Improvement on Social Representation of Climate Change through a Knowledge-Based MOOC in Spanish

Enzo Ferrari, Anne-Marie Ballegeer, Miguel Angel Fuertes, Pablo Herrero, Laura Delgado, Diego Corrochano, Santiago Andrés-Sánchez, Kylyan Marc Bisquert, Antonio Garcia-Vinuesa, Pablo Meira, Fernando Martinez and Camilo Ruiz
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Enzo Ferrari: Department of Mathematics and Science Education, Universidad de Salamanca, 37008 Salamanca, Spain
Anne-Marie Ballegeer: Department of Mathematics and Science Education, Universidad de Salamanca, 37008 Salamanca, Spain
Miguel Angel Fuertes: Department of Mathematics and Science Education, Universidad de Salamanca, 37008 Salamanca, Spain
Pablo Herrero: Department of Mathematics and Science Education, Universidad de Salamanca, 37008 Salamanca, Spain
Laura Delgado: Department of Mathematics and Science Education, Universidad de Salamanca, 37008 Salamanca, Spain
Diego Corrochano: Department of Mathematics and Science Education, Universidad de Salamanca, 37008 Salamanca, Spain
Santiago Andrés-Sánchez: Department of Mathematics and Science Education, Universidad de Salamanca, 37008 Salamanca, Spain
Kylyan Marc Bisquert: Grupo de Investigación en Pedagoxía Social e Educación Ambiental SEPA-interea, Departamento de Pedagoxía e Didáctica, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, 15705 Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Antonio Garcia-Vinuesa: Grupo de Investigación en Pedagoxía Social e Educación Ambiental SEPA-interea, Departamento de Pedagoxía e Didáctica, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, 15705 Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Pablo Meira: Grupo de Investigación en Pedagoxía Social e Educación Ambiental SEPA-interea, Departamento de Pedagoxía e Didáctica, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, 15705 Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Fernando Martinez: Instituto Universitario de Ciencias de la Educación, Universidad de Salamanca, 37008 Salamanca, Spain
Camilo Ruiz: Department of Mathematics and Science Education, Universidad de Salamanca, 37008 Salamanca, Spain

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 22, 1-21

Abstract: Climate Change is the most important threat to our society and all species on Earth. Large alterations in the climate are affecting every aspect of our society and in order to limit this impact we must decarbonize the economy before 2050. Although science presents solid evidence on the magnitude of the problem and outlines precisely the consequences, people do not act accordingly and do not consider this issue a priority for their survival. The reason behind this paradox might be a non-appropriate Social Representation of Climate Change in society as the Social Representation conditions and forms the response of the society. In this paper, we extend previous investigations of how this Social Representation is formed in order to find ways to improve it through a Massive Online Open Course on the Science of Climate Change. Using a validated questionnaire, we investigated the knowledge dimension of the Social Representation of Climate Change in a group of students of a MOOC on Climate Change. A pre- and posttest revealed general improvements in all the categories that were considered in this study. A detailed analysis showed different degrees of improvement for different groups, providing new insights in the efficiency of knowledge-based online courses. Well designed Massive Online Open Courses, based on scientific evidence, targeted to the general public might improve the Social Representation of Climate Change, which may in turn trigger awareness and an effective mobilization to address this important and urgent topic.

Keywords: sustainable development; education; climate change; professional development; MOOC; social representation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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