Communicating and Learning About Global Climate Change

Presentation of P. John Whitsett

Slide 1
Thank you!
It is truly a pleasure to have the opportunity to speak this afternoon about a topic that is certainly of concern to all of us.

The American Association for the Advancement of Science is to be commended for providing this venue to foster dialog on global climate change. AAAS is the world's largest general scientific society and has consistently taken a leadership role in promoting scientific thinking.

I can remember, when I first started teaching, reading the AAAS journal Science every week when it would arrive. Unfortunately, I only fully understood half of what I was reading but it was a wonderful way to keep current with scientific research.

In the mid 1980's, AAAS published Project 2061, Science for All Americans and I can easily look back on this as a career changing event for me. I had been teaching for a decade and had developed quite a bag of tricks, labs, activities, and demonstrations that supplemented my text book. Project 2061 challenged me to look at the world from a broader view and to identify those things in the curriculum that were really important and teach them well rather than trying teach everything superficially.

In education we are still fighting this battle of a curriculum that is often "a mile wide and an inch deep". The lack of a broader view of the world where the connections are emphasized is very likely one of the root causes of some of the behaviors and attitudes that produce our major environmental issues like global climate change.

Slide 2
One only needs to watch the newspapers for a few days to find articles that discuss various aspects of global climate change. Certainly, any extreme in weather will likely trigger discussions about the affects of global warming and carbon dioxide emissions. An article recently in the Wisconsin State Journal touted 2006 as being the warmest year on record.

In the 1980's I was an adjunct faculty member at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse working in the chemistry department and serving as the Co-PI for an NSF sponsored teacher enhancement project in Science, Technology, and Society. One of my responsibilities was the lecture portion of the program on atmospheric chemistry. Global warming was one of the topics that I addressed in great detail. Since this was a program for teachers, I included in the lectures, a number of activities that could be used in classrooms which used current newspaper articles. I find it interesting that in 1986 the newspapers were carrying articles that pointed out that 1986 was the warmest year on record, and in fact six of the warmest years on record were in the previous decade. Not surprisingly, not much has changed in the last 20 years except that the temperatures are even warmer and we now have more record warm years.

Credible sources are telling us that the next decade is critical if we are to avoid what is very likely an environmental disaster.

Another article that appeared this past week in the same Madison newspaper reported windchills of -45 degrees. Of, course those who would have us believe that global warming is a myth were quick to point out that we were having those very cold temperatures and this was proof positive that global warming did not exist. I have to admit, flying in from Wisconsin yesterday I much appreciated the California warmth since the temperature in Wisconsin was -5 degrees.

A cartoon in the Saturday newspaper depicted two young boys walking in heavy snow. One boy commented "It sure was awesome getting a snow day and not attending school". The other boy responded "No kidding... it gave me a chance to finish my report on global warming!"

Headlines, cartoons, and news stories do demonstrate one of the serious misconceptions that comes from having too narrow of a view of the world and that is failing to recognize the difference between weather and climate. These headlines obviously are weather events. To get a picture of climate a much longer time frame must be examined.

Slide 3
As you have heard from many others at this conference, when temperature data is examined over a long period of time, it is easy to see the average temperature of the Earth is increasing. The only real question is at what rate is it increasing? There are a number of different forecasting models but they differ only in how much of an increase there will be and over what time frame. The other thing that we can be sure of is we are using fossil fuels at an increasing rate. As the rest of the world increases their level of industrialization we can be certain that their appetite for coal, oil, and gas will also increase. The chemistry and physics that links atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration to heat retention in the atmosphere has long been known and there is general consensus that our climate is changing.

Slide 4
Just in the last few weeks a major report was released by the United Nations that reaffirms the notion that our world temperatures are increasing, we are producing more "greenhouse" gases, and human activity is the root cause for the impending climate change.

Slide 5
Certainly, the reversal of the negative effects of "greenhouse gas" emissions has to be the result of actions taken in the halls of government and the boardrooms of industry but the education enterprise must also step up and work toward a citizenry that is scientifically and environmentally literate.

It's the education component that I wish to speak about this afternoon. I will discuss what the science education standards, benchmarks, and curriculum documents have to say about climate and scientific literacy. I will describe some of the ways in which climate change can be embedded into classroom practice and I will give examples of how teachers are already doing this. Last, I will make a few comments about how we could do a better job than we are now doing.

Slide 6
A book that is often used in curriculum writing is Science Matters by Robert Hazen and James Trefil. This book identified the big ideas that a scientifically literate person should know and understand. If one looks for "global climate" in this book one will see that the authors noted that there was agreement that carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas and that the concentration is increasing in the atmosphere. They asked whether the resultant warming had already begun and how much effect it would have. This is pretty much accepted now but we need to remember they wrote this book prior to its 1991 release date. They had very simple solutions: stop cutting trees and plant more trees. If they had added curtailing the use of fossil fuels they would have had it all.

Slide 7
I mentioned Project 2061 earlier as project that promoted a massive overhaul of the education system. Science For All Americans identified the big ideas similar to Science Matters but it also demonstrated the connections between them. Energy and how it moves within and between systems is identified as one of those big ideas. Within this topic fossil fuels are shown to be part of a dynamic cycle of formation and conversion back to gas through combustion but the time scales are certainly not in balance with our current use of fossil fuels.

Slide 8
The single most significant document that is used by curriculum developers is the National Science Education Standards. The standards ask that students recognize that human activity can produce negative outcomes. In Standard F students are asked to use critical thinking skills to examine global issues and then to develop a global awareness.

Slide 9
The AAAS Benchmarks ask that in grades 6-8 students understand that our climate has changed in the past as a result of relatively small changes in the atmosphere.

Slide 10
The Benchmarks suggest that high school students need to understand that life as we know it must adapt to our climate, that our climate is the result of the transfer of energy in and out of the atmosphere, and that technology can have unintended outcomes.

Slide 11
The National Science Teachers Association has a number of position statements that guide the policy of the organization and provides guidance to its 55,000 members on matters relative to teaching and learning of science. NSTA has a position statement on Environmental Education which states that any instruction should be based upon the national standards and the instruction should be interdisciplinary and include the viewpoints of all.

Slide 12
NSTA strongly supports environmental education as a way to instill environmental literacy in our nation's pre-K-16 students. It should be a part of the school curriculum because student knowledge of environmental concepts establishes a foundation for their future understandings and actions as citizens.

Central to environmental literacy is the ability of students to master critical-thinking skills that will prepare them to evaluate issues and make informed decisions regarding stewardship of the planet. The environment also offers a relevant context for the learning and integration of core content knowledge, making it an essential component of a comprehensive science education program

Slide 13
The most recent initiative for curriculum developers, administrators and teachers comes from the Partnership for 21st Century Skills. This is a coalition of large corporations, higher education and professional organizations including NSTA. This group has been meeting regularly to develop consensus on the skills and knowledge sets that are needed by students to be successful in the 21st Century. Global awareness and social responsibility have been identified as characteristics that students need as we enter a global economy.

It is apparent that the documents that are typically used by curriculum developers provide for the inclusion of environmental education topics in general and certainly global climate change is an issue that needs to be addressed.

Slide 14
As topics move from the standards and benchmarks level to the classroom level there is a need for resources to be used with students. Unfortunately, the treatment that is provided in most text books is at best cursory and at worst non-existent. Two of the most reliable sources of information are the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

The websites for these organizations provide many high quality materials that a classroom teacher can use to supplement their textbooks. These materials are scientifically based and are free of bias that might be introduced from a source that has a vested interest.

Slide 15
I was asked to comment on some of the classroom practices and activities that successful teachers are using. The AAAS Atlas of Science Literacy is a book which uses concept maps to demonstrate the connections among all of the various science concepts. This can be accomplished through the use of an activity that develops those connections for students through class discussion. The activity consists of engaging students in a class discussion prompted by a set of cards that provide a position that the student would take.

Global warming is one of many significant issues. As students engage in the discussion the interconnectedness of the issues becomes apparent. This activity was produced by "Facing the Future: People and the Planet" and can be found at "facingthefuture.org"

Slide 16
To get a sense of what kind of activities were actually being used I had the Wisconsin Society of Science Teachers conduct an on line survey of the methods that are used to teach the issue of global climate change, global warming, and greenhouse effect. I had well over a hundred responses which was encouraging indicating that teachers were in fact addressing the issue but it was somewhat discouraging to see the lack of depth of instruction. Some tied class discussion to topics on energy while others approached it from the standpoint of environmental awareness. Only in a couple of instances were there some hands on experiences based on the science as well as the social aspects.

Slide 17
In the January 2007 issue of Science Scope, the NSTA middle school journal, a rather extensive teaching unit on the melting of glaciers as the result of temperature changes and salinity of water. The activity included several well designed inquiry based lessons that allowed students to gain an understanding of the factors which will affect the rate of melting of glaciers. Clearly there are efforts to integrate global climate change into the curriculum but it should be noted that it is important that it be integrated in such a manner that we are able to nurture global awareness relative to many issues that exist now and those that will exist in the future.

Slide 18
Earth Science is a course that is often taught in the middle school grades and is a natural place to address global climate change in the curriculum. Recent trends in Earth Science have tended to shift toward a systems approach where the various Earth cycles are emphasized so that the interconnectedness can be demonstrated. To understand how greenhouse gases are intertwined with the global warming and therefore global climate change it is necessary for students to have knowledge of the carbon cycle, water cycle, oxygen cycle and the way in which human activity can play into the rates at which these cycles interact.

Slide 19
Just in the last few weeks the provincial government of Ontario, Canada implemented a change in their 10th grade curriculum unit on weather changing its title to "climate change". Instructional content was to include how human activity can affect climate and how climate affects people.

Slide 20
As we assess the treatment of global climate change in the schools we can identify some barriers we face. There exists a curricular structure that dictates science be taught in little boxes or specific disciplines; for instance chemistry, biology, and physics without regard to the overlap of disciplines in real world problems like global climate change. Lack of adequate preservice training for teachers has been a problem and continues to be, especially at the K-8 level.

The quality of teaching materials is always an issue. Textbooks often do not address issues because of the political implications that affect the potential sales in some locations. Some materials are produced by groups with a vested interest which raises questions of the objectivity. Very few commercially available materials do an adequate job of addressing the skill sets needed by 21st Century students. Finally, the topical compartmentalization that often occurs does little to develop in students the ability to identify cause and effect relationships.

Slide 21
Gaylord Nelson, former Wisconsin US senator and father of Earth Day noted that in 1970 environmental science did not exist.

Slide 22
Environmental science is now alive and well and is developing as a discipline. The goal of environmental science is to develop environmental literacy in our students. This is based on the idea of sustainability and recognition of the interconnectedness of all of our Earth processes including human activity.

Slide 23
Environmental literacy is defined as the capacity of an individual to act successfully in daily life with a broad understanding of how people and societies relate to natural systems.

Slide 24
Environmental science is growing as a discipline providing instruction in global awareness.
Currently NSTA has more teachers who claim to be environmental education teachers than those who claim to be teachers of the more traditional chemistry and physics.

Slide 25
Some of the best sources of information to promote environmental literacy and to develop a sound understanding of global climate change can be found in journal articles. Examples of articles that can be used are two that appeared in the NSTA journal, Science Scope, Inside Global Warming" and "Seeing the Carbon Cycle" are two such articles.

Slide 26

"Inside Alternatively Powered Vehicles" is yet another journal article detailing the efforts of a successful science teacher.

NSTA has attempted to provide useful materials, professional development experiences, and quality speakers at the conferences.

We are proud to announce that Susan Solomon will be a featured speaker at our national conference in St. Louis in a little more than a month.

The teaching of global issues in general and global climate change in particular has not been done well in the past but there are signs that the situation is improving. It will take the efforts of many dedicated educators to produce citizens of the 21st century who can make decisions with the future of the Earth in mind.

Slide 27
In conclusion, I look to a quote from Albert Einstein ... "The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we used when we created them"

Slide 28
Thank you.

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