Developing pedagogies for teaching about climate change

One of most pressing social and scientific problems of our times is maintaining climate stability in the face of growing evidence of dramatic climate change. Understanding climate change is a challenge for most citizens and it follows that teaching about climate change is equally challenging. In order to suggest new pedagogical strategies for teaching about climate change, this paper resists the deficit model of teacher education by suggesting a more organic approach in developing climate change pedagogies. This suggestion emerges from research which examines how prospective teachers understand climate change as both a scientific and social issue. Preliminary results suggest a socialized understanding of climate change as the consensual paradigm for dealing with the complex challenges presented by climate change. This paradigm affirms research that contest the anchoring of understanding of climate change on scientific concepts. The paper discusses and explores alternative pedagogies aiming to exploit student-teachers’ developed dialogic interactions and socialized scientific knowledge, as foundational in teaching about climate change and enhancing socio-scientific student engagement.