practices and concepts that accurately reflect the real-life work of scientists. However, these standards do not adequately consider the social-political and cultural perspectives of the students they are meant to serve. For example, if issues such as climate change are considered only as science dependent, students are not exposed to the impacts that climate change has on communities that are disproportionality those of color (Feinstein & Kirchgasler, 2014). Since preservice teachers are trained in their teacher education programs to teach the NGSS, they are not being adequately trained to address these perspectives as well. In this study, I utilized an exploratory sequential design to examine how 66 preservice teachers reported being prepared and empowered to address social justice science issues, specifically climate change. From interviews with science education and climate change experts, I identified core ideas for climate change education and a developed a survey for preservice teachers as a result. I then collected and analyzed teacher responses from the survey utilizing a framework that integrates key concepts from culturally empowering pedagogy, justice-centered pedagogy (Morales-Doyle, 2017), civic science education (Rudolph & Horibe, 2016; Levy et al., 2021), youth participatory science (Morales-Doyle & Frausto, 2019), and professional teacher agency (Priestley et al., 2016). Results from this study provide areas of focus for teacher education programs to consider in order to empower teachers to be agents of change to help develop transformative students. Implications from this study offer a framework for teacher education programs to utilize to empower teachers as agents of change and strategies for educators to utilize to support the development of their students as transformative individuals.

Climate change (CC) is currently considered to be the most systemic threat to life on Earth. Education plays a critical role in the global CC response. The importance of CC education has been reiterated in most CC international conventions, including Article 12 of the 2015 Paris Climate Change Agreement. To date, only a few studies have been undertaken to examine what the Australian government, states and territories are doing in regard to educating young Australians about CC. In particular, there is a scarcity of research that examines the three critical aspects of CC education: the curriculum, the teaching of CC, and the learning of CC. This study examines CC education within the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) study designs; and, its implementation within a Victorian upper-secondary school. Specifically, the study examines in which VCE subjects CC is taught, its conceptualisation and integration within the subjects. In regard to implementation, the study examines the perspectives of teachers who teach CC in Years 11 and 12, and their students, with particular attention given to the implemented curriculum and the attained curriculum. Specifically, the following research questions were put forward: (1) How is CC represented in the study design for years 11-12 in the VCE curriculum, and how is it conceptualised? (2) How is CC education conceptualised and implemented in years 11-12 from the teachers’ perspectives? And, (3) How is CC education conceptualised by Years 11 and 12 students studying the topic? A qualitative methodological approach is applied to data selection and analysis. Data sources for addressing the first question consists of the study designs constituting the VCE curriculum. Keywords were developed and applied for identifying study designs in which CC is present. These were further analysed thematically. Data sources for addressing Questions 2-3 consist of semi-structured interviews with teachers and students at the selected Victorian school. Thematic analysis is applied for examining CC conceptualisation. The results indicate that CC education is present in only ten subjects out of the 96 VCE study designs. CC education in the various study designs appears in silos. Within these silos, the content knowledge is fragmented and de-contextualised from the comprehensive aspects that make up CC. The incomplete conceptualisation of CC by the curriculum also extends to teachers and students. The teachers in this study do not seem to have formal structural support for teaching CC. Additionally, the curriculum is not prescriptive enough in relation to CC, and there are no professional development or teamwork opportunities at the school that could potentially support teachers. The students in this study are eager to learn more and much of their knowledge about CC is derived from the media rather than from school, suggesting that schools are failing to equip students with appropriate CC knowledge. The study contributes applicable and translational information that may be used to improve CC education within Australian schools in general, and at the Victorian VCE level in particular. The critical deficits found in the conceptualisation of CC and integration within the curriculum should be of prime interest to policymakers, curriculum developers and educators. There is an acute need to provide teachers with appropriate CC pedagogical content knowledge and support in teaching CC at the school level.

