Understandings of climate change articulated by Swedish secondary school students
Holmqvist Olander, Mona LU
and Olander, Clas
(2017)
In Journal of Biological Education
51(4).
p.349-357
- Abstract
This study investigated beliefs about climate change among Swedish secondary school students at the end of their K-12 education. An embedded mixed method approach was used to analyse 51 secondary school students’ written responses to two questions: (1) What implies climate change? (2) What affects climate? A quantitative analysis of the responses revealed that ‘Earth’, ‘human’ and ‘greenhouse effect’ were frequent topics regarding the first question, and ‘pollution’, ‘atmosphere’ and ‘Earth’ were frequent regarding the second. A qualitative analysis, based on a ‘conceptual elements’ framework, focused on three elements within responses: atmosphere (causes and/or consequences), Earth (causes and consequences) and living beings (humans... (More)
This study investigated beliefs about climate change among Swedish secondary school students at the end of their K-12 education. An embedded mixed method approach was used to analyse 51 secondary school students’ written responses to two questions: (1) What implies climate change? (2) What affects climate? A quantitative analysis of the responses revealed that ‘Earth’, ‘human’ and ‘greenhouse effect’ were frequent topics regarding the first question, and ‘pollution’, ‘atmosphere’ and ‘Earth’ were frequent regarding the second. A qualitative analysis, based on a ‘conceptual elements’ framework, focused on three elements within responses: atmosphere (causes and/or consequences), Earth (causes and consequences) and living beings (humans and/or animals and their impacts on climate change). It revealed a predominantly general or societal, rather than individual, perspective underlying students’ responses to the second question. The ability to connect general/societal issues with individual issues relating to climate change could prompt students to reflect on the contributions of individuals towards climate change mitigation, thereby constituting a basis for decision-making to promote a sustainable environment. Although the students did not discuss climate changes from an individual perspective, their statements revealed their understanding of climate change as a system comprising various components affecting the overall situation. They also revealed an understanding of the difference between weather and climate.
(Less)
- author
- Holmqvist Olander, Mona
LU
and Olander, Clas
- publishing date
- 2017-10-02
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Climate change, climate literacy, Science Education, secondary school, Students’ beliefs
- in
- Journal of Biological Education
- volume
- 51
- issue
- 4
- pages
- 9 pages
- publisher
- Routledge
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:84988916908
- ISSN
- 0021-9266
- DOI
- 10.1080/00219266.2016.1233130
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- no
- additional info
- Publisher Copyright: © 2016 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
- id
- 32269cab-ae3c-45cb-a7f4-c33a3a52f2e5
- date added to LUP
- 2023-09-05 14:03:52
- date last changed
- 2023-09-08 12:14:18
@article{32269cab-ae3c-45cb-a7f4-c33a3a52f2e5,
abstract = {{<p>This study investigated beliefs about climate change among Swedish secondary school students at the end of their K-12 education. An embedded mixed method approach was used to analyse 51 secondary school students’ written responses to two questions: (1) What implies climate change? (2) What affects climate? A quantitative analysis of the responses revealed that ‘Earth’, ‘human’ and ‘greenhouse effect’ were frequent topics regarding the first question, and ‘pollution’, ‘atmosphere’ and ‘Earth’ were frequent regarding the second. A qualitative analysis, based on a ‘conceptual elements’ framework, focused on three elements within responses: atmosphere (causes and/or consequences), Earth (causes and consequences) and living beings (humans and/or animals and their impacts on climate change). It revealed a predominantly general or societal, rather than individual, perspective underlying students’ responses to the second question. The ability to connect general/societal issues with individual issues relating to climate change could prompt students to reflect on the contributions of individuals towards climate change mitigation, thereby constituting a basis for decision-making to promote a sustainable environment. Although the students did not discuss climate changes from an individual perspective, their statements revealed their understanding of climate change as a system comprising various components affecting the overall situation. They also revealed an understanding of the difference between weather and climate.</p>}},
author = {{Holmqvist Olander, Mona and Olander, Clas}},
issn = {{0021-9266}},
keywords = {{Climate change; climate literacy; Science Education; secondary school; Students’ beliefs}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{10}},
number = {{4}},
pages = {{349--357}},
publisher = {{Routledge}},
series = {{Journal of Biological Education}},
title = {{Understandings of climate change articulated by Swedish secondary school students}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00219266.2016.1233130}},
doi = {{10.1080/00219266.2016.1233130}},
volume = {{51}},
year = {{2017}},
}