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College Students’ Perceptions About the Plausibility of Human-Induced Climate Change

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Abstract

Overcoming students’ misconceptions may be a challenge when teaching about phenomena such as climate change. Students tend to cite short-term weather effects as evidence to support or refute long-term climate transformations, which displays a fundamental misunderstanding about weather and climate distinctions. Confusion about weather and climate may also reflect student misunderstanding about deep time, a concept that spans several scientific content areas. This study examines the relationships between students’ understanding of deep time and their understandings of the distinctions between weather and climate, as well as how these understandings influence students’ perceptions about the plausibility of human-induced global climate change. Undergraduate students enrolled in an introductory science class on global climate change completed measures of their (a) understanding of distinctions between weather and climate, (b) knowledge of deep time, and (c) plausibility perceptions of human-induced climate change, both at the beginning and end of the course. The study includes comparison groups of similar students enrolled in introductory physical geography classes. Results revealed that greater knowledge of deep time and increased plausibility perceptions of human-induced climate change provide significant explanation of variance in students’ understanding of weather and climate distinctions. Furthermore, students achieve significantly increased understanding of weather and climate, even with brief instruction.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Janelle Bailey, Jacqueline Cordova, Matthew Lachniet, Louis Nadelson, E. Michael Nussbaum, Gita Taasoobshirazi, and the anonymous reviewers for their helpful feedback during preparation of this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 4505 Maryland Parkway, Box 453003, Las Vegas, NV, 89154-3003, USA

    Doug Lombardi & Gale M. Sinatra

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  1. Doug Lombardi
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  2. Gale M. Sinatra
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Correspondence to Doug Lombardi.

Appendices

Appendix A

Distinctions Between Weather and Climate Measure (DWCM)

Read the following statements. Decide if the statement best fits into the category of weather or climate and check the appropriate box.

figure a

Appendix B

Plausibility Perceptions Measure (PPM)

Read the following statements. Rate the