Climate change education is becoming a prominent topic covered in K-12. However, studies have shown that misconceptions about climate change are pervasive within secondary students (Shepardson et al., 2011; Lambert et.al, 2012). Additionally, curricula are typically developed without consideration for the sociocultural context within which it is enacted. Therefore, it is important to understand what a climate change curriculum might look like at the primary level to might better assist student learning and understanding of climate change at the secondary level. Using a socio-constructivist approach to learning, a 6-week unit on climate change for a fourth grade class was developed in partnership with an Ann Arbor-based Spanish literacy program. The unit consisted of 5 lesson plans and an evaluation. After course implementation and reflection at the end of the year on learning outcomes, the lesson plans were updated with three additional lessons included all translated in English along with a list of recommendations.

Abstract: Climate change is one of the most serious threats to Earth and its inhabitants (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2007). There are attempts to engage individuals and groups in taking action to reduce climate change in both communication and education. Images are an increasingly significant part of these attempts. Research regarding the use of images indicates that they are capable of affecting a viewer’s thoughts about climate change (Leiserowitz, 2006). However, they have met with limited success in terms of encouraging relevant responses to climate change. Hence, there are calls to increase the association between climate change and the personal contexts of viewers. The study draws on a theoretical framework based on the research in education and visual communication of climate change; and a conceptual framework of ecological thinking. The current study utilized autodriven photo-elicitation to explore how outdoor educators visualized their thinking about climate change. Further, it examined how these photographic images relate to those that are found within the variety of communications about climate change. Autodriven photo-elicitation modifies traditional interview formats by using photographs to help guide the discussion (Harper, 2002; Schwartz, 1989). Further, the approach engages participants in generating the topics to photograph and taking the photographs. Analysis was carried out using a framework based on Peirce’s understanding of semiotics. The results indicated that the outdoor educators were skeptical regarding their ability to determine that a particular event or scene was related to climate change. At the same time, they showed conviction in relating societal aspects, primarily consumption and reduced connection with nature, to climate change. The participants even expressed concern regarding their own levels of consumption with regards to participating in outdoor activities themselves. The participants’ photographs exhibited differences when compared to the main approaches to climate change photography that have been used within education and communication about climate change indicating the importance of directing photographs towards the personal contexts of specific groups of people. The project also demonstrated the pedagogical potential of autodriven photo-elicitation for engaging individuals and groups with thinking about climate change. Future research and pedagogical opportunities are also discussed.

Climate change is emerging as a dominant challenge to environmental and social sustainability in the 21st century. Decelerating the growth of greenhouse gas emissions and reducing other human impacts on the planet, as well as adapting to the changes already in motion, requires fundamental societal changes. While action is needed at all levels of society, individuals and communities have a critical role to play in changing their own behaviours as well as supporting collective action and policy change. The question about how to effectively ‘educate’ individuals and communities on climate change issues is the subject of a growing body of research. Research to date suggests that the educational response to climate change has concentrated primarily on awareness raising and information dissemination, and that the majority of Australians are now aware of and are concerned about climate change. This calls for alternative educational approaches that can help facilitate climate change learning and action within communities. This research used a multi-method, case study approach drawing from three major theoretical areas: environmental education, with an emphasis on learning and change in communities, social diffusion theory, and climate change communication theories. The selected case study was The Climate Project Australia (TCP), which uses community leaders to educate their respective communities on climate change and promote action and community dialogue on the issue. This research explored how community-based education can play a more transformative role in responding to climate change challenges. More specifically, the research examined whether TCP offers an effective educational model to enhance learning and support change at the individual and collective levels. Qualitative and quantitative data, collected through pre/post questionnaires, semi-structured interviews and participant observation, generated evidence of both learning outcomes and processes.

There is a growing need for students to be able to interpret and analyze large-scale datasets. Students have shown difficulty in interpreting large-scale climatic datasets, though it has been unclear in which tasks the students’ difficulty manifests. This study looks at the types of errors made by eighth grade students in the interpretation and analysis of geographically variable average temperature and precipitation data. Four categories of errors – content errors, data practices errors, scientific practices errors, and directions errors – were identified and described. These characterizations of students’ errors can be used to develop materials that scaffolds their abilities in these areas.