Abstract
Climate change science is a challenging topic for student learning. This quantitative study examined the effectiveness of a geospatial curriculum approach to promote climate change science understandings in an urban school district with eighth-grade students and investigated whether teacher- and student-level factors accounted for students’ climate change knowledge achievement. The participants included 12 science teachers and 956 eighth-grade students. Data included a pre- and posttest climate change assessment measures for both teachers and students and a teacher measure of Geospatial Science-Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge. Paired-sample t tests revealed statistically significant gains from pretest to posttest on their climate change knowledge (p < .001; effect sizes being large on multiple-choice items and medium on the open-ended response assessment). Both ordinary least squares (OLS) multiple regression and 2-level hierarchical linear modeling found that students’ initial climate change knowledge and gender were significant predictors for students’ posttest scores, p < .05. Students’ pretest scores were the strongest significant predictor of the posttest scores, p < .001. Neither the teachers’ climate change knowledge nor their Geospatial Science-Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge had significant association with the students’ posttest scores. Teaching years was a significant predictor for students’ posttest scores in OLS regression (p < .001). The findings provide support that a geospatial curriculum approach is an effective science curriculum approach for learners in urban middle-level education.
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Acknowledgments
This material is based upon work supported by the Toyota USA Foundation. The authors gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Denise Bressler, Christopher Dempsey, Tamara Peffer, David Anastasio, Dork Sahagian, and Lori Cirruci, without whose help this work would not have been possible.
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Appendices
Appendix 1: Sample Items from the Climate Change Assessment Measure
1. Climate is defined as weather patterns that change on a scale of at least a few…
-
A.
weeks.
-
B.
months.
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C.
years.
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D.
decades.
3. Which does not act as a significant greenhouse gas?
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A.
methane
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B.
nitrogen
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C.
water vapor
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D.
carbon dioxide
9. Ozone existing in the lower troposphere is …
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A.
beneficial to human and other life.
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B.
produced by chemical reactions involving argon.
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C.
a pollutant created from the burning of fossil fuels.
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D.
made up of the most abundant element in the atmosphere.
11. During the last 50–60 years, average annual temperatures in most places have risen by approximately …
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A.
0.1–2.0 degrees Celsius
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B.
3.0–5.0 degrees Celsius
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C.
7.0–9.0 degrees Celsius
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D.
10.0–12.0 degrees Celsius
14. Argon, carbon dioxide, and other trace gases make up approximately percent of Earth’s atmosphere.
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A.
one
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B.
three
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C.
five
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D.
ten
19. What two gases make up most of the Earth’s atmosphere?
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A.
Nitrogen and oxygen
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B.
Hydrogen and oxygen
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C.
Hydrogen and nitrogen
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D.
Oxygen and carbon dioxide
20. Materials that absorb lots of energy without a large temperature increase have a …
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A.
low albedo effect.
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B.
low heat capacity.
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C.
high albedo effect.
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D.
high heat capacity.
Appendix 2: Scoring Criteria for the Open-Ended Items on the Climate Change Assessment Measure
Appendix 3: Student Response Summaries to the Open-Ended Items on the Climate Change Assessment Measure
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Bodzin, A.M., Fu, Q. The Effectiveness of the Geospatial Curriculum Approach on Urban Middle-Level Students’ Climate Change Understandings. J Sci Educ Technol 23, 575–590 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10956-013-9478-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10956-013-9478-0