Environmental Education Research ( IF 3.725 ) Pub Date : 2021-09-09 , DOI: 10.1080/13504622.2021.1960954 K.C. Busch 1
Abstract
In US school settings and materials, climate change is often framed as an uncertain phenomenon. However, the effect of such denialist representations on youth’s perceptions of climate change has not been empirically tested. To address this gap in the literature, this article reports on a survey-based experiment testing two framings of uncertainty about the causes and effects of climate change—one with a high level of uncertainty and one with a low level of uncertainty—on students’ knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours related to climate change. The experiment was conducted with 453 middle and high school students . Students who read a text portraying climate change with high uncertainty reported lower levels of certainty about human-caused climate change . To explore how the students engaged cognitive resources when reading the experimental texts, regression analyses were used to test two hypotheses. The Knowledge Thesis predicts that youth will use their prior knowledge to evaluate the text, and the Norms Thesis predicts that youth will use the perceived norms of their social group to evaluate the text. Results suggested that students did not respond to the treatment differentially, given their differing levels of prior knowledge nor social norms accepting of climate change . Implications for practice include the necessity of explicit scaffolds to support deep critical engagement with informational, or dis-informational, text about climate change.
中文翻译:
怀疑教科书,经过测试:否定论者的框架对青少年对气候变化的确定性的影响
摘要
在美国的学校环境和材料中,气候变化通常被认为是一种不确定的现象。然而,这种否认论者的表述对青年气候变化看法的影响尚未经过实证检验。为了解决文献中的这一空白,本文报告了一项基于调查的实验,该实验测试了关于气候变化的原因和影响的两种不确定性框架——一种具有高度不确定性,一种具有较低水平的不确定性——对学生的影响。与气候变化相关的知识、态度和行为。实验对象为 453 名初高中生。阅读描述气候变化具有高度不确定性的文本的学生报告说,对人为气候变化的确定性较低。探究学生在阅读实验文本时如何利用认知资源,回归分析用于检验两个假设。知识论点预测青少年会使用他们的先验知识来评估文本,而规范论点预测青少年会使用他们社会群体的感知规范来评估文本。结果表明,鉴于学生的先验知识水平不同,也没有接受气候变化的社会规范,因此学生对治疗的反应没有差异。对实践的影响包括明确的支架的必要性,以支持深入批判性地参与有关气候变化的信息性或非信息性文本。规范论文预测青年将使用他们社会群体的感知规范来评估文本。结果表明,鉴于学生的先验知识水平不同,也没有接受气候变化的社会规范,因此学生对治疗的反应没有差异。对实践的影响包括明确的支架的必要性,以支持深入批判性地参与有关气候变化的信息性或非信息性文本。规范论文预测青年将使用他们社会群体的感知规范来评估文本。结果表明,鉴于学生的先验知识水平不同,也没有接受气候变化的社会规范,因此学生对治疗的反应没有差异。对实践的影响包括明确的支架的必要性,以支持深入批判性地参与有关气候变化的信息性或非信息性文本。