Climate science curricula in Canadian secondary schools focus on human warming, not scientific consensus, impacts or solutions.

ABSTRACT: Despite an overwhelming scientific consensus that climate change poses severe risks to human and natural systems, many young Canadian adults do not view it as a major issue. We analyzed secondary science curricula in each province for their coverage of climate change according to six core topics: physical climate mechanisms ("It's climate"), observed increase in temperature ("It's warming"), anthropogenic causes of warming ("It's us"), scientific consensus ("Experts agree"), negative consequences associated with warming ("It's bad"), and the possibility for avoiding the worst effects ("We can fix it"). We found that learning objectives tend to focus on knowledge of the first three elements, with little or no emphasis on scientific consensus, climate change impacts, or ways to address the i

SUBMITTER: Wynes S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6639000 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature