Current state of climate education in natural and social sciences in the USA

Emma L. Kuster () and Garey A. Fox
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Emma L. Kuster: Oklahoma State University
Garey A. Fox: Oklahoma State University

Climatic Change, 2017, vol. 141, issue 4, No 2, 613-626

Abstract: Abstract Do graduate students believe they are being well equipped to understand the implications of climate change as part of their research and professional careers? With climate change impacting our ecosystems, infrastructure, and societies, do we see higher-education institutions preparing future generations to lead us through these challenges? Previous studies have captured individuals’ knowledge of the climate system ranging from the K-12 level to adulthood, but very few studies have investigated the perception of climate education held by graduate students. We focused our efforts on three unique research questions: (i) what is the level of climate education that graduate students believe they are receiving, (ii) what is their view on the importance of climate education, and (iii) to what level do they perceive they are incorporating the impacts of a changing climate in their research? We developed and distributed a nationwide survey (495 respondents) to graduate students to capture their perception of the level of climate education being offered and the importance of climate education. We show that graduate students in the agricultural, atmospheric, biological, computer, engineering, environmental, geographic, geologic, health, and social sciences indicate that climate education is very important and find that there are a number of climate courses offered at institutions nationwide; however, most students do not feel they are receiving a large breadth or depth of climate education.

Keywords: Graduate Student; Climate System; Academic Discipline; Climate Science; Social Science Student (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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DOI: 10.1007/s10584-017-1918-z

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