Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Teaching climate change in middle schools and high schools: investigating STEM education’s deficit model

  • Published:
Climatic Change Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Science teachers play an important role promoting civic scientific literacy, but recent research suggests they are less effective than they could be in educating the next generation of citizens about climate change and its causes. One particular area of concern is that many science teachers in the USA encourage students to debate settled empirical findings, such as the role of human-generated emissions of greenhouse gases in raising global temperatures. A common reaction is to call for science teachers to receive more formal training in climate science to increase their knowledge, which will then improve teaching. Using a nationally representative survey of 1500 middle school and high school science teachers, we investigate each element in this argument, and show that increased science coursework in college has modest effects on teachers’ content knowledge and on their teaching choices, including decisions about debating “both sides.” We also find that teachers’ personal political orientations play a large role in their teaching strategies: right-leaning teachers devote somewhat less time to global warming and are much more likely to encourage student debate on the causes of global warming. We discuss the implications of these findings and argue teacher education might be more effective if informed by insights from the emerging discipline of science communication. However, although knowledge and ideology are predictive of pedagogy, a large number of teachers of all ideological positions and all levels of subject expertise encourage students to debate established findings. We discuss this and highlight potential explanations.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Baumert J, Kunter M, Blum W, Brunner M, Voss T, Jordan A et al (2010) Teachers’ mathematical knowledge, cognitive activation in the classroom, and student progress. Am Educ Res J 47(1):133–180. https://doi.org/10.3102/0002831209345157

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berbeco M, Mccaffrey M, Meikle E, Branch G (2014) Choose controversies wisely: when teaching scientific argumentation, selecting the wrong topic can impair- rather than increase-student understanding. Sci Teach, vol 81. American Science Teachers Association

  • Berkman MB, Pacheco JS, Plutzer E (2008) Evolution and creationism in America’s classrooms: a national portrait. PLoS Biol 6(5):e124. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.0060124

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berkman M, Plutzer E (2010) Evolution, creationism, and the battle to control America’s classrooms. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Corner A, Randall A (2011) Selling climate change? The limitations of social marketing as a strategy for climate change public engagement. Glob Environ Chang 21(3):1005–1014

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Darling-Hammond L (2000) Teacher quality and student achievement. Educ Policy Anal Arch 8(1):1–42

  • Darling-Hammond L, Berry B, Amy Thoreson A (2001) Does teacher certification matter? Evaluating the evidence. Educ Eval Policy Anal 23(1):57–77. https://doi.org/10.3102/01623737023001057

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Darling-Hammond L, Chung R, Frelow F (2002) Variation in teacher preparation. J Teach Educ 53(4):286–302. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022487102053004002

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dunlap RE, McCright AM, Yarosh JH (2016) The political divide on climate change: partisan polarization widens in the U.S. Environ: Sci Policy Sustain Dev 58(5):4–23. https://doi.org/10.1080/00139157.2016.1208995

    Google Scholar 

  • Duschl RA, Grandy RE (2008) Reconsidering the character and role of inquiry in school science: framing the debates. In: Duschl RA, Grandy RE (eds) Teaching scientific inquiry: recommendations for research and implementation. Sense Publishers, Rotterdam, p 1–37

  • Ferguson RF, Ladd HF (1996) How and why money matters: an analysis of Alabama schools. In: Ladd HF (ed) Holding schools accountable: performance-based reform in education. Brookings Institution, Washington, D.C., p 265–298

    Google Scholar 

  • Fielding KS, Hornsey MJ (2016) A social identity analysis of climate change and environmental attitudes and behaviors: insights and opportunities. Front Psychol 7(121). https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00121

  • Fritz A (2017) A Political Organization that Doubts Climate Science is Sending this Book to 200,000 Teachers. Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2017/03/29/a-political-organization-that-doubts-climatescience-is-sending-this-book-to-200000-teachers/. Accessed 16 Jul 2018

  • Griffith JA, Brem SK. (2004) Teaching evolutionary biology: Pressures, stress, and coping. J Res Sci Teach 41(8):791–809

  • Gross PJ, Goodenough U, Haack S, Schwartz M, Schwartz R (2005) The state of state science standards, 2005. Thomas B. Fordham Institute, Washington, D.C.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grossman P, Schoenfield, Lee (2005) Teaching subject matter. In: Darling-Hammond L, Bransford J (eds) Preparing teachers for a changing world: what teachers should learn and be able to do. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, p 201–231

