Climate Change Misconceptions Common Among Teachers, Study Finds

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://munews.missouri.edu/news-releases/2017/0607-climate-change-misconceptions-common-among-teachers-study-finds/

[font face=Serif][font size=5]Climate Change Misconceptions Common Among Teachers, Study Finds[/font]

June 07, 2017

Story Contact(s):
Nathan Hurst, [e-mail], 573-882-6217

[font size=3]COLUMBIA, Mo. – Recent studies have shown that misconceptions about climate change and the scientific studies that have addressed climate change are pervasive among the U.S. public. Now, a new study by Benjamin Herman, assistant professor in the Department of Learning, Teaching and Curriculum in the University of Missouri College of Education, shows that many secondary school science teachers also possess several of these same misconceptions.

In the study, Herman surveyed 220 secondary science teachers in Florida and Puerto Rico to determine their knowledge about climate change science. The survey asked questions regarding things that do contribute to climate change, such as greenhouse gas emissions, and things that do not significantly contribute, such as the depletion of the ozone layer and the use of pesticides. The survey also asked whether controlled scientific experiments are required to validate climate change.

While the majority of the surveyed teachers accurately responded that fossil fuel use, automobiles and industry emissions were major causes of climate change, they also exhibited notable climate change misconceptions. For instance, nearly all of the Puerto Rico teachers and more than 70 percent of Florida teachers believed incorrectly that ozone layer depletion and pesticide use were at least minor, yet significant, causes of climate change. Additionally, Herman says that nearly 50 percent of Florida teachers and nearly 70 percent of Puerto Rico teachers think that climate change science must be studied through controlled experiments to be valid.

Herman says the teachers in his study exhibited climate change science misconceptions at a similar rate to average Americans. He says these results are understandable given that teachers are often overworked and not afforded professional development opportunities that would deepen their climate change science knowledge.

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http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10763-015-9706-6

[dembotoz]

1. Few years back wife wanted middle kid in a Lutheran School

Went to open house where the 4th graders had a display on how dinosaurs were a hoax. These findings do not surprise me

[OKIsItJustMe]

2. We're not talking about teachers in a "religious" school environment here

http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10763-015-9706-6
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We distributed surveys to FL (N?=?102) and PR (N?=?118) secondary science teachers as part of a convenience sample at the Florida Association of Science Teachers Conference and at schools in FL and PR. Again, this study focused only on secondary science teachers who claimed to deeply teach climate change. Therefore, we retained only those surveys if the participating teachers indicated teaching about climate change as distinct lessons, a unit, or a unifying theme of a course (see section 4 as described above and in Appendix A of the electronic supplementary materials). We then individually reviewed and removed surveys if they were clearly satisficed (e.g. incomplete or exhibited “straight-lined” Likert responses) (Krosnick, 1991). Thus, of the original 220 teachers surveyed, 56 FL and 60 PR teachers’ surveys were retained for analysis.

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