Special Issue "Modelling, Assessment, and Promotion of Climate Literacy"

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Education and Approaches".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2021.

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Ute Harms
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
IPN - Leibniz Institute for Science and Mathematics Education, Olshausenstrasse 62, D-24118 Kiel, Germany
Interests: teaching and learning "evolution" and “energy"; Climate Literacy; biology teachers’ professional competence; public understanding of science; enrichment
Special Issues and Collections in MDPI journals
Dr. Hanno Michel
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
IPN - Leibniz Institute for Science and Mathematics Education, Olshausenstrasse 62, D-24118 Kiel, Germany
Interests: attitudes and willingness to act in the field of energy transitions; climate literacy; education for sustainable development; nature of science in physics education

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Several studies show that students often lack conceptual knowledge and show multiple misconceptions when explaining climate change. Hence, it is often argued that science education should focus on conveying sufficient conceptual knowledge about climate change, its causes and consequences, and potential ways of adaptation and mitigation. However, besides scientific content knowledge, decision-making and the intention to act in the context of climate change seem to also be influenced by non-scientific factors, such as attitudes and value attribution. The USGCRP (2009) thus promotes focusing of education on climate literacy, which includes specific knowledge about climate change, as well as the abilities and attitudes relevant to act in a climate-protecting manner. So far, evidence-based teaching approaches for education about climate literacy, as well as research studies examining the impact of climate literacy on actual decision-making and intention to act, are rare. With this Special Issue, we aim to provide a collection of relevant studies about how climate literacy can be modeled, how its different dimensions can be efficiently assessed, and how it can be promoted through meaningful instruction. In conclusion, we aim to provide an overview of the current challenges in climate literacy research and how they could be addressed in the future. For this purpose, empirical studies as well as manuscripts on theoretical considerations about climate literacy teaching and learning are welcomed.

Prof. Dr. Ute Harms
Dr. Hanno Michel
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Published Papers (2 papers)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

Article
Climate Literacy—Imperative Competencies for Tomorrow’s Engineers
Sustainability 2021, 13(17), 9684; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13179684 (registering DOI) - 28 Aug 2021
Viewed by 180
Abstract
Engineers must take a leading role in addressing the challenges of mitigating climate change and adapting to the inevitable changes that our world is facing. To improve climate literacy, technical education must include problem formulation and solutions that consider complex interactions between engineered, [...] Read more.
Engineers must take a leading role in addressing the challenges of mitigating climate change and adapting to the inevitable changes that our world is facing. To improve climate literacy, technical education must include problem formulation and solutions that consider complex interactions between engineered, Earth, and societal systems, including trade-offs among benefits, costs, and risks. Improving engineering students’ climate literacy must also inspire students’ motivation to work toward climate solutions. This paper highlights the content and pedagogical approach used in a class for engineering students that helped contribute to significant gains in engineering students’ climate literacy and critical thinking competencies. A total of 89 students fully participated in a pre/post climate literacy questionnaire over four years of study. As a whole, students demonstrated significant gains in climate-related content knowledge, affect, and behavior. Substantial differences were observed between students in different engineering disciplines and male vs. female students. Assessment of critical thinking showed that students did an excellent job formulating problem statements and solutions in a manner that incorporated a multidimensional systems perspective. These skills are critical for students to address climate change effectively in their eventual professions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Modelling, Assessment, and Promotion of Climate Literacy)
Article
Escaping the Climate Trap: Participation in a Climate-Specific Social Dilemma Simulation Boosts Climate-Protective Motivation and Actions
Sustainability 2021, 13(16), 9438; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13169438 - 23 Aug 2021
Viewed by 282
Abstract
One way in which educators can help to address increasingly pressing environmental problems, including climate change, is to encourage individuals to change their behavior and to press for structural changes in society. The promotion of climate-protective behavior is challenging because the payoffs for [...] Read more.
One way in which educators can help to address increasingly pressing environmental problems, including climate change, is to encourage individuals to change their behavior and to press for structural changes in society. The promotion of climate-protective behavior is challenging because the payoffs for various actions and inactions are structured such that they create social dilemmas. The conflict between short-term personal benefit and long-term collective gain in such dilemmas often leads to self-serving motives that can ultimately be self-defeating. We created a social dilemma simulation specific to climate change, called Climate Trap: Social Dilemma Simulation, to help students observe how they and others respond to these conflicts, and predicted that doing so would lead to climate-protective motivations and behaviors after the simulation. The simulation participants (N = 344) reported greater confidence in their knowledge and understanding of the social dilemma context of climate change, higher environmental concern and more self-determined motivation to act, and they engaged in more climate-protective behaviors compared to the students who did not complete the simulation. Moreover, the simulation participants reported greater pro-environmental engagement on all of the measures after the simulation compared to before they participated in the simulation. The results suggest that a climate-specific social dilemma simulation can create uniquely motivating experiences, and can have utility as a teaching tool, research instrument and intervention. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Modelling, Assessment, and Promotion of Climate Literacy)
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop