More middle school science teachers are teaching, and teaching more about, recent global warming, although more of them are also giving "equal time" to doubts that recent global warming is human-caused, according to a new study comparing the results of two nationally representative surveys of public middle school science teachers from 2014 and 2019.
Why focus on middle school? "Climate change education at the middle school level is crucial," the study’s co-author Glenn Branch, deputy director of the National Center for Science Education, explained. "As matters stand, middle school is the last stage in the formal education of perhaps a majority of Americans in which a relatively extensive study of climate change might be required."
"Only 24 percent of teachers reported not teaching about recent global warming in 2019, as compared to 30 percent in 2014," commented the lead author, Eric Plutzer of Penn State University. "And while teachers who taught about recent global warming devoted 4.4 class hours on average to it in 2014, that was up to 6.5 class hours in 2019. These are significant, and substantial, improvements."
Improvements were also visible in the choice of emphasis, with significantly more teachers who reported emphasizing the reality of recent climate change and the scientific consensus on its human causes. There was not, however, any change in the proportion of teachers who reported emphasizing, misleadingly, that "many scientists believe recent increases in temperature are likely due to natural causes."
There was also deterioration. Asked about various possible ways of managing potential controversy in the classroom, there was a rise in the proportion of teachers who reported giving time to perspectives that raise doubt that humans are causing climate change, from 35 percent in 2014 to 43 percent in 2019. Presenting such perspectives is discouraged by scientific and science education organizations.
"Every student deserves the chance to understand that there is a broad and deep scientific consensus on climate change's reality and causes," commented co-author Amanda L. Townley, executive director of the National Center for Science Education. "And although there's obviously room for further improvement, seeing such a substantial shift in a mere five years is incredibly exciting."
Why the shift? The study analyzed a variety of possible factors, concluding that increasing acceptance of the scientific consensus on recent global warming on the part of the teachers — which rose nine percentage points between the two surveys — and increasing presence of recent global warming in state standards were particularly important.
The study, “Climate change education in U.S. middle schools: changes over five pivotal years” by Eric Plutzer, Glenn Branch, and Amanda L. Townley, was published open-access in a special climate change education issue of the peer-reviewed Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education, published by the American Society for Microbiology, on June 25, 2024.
