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Climate change has not been well understood by high school students in the US and the topic is often connected to misconceptions, which is especially damaging since accurate understandings of the concepts are strongly predictive of intent to do something about it. We use data from a national (US) survey of first year college students to identify high school experiences which correlate with the belief that climate change is caused by human activities. In-class coverage of climate change is less predictive of belief than time spent on science homework or science-themed extracurricular activities. These correlations suggest that simply covering climate change in class may not necessarily lead to greater belief in the scientific consensus. While deeper understanding is a worthy goal, the results indicate that, when it comes to high school science education, social factors such as the process and culture of education are also important for belief in climate change. These finding aligns with previous research about college students, which suggest student activities are more strongly correlated with student viewpoints than professor beliefs. Given the potential for curricula to become politicized these finding suggests an alternative route to achieve climate change education goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes beliefs related to human-caused climate change and predictors of these beliefs among students intending to pursue civil engineering. Based on a nationally distributed survey to first-year college engineering students (n = 937) in the United States, civil engineering students are less likely than others to believe that climate change is caused by humans. One reason this is a problem is because civil engineering students who do not believe in human-caused climate change are less likely to want to address climate change in their careers. Education has potential to address this gap in knowledge. For example, coverage of topics related to climate change in high school courses is a strong predictor for belief in anthropogenic climate change. For educators working with college students who may not believe in anthropogenic climate change, simply covering the topic can increase students' awareness, which would seem to lead them to more desire to address climate change issues, which is a necessity for realizing more-sustainable and resilient infrastructure systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Learning more about the career outcome expectations of students interested in civil engineering can help identify gaps between their expectations and sustainability challenges. The authors used data from two national surveys to compare students interested in civil engineering and other engineering disciplines. Those interested in civil engineering are more likely to address such sustainability topics as environmental degradation, water supply, and climate change. However, civil engineering students are less likely to have outcome expectations related to disease and saving lives. Particularly, female students interested in civil engineering have similar expectations to males but also hope to address poverty and opportunities for women and minorities. The gaps in outcome expectations related to disease and saving lives are troubling for a profession that is so instrumental in providing, for example, clean water and safe shelter. Showing the connection between societal needs and civil engineering may broaden participation, including among underrepresented female students. Recruiting more undergraduates using these outcome expectations would bring sorely needed new ideas and ways of thinking to help civil engineering respond to sustainability challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]