Abstract Anthropogenic climate change caused by the release of excessive greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions into the atmosphere is the biggest challenge of the 21st century. Man-made climate change threatens the biosphere on which all forms of life depend. Climate change requires human effort to manage the impact of extreme events such as droughts, flooding, and heatwaves. As such, human decision-making processes are crucial for the successful management of climate change impacts. The decision-making process include awareness and perception of climate change risks. Awareness and perceptions of (natural) hazard risk are determinants of human response (adaptation) to environmental shocks (climate change and variability). To this end, this study explores the effects of an environmental education course on the awareness and perception of climate change risks among seventh and eighth grade learners in South Africa. This exploratory study collected primary data through the implementation of emergent participation tools in focus group discussions with learners (n = 23). These emergent participation tools are the Problem tree and the Hazard, Impact and Vulnerability matrix. Responses from a comparison group were juxtaposed with those of environmental education beneficiaries through a qualitative content analysis technique. Findings reveal that environmental awareness has an effect on perceptions of current and future climate change risks. Learners are concerned about short-term risks more than long-term risks. Short-term risks such as meeting basic needs and dealing with criminality are priorities over long-term risks such as climate change. A daily struggle to meet these basic needs represent the local context and discourse within which learners view and experience their world. Learners do perceive the causal linkages between different climatic and non-climatic risks. Drawing such causal linkages raises awareness and perception and this cause-effect relationship is necessary for behavioural change. Environmental education is necessary to raise the awareness and perceptions of learners to environmental risks such as climate change. More studies are required to explore the topic of environmental education on raising awareness and perceptions of environmental risks such as climate change with head of households.

中文翻译：

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探索环境教育课程对南非七、八年级学生对气候变化风险的认识和认知的影响

摘要 过量排放温室气体（GHG）导致的人为气候变化是21世纪面临的最大挑战。人为气候变化威胁着所有生命形式赖以生存的生物圈。气候变化需要人类努力来应对干旱、洪水和热浪等极端事件的影响。因此，人类决策过程对于成功管理气候变化影响至关重要。决策过程包括对气候变化风险的认识和认知。对（自然）灾害风险的认识和认知是人类对环境冲击（气候变化和可变性）作出反应（适应）的决定因素。为此，本研究探讨环境教育课程对南非七年级和八年级学生对气候变化风险的认识和感知的影响。这项探索性研究通过在与学习者（n = 23）的焦点小组讨论中实施紧急参与工具来收集原始数据。这些紧急参与工具是问题树和危害、影响和漏洞矩阵。通过定性内容分析技术，比较组的反应与环境教育受益者的反应并列。研究结果表明，环境意识会影响对当前和未来气候变化风险的看法。与长期风险相比，学习者更关心短期风险。满足基本需求和打击犯罪等短期风险优先于气候变化等长期风险。满足这些基本需求的日常斗争代表了学习者在其中观察和体验世界的当地背景和话语。学习者确实认识到不同气候和非气候风险之间的因果关系。绘制这种因果关系可以提高意识和感知，而这种因果关系对于行为改变是必要的。环境教育对于提高学习者对气候变化等环境风险的认识和看法是必要的。需要更多的研究来探讨环境教育的主题，以提高户主对气候变化等环境风险的认识和认识。