    Google Scholar 

  • Güber DL (2013) A cooling climate for change? Party polarization and the politics of global warming. Am Behav Sci 57(1):93–115. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764212463361

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guyton E, Farokhi E (1987) Relationships among academic performance, basic skills, subject matter knowledge, and teaching skills of teacher education graduates. J Teach Educ 38(5):37–42. https://doi.org/10.1177/002248718703800508

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hart PS, Nisbet EC (2012) Boomerang effects in science communication. Commun Res 39(6):701–723. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093650211416646

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hornsey MJ, Harris EA, Bain PG, Fielding KS (2016) Meta-analyses of the determinants and outcomes of belief in climate change. Nat Clim Chang 6(6):622–626

  • Johnson RM, Holzer M (2011) Executive summary: National Earth Science Teachers Association K-12 Climate Change Education Survey. Fort Collins, Co

  • Kahan DM (2012) Cultural cognition as a conception of the cultural theory of risk. In: Hillerbrand R, Sandin P, Roser S, Peterson M (eds) Handbook of risk theory. Springer, Netherlands, p 725–759

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Kahan DM, Jenkins-Smith H, Tarantola T, Silva CL, Braman D (2015) Geoengineering and climate change polarization. Ann Am Acad Polit SS 658(1):192–222. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002716214559002

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kellstedt PM, Zahran S, Vedlitz A (2008) Personal efficacy, the information environment, and attitudes toward global warming and climate change in the United States. Risk Anal 28(1):113–126. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1539-6924.2008.01010.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krosnick JA, Holbrook AL, Visser PS (2000) The impact of the fall 1997 debate about global warming on American public opinion. Public Underst Sci 9(3):239–260. https://doi.org/10.1088/0963-6625/9/3/303

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lederman NG (1992) Students' and teachers' conceptions of the nature of science: A review of the research. J Res Sci Teach 29(4):331–359

  • Lederman NG, Lederman JS (2014) Research on Teaching and Learning of Nature of Science in Handbook of Research on Science Education edited by . Lederman NG & Abell SK. Routledge Handbooks Online

  • Levy BL, Thomas EE, Drago K, Rex LA (2013) Examining studies of inquiry-based learning in three fields of education: sparking generative conversation. J Teach Educ 64(5):387–408

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ma L (1999) Knowing and teaching elementary mathematics. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah

    Google Scholar 

  • Maibach EW, Roser-Renouf C, Leiserowitz A (2008) Communication and marketing as climate change–intervention assets: A public health perspective. Am J Prev Med 35(5):488–500

  • McAvoy P, Hess D (2013) Classroom deliberation in an era of political polarization. Curric Inq 43(1):14–47

  • McCright AM, Dunlap RE (2011) The politicization of climate change and polarization in the American Public’s views of global warming, 2001–2010. Sociol Q 52(2):155–194. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1533-8525.2011.01198.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meehan CR, Levy BL, Collet-Gildard L (2018) Global climate change in US high school curricula: portrayals of the causes, consequences, and potential responses. Sci Educ 102:498–528

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miller JD (2010) The conceptualization and measurement of civic scientific literacy for the 21st century. In: Meinwald J, Hildebrand JG (eds) Science and the educated American: a core component of liberal education. American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Cambridge, p 241–255

    Google Scholar 

  • Minner DD, Levy AJ, Century J (2010) Inquiry-based science instruction-what is it and does it matter? Results from a research synthesis years 1984 to 2002. J Res Sci Teach 47(4):474–496. https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.20347

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Monk DH (1994) Subject area preparation of secondary mathematics and science teachers and student achievement. Econ Educ Rev 13(2):125–145. https://doi.org/10.1016/0272-7757(94)90003-5

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (2016) Science literacy: concepts, contexts, and consequences. The National Academies Press, Washington, DC. https://doi.org/10.17226/23595

  • National Research Council (2012) A framework for K-12 science education: Practices, crosscutting concepts, and core ideas. National Academies Press

  • National Research Council (2013) Next generation science standards: For states, by states. http://www.nextgenscience.org/standards/standards. Accessed 16 Jul 2018

  • Nisbet EC, Cooper KE, Garrett RK (2015) The partisan brain. Ann Am Acad Polit SS 658(1):36–66. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002716214555474

