Building Capacity for Climate Change Science and Solutions Through - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Building Capacity for Climate Change Science and Solutions Through Education Frank Niepold NOAA Climate Program Office frank.niepold@noaa.gov June 16th, 2015

"I believe that the community's duty to education is, therefore, its paramount moral duty. By law and punishment, by social agitation and discussion, society can regulate and form itself in a more or less haphazard and chance way. But through education society can formulate its own purposes, can organize its own means and resources, and thus shape itself with definiteness and economy in the direction in which it wishes to move." John Dewey My Pedagogic Creed The School Journal, Vol. LIV, No. 3 January 1897 2

In which direction does society wish to move? 3

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It All Started in 2004 with the NOAA Climate Education Fellowship Program • The program places a highly qualified K-16 educator at NOAA's Office of Global Programs in Silver Spring, Maryland, to work closely with scientists and program managers NOAA-wide to update materials and develop new activities focused on climate education. • Any K-16 educator at a U.S. elementary or secondary school or accredited institution of higher education is eligible, with the approval of her or his school or university administration. The length of assignment is one year (renewable up to three years). • Deadline: 25 April, 2004 5

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In 2005, NOAA’s Charge: Define and Develop a Climate Literate Nation. 7

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What was the Status of Climate Education in 2005? • National Science Education Standards only had 7 references to climate, 0 for climate change and 1 for greenhouse; “Radical reactions control many processes such as the presence of ozone and greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, burning and processing of fossil fuels, the formation of polymers, and explosions.” (p. 179) • In the 1993 version of the AAAS Project 2061’s Benchmarks for Science Literacy had 7 references to climate, 0 to climate change, and 0 references to greenhouse. • In 1992, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change treaty included Article 6 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) stipulates the promotion of education, training and public awareness on climate change, however federal efforts were limited. • Less than 20% of students took a high school Earth science 9 course in the nation.

Revolutionizing Earth System Science Education for the 21st Century, 2007 • Recommendation: Develop a comprehensive set of atmosphere, weather, and climate literacy principles and concepts, similar in format to the ocean literacy principles and concepts. Such a synthesis will provide clarity to states regarding the essential understandings and process of atmospheric sciences. 10

Compare the rate at which CO2 is put into the atmosphere to the rate at which it is 11

Are we ready to solve climate change and prepare for the impacts? How could we be, we had no preparation. 12

Today, global warming is the biggest story that has not fully been told. 13

I worked with NASA on the Mission to Planet Earth starting in 1995 as we went through the The Bretherton diagram was developed by a committee in 1986 chaired by James Bretherton to 14 facilitate understanding of the Earth as a system.

The Earth system is much more complicated than the simplified Bretherton diagram, much. 15

What’s the public’s level of climate literacy? 70% of U.S. adults think that we should teach children the • causes, consequences, and potential solutions to global warming. (Anthony Leiserowitz, Yale University) 97.4% of climate scientists who publish in peer review journals • affirm human activity is a significant contributing factor in changing mean global temperatures. (EOS) While knowledge levels vary, these results also indicate that • relatively few teens have an in-depth understanding of climate change. 54 percent of teens received a failing grade (F), compared to 46 percent of adults. (Yale, 2011) 16

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In general, American teens know about the same or less than American adults about how the climate system works and the causes, consequences, and solutions of climate change. For example: • 54% of teens say that global warming is happening, compared to 63% of adults; • 35% of teens understand that most scientists think global warming is happening, compared to 39% of adults; • 75% of teens understand that coal is a fossil fuel, compared to 80% of adults; • 46% of teens understand that emissions from cars and trucks substantially contribute to global warming, compared to 49% of adults; • 62% of teens say that switching from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources worldwide would reduce global warming a lot or some, compared to 63% of adults.

• However, American teens also recognize their limited understanding of the issue. Fewer than 1 in 5 say they are “very well informed” about how the climate system works or the different causes, consequences, or potential solutions to global warming , and only 27 percent say they have learned “a lot” about global warming from in school. Importantly, 70 percent of teens say they would like to know more about global warming. Seventy-three percent of teens say they would turn to • the Internet to learn more about global warming, compared to 61 percent of adults. Teens are less likely than adults to look to television programs or books or magazines for more information about global warming.

Cutting Carbon Pollution and Preparing for the Impacts of Climate Change will be the biggest drivers for the 21st Century and beyond. 22

Given that there are over 15,000 K-12 school districts in the United States and standards are different sometimes down to the school level, the work to increase the nations climate and energy literacy must work systemically and at scale. 23

Scale of the Education Structure in the U.S. ~133,000 School Buildings (94,000 public, 27,000 private, 8,000 catholic, Decision and 4,000 charter) with 54 million Makers students Ed Policy ฀ Over 1.6 million public elementary Leaders school teachers in US Policy Leads Secondary Schools (Middle Scientists & Data Users and High School) ~38,000 school buildings in US Public Media ฀ Over 1 million secondary public school teachers in US Educators & Students ฀ Over 200,000 unclassified teachers for a total of 2.9 Museums, Science Centers, After School & million teachers in the US Community-based Programs across k-12 spectrum Science Attentive Public, Citizen Scientists Public Continuum Science Interested Publics Residual Public 24

Scale of the Education Structure in the U.S. School Campus Level: School campuses are highly distributed across Decision the nation Makers Ed Policy Leaders Post-Secondary Schools: Policy Leads ~thousands of community Scientists & Data Users colleges, colleges and universities with ~20 million students Public Media Educators & Students Museums, Science Centers, After School & Community-based Programs Science Attentive Public, Citizen Scientists Public Continuum Science Interested Publics Residual Public 26

Scale of the Education Structure in the U.S. Informal and Place-based education ~20,000 (estimated) Institutions Decision Makers Ed Policy ฀ Several Professional Leaders societies represent these Policy Leads institutions; ASTC, NAI, AZA and others Scientists & Data Users ฀ Over 600 million visitors enjoy the benefits of Federal Public Media lands, waters, and nature centers every year. Educators & Students Museums, Science Centers, After School & Community-based Programs Science Attentive Public, Citizen Scientists Public Continuum Science Interested Publics Residual Public 27

In 2007, this is the first paper that makes the case for climate literacy: Today’s climate literacy crisis On climate science literacy and why it matters Many audiences, many levels of engagement Explores a case study Concluding call for a climate literacy coalition 28

Given the magnitude and the required speed of progress, partnerships was the only way forward. 29

• In 2005, federal science agencies and science and education partners began the development of a national climate education priority. • The key first effort was the development of the Climate Literacy guide which began at a workshop sponsored by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). • Multiple science agencies, non- governmental organizations, and numerous individuals also contributed through extensive review and comment periods. 30

Climate Science Literacy is… …an understanding of your influence on climate and climate’s influence on you and society. A climate literate person: • understands the essential principles of Earth’s climate system, • knows how to assess scientifically credible information about climate, • communicates about climate and climate change in a meaningful way, and • is able to make informed and responsible decisions with regard to actions that may affect climate.