Collaborative Research: Confronting the Challenges of Climate Literacy

该项目正在开发三个以探究为基础、以实验室为重点的在线气候变化地球实验室模块，作为正在进行的研究的背景，该研究旨在了解高中生如何在多个时间尺度上掌握地球系统中的变化。气候素养已成为教育的一个重要领域。然而，它在认知、感知和教学方面提出了真正的挑战，特别是在将地球理解为在多个时间尺度上从局部到全球空间尺度运行的动态系统方面。这项研究项目通过考察高中生在不同时间和空间尺度上对地球复杂系统的理解面临的挑战，并通过开发基于研究的见解来支持学习气候变化和地球系统科学的有效教育工具和方法，来面对这些问题。该项目是TERC、密西西比州立大学和德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校的科学教育工作者共同努力的成果。该项目使用后向设计方法来确定一套完整的科学学习目标和研究问题，以便为模块开发提供信息。在编写和审查草稿材料之后，将进行试点实施，然后在德克萨斯州和密西西比州进行两轮教师专业发展、课堂实施和研究。来自多轮实施的研究结果将允许一个迭代过程来完善模块、专业发展材料和研究计划。该项目重点是设计、开发和测试创新的气候变化课程材料，并为地球系统科学教学提供教师专业发展。这些材料将在各州进行测试，教师需要接受地球系统科学培训，大量低收入和少数族裔学生可能会受到即将到来的气候变化的沉重打击。这项研究将揭示气候扫盲教育面临的挑战。

This project is developing three inquiry-based, lab-focused, online Climate Change EarthLabs modules as a context for ongoing research into how high school students grasp change over time in the Earth System on multiple time scales. Climate literacy has emerged as an important domain of education. Yet it presents real challenges in cognition, perception, and pedagogy, especially in understanding Earth as a dynamic system operating at local to global spatial scales over multiple time scales. This research project confronts these issues by examining the challenges to high-school students' understanding of Earth's complex systems, operating over various temporal and spatial scales, and by developing research-based insights into effective educational tools and approaches that support learning about climate change and Earth Systems Science. The project is a collaborative effort among science educators at TERC, Mississippi State University, and The University of Texas at Austin. The project uses a backward-design methodology to identify an integrated set of science learning goals and research questions to inform module development. Development and review of draft materials will be followed by a pilot implementation and then two rounds of teacher professional development, classroom implementation, and research in Texas and Mississippi. Research findings from the multiple rounds of implementation will allow an iterative process for refining the modules, the professional development materials, and the research program.This project focuses on the design, development, and testing of innovative climate change curriculum materials and teacher professional development for Earth Systems science instruction. The materials will be tested in states with teachers in need of Earth Systems Science training and with significant numbers of low income and minority students who are likely to be hard hit by impending climate change. The research will shed light on the challenges of education for climate literacy.