Measuring Misconceptions About Climate Change Between Freshmen and Senior Civil Engineering Students
Measuring Misconceptions About Climate Change Between Freshmen and Senior Civil Engineering Students
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DOI：
10.18260/1-2--30797
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发表时间：
2018
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影响因子：
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通讯作者：
Dr. Tripp Shealy
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作者：
Dr. Tripp Shealy
人为气候变化正在不可逆转地影响地球和社会。土木工程师有责任设计和建造减少气候变化排放的建筑环境空间。本文提出的研究的目的是评估本科土木工程课程如何有助于实现这一目标。一个横截面之间的比较数据从以前的全国调查新生工程专业学生感兴趣的土木工程和试点数据从全国调查到高年级本科工程专业学生被用来评估学生对气候变化的信念，他们对气候科学的理解，并希望解决气候变化在他们的职业生涯。结果表明，与大一工程专业学生（47%）相比，大四土木工程专业学生更有可能相信气候变化是由人类引起的（67%）。这些老年人也更有可能（73%）同意采取行动应对气候变化。然而，只有37%的人希望在职业生涯中亲自应对气候变化。土木工程专业的高年级学生比其他工程学科的同龄人更有可能选修包括可持续性和气候变化在内的课程（主要是工程选修课），但他们对气候科学的了解并不好，在某些情况下，比他们的工程同行更差。例如，土木工程专业的学生更有可能同意这样的陈述，“我相信全球气候变化的一个原因是核能发电”，“我相信全球气候变化的一个原因是高层大气中的臭氧洞”。本科教育可能有助于增加对应对气候变化的信念和认识，但在理解方面仍然存在教育差距。未来的研究应该探讨为什么即使在工程课程中教授气候变化时仍然存在误解，以及如何解释特定的概念以及学生的经历如何塑造理解和兴趣。
Anthropogenic climate change is irreversibly affecting the planet and society. Civil engineers hold responsibility to design and construct built-environment spaces that decrease climate changing emissions. The purpose of the research presented in this paper is to assess how undergraduate civil engineering programs contribute to this goal. A cross-sectional comparison between data from a prior national survey of freshmen engineering students interested in civil engineering and pilot data from a national survey to senior undergraduate engineering students was used to assess students’ belief in climate change, their understanding of climate science, and desire to address climate change in their careers. The results indicate that senior undergraduate civil engineering students are more likely to believe that climate change is caused by humans (67%) compared to freshmen engineering students (47%). These seniors are also more likely (73%) to agree that action should be taken to address climate change. Yet, only 37 percent hope to personally address climate change in their careers. Senior civil engineering students are more likely than their peers in other engineering disciplines to take classes that include sustainability and climate change as topics (predominately in engineering electives), yet their knowledge of climate science is no better, and in several instances, worse than their engineering peers. For example, civil engineering students are more likely to agree with the statement, “I believe a cause of global climate change is nuclear power generation,” and “I believe a cause of global climate change is the ozone hole in the upper atmosphere.” Undergraduate education is likely contributing to increased belief and recognition to address climate change but an educational gap still persists in understanding. Future research should explore why misconceptions still exist even when climate change is taught in engineering courses and how particular concepts are explained and how student experiences shape understanding and interest.