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Plutzer E (2013) The racial gap in confidence in science. Bull Sci Technol Soc 33(5–6):146–157. https://doi.org/10.1177/0270467614528902

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Plutzer E (2016) Replication data for “Climate confusion among US teachers” published 2/12/2016 in. Science Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/VH2IQH

  • Plutzer E, Hannah AL (2018) Replication code for Teaching climate change in middle schools and high schools, Harvard Dataverse, V1. https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/TWY65T

  • Plutzer E, Hannah AL, Rosenau J, McCaffrey MS, Berbeco M, Reid AH (2016a) Mixed messages: how climate change is taught in America’s public schools. Retrieved from https://ncse.com/library-resource/mixed-messages-how-climate-change-is-taught-americas-public

  • Plutzer E, Maney A, O’Connor RE (1998) Ideology and elites’ perceptions of the safety of new technologies. Am J Polit Sci 42(1):190–209

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Plutzer E, Mccaffrey M, Hannah AL, Rosenau J, Berbeco M, Reid AH (2016b) Climate confusion among U.S. teachers. Science 351(6274):664–665. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aab3907

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Redlawsk DP (2002) Hot cognition or cool consideration? Testing the effects of motivated reasoning on political decision making. J Politics 64(4):1021–1044. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2508.00161

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reinisch B, Krüger D (2018) Preservice Biology Teachers’ Conceptions About the Tentative Nature of Theories and Models in Biology. Res Sci Educ 48(1):71–103

  • Rowan B, Chiang F-S, Miller RJ (1997) Using research on employees’ performance to study the effects of teachers on students’ achievement. Sociol Educ 70(4):256. https://doi.org/10.2307/2673267

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rutledge ML, Mitchell MA (2002) High School Biology Teachers’ Knowledge Structure, Acceptance & Teaching of Evolution. Am Biol Teach 64(1):21–28

  • Sabatier PA (1988) An advocacy coalition framework of policy change and the role of policy-oriented learning therein. Policy Sci 21(2–3):129–168. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00136406

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sabatier PA, Jenkins-Smith HC (eds) (1993) Policy change and learning: an advocacy coalition framework. Westview Press, Boulder

    Google Scholar 

  • Sadler PM, Sonnert G, Coyle HP, Cook-Smith N, Miller JL (2013) The influence of teachers’ knowledge on student learning in middle school physical science classrooms. Am Educ Res J 50(5):1020–1049. https://doi.org/10.3102/0002831213477680

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sinatra GM, Kienhues D, Hofer BK (2014) Addressing challenges to public understanding of science: epistemic cognition, motivated reasoning, and conceptual change. Educ Psychol 49(2):123–138. https://doi.org/10.1080/00461520.2014.916216

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sullivan SMB, Ledley TS, Lynds SE, Gold AU (2014) Navigating climate science in the classroom: teacher preparation, perceptions and practices. J Geosci Educ 62(4):550–559. https://doi.org/10.5408/12-304.1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taber CS, Lodge M (2006) Motivated skepticism in the evaluation of political beliefs. Am J Polit Sci 50(3):755–769. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5907.2006.00214.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • van der Linden SL, Leiserowitz AA, Feinberg GD, Maibach EW (2015) The scientific consensus on climate change as a gateway belief: experimental evidence. PLoS One 10(2):e0118489. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0118489

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wise SB (2010) Climate change in the classroom: patterns, motivations, and barriers to instruction among Colorado science teachers. J Geosci Educ 58(5):297–309. https://doi.org/10.5408/1.3559695

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Ann Reid and Brad Hoge for comments and suggestions on the manuscript. We utilize data from the National Survey of Science Teachers, which is freely available to all researchers. The original data were collected by the Penn State Survey Research Center, under contract to the National Center for Science Education.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Pennsylvania State University, 312 Pond Lab, University Park, PA, 16802, USA

    Eric Plutzer

  2. Wright State University, 3640 Colonel Glenn Hwy, 317 Millett Hall, Dayton, OH, 45435, USA

    A. Lee Hannah

Authors
  1. Eric Plutzer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. A. Lee Hannah
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Eric Plutzer.

Electronic supplementary material

ESM 1

(DOCX 738 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Plutzer, E., Hannah, A.L. Teaching climate change in middle schools and high schools: investigating STEM education’s deficit model. Climatic Change 149, 305–317 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-018-2253-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-018-2253-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation