Teaching climate change, teachers views, methods and good examples

Climate change (CC) is one of the greatest challenges facing humanity and it is of great importance that education enables students with the knowledge and skills needed for making informed and evidence-based decisions. In this pilot study we examine teachers methods and views of teaching CC. A survey included questions about the teachers’ experience of teaching the topic of climate change and their views on teaching this specific content was distributed to 84 secondary teachers. 28% of the teachers consider geography to be the subject most responsible for teaching CC, 77% report that the aim is to teach the pupils an environmentally friendly behavior. The most used teaching methods are teachers lecturing (used by 89% of the teachers), group discussions (87%) and teacher moderated whole class debates (55%). 44% reported that they have sufficient knowledge for teaching CC, 26% feel that they have enough knowledge about howto teach CC but only 12% believe they have enough time for their teaching. Although CC is perceived as an interdisciplinary issue, relatively few of the teachers reportedly use interdisciplinary work. Both the high level of lecturing and lack of interdisciplinary work can be an consequence of a (over) loaded curriculum. To cooperate with other subjects can be difficult, often the subjects are not only separated by time (different schedules) but also in space (different classrooms). We conclude by giving examples of innovative ways of facing the challenge of teaching CC using innovative pedagogical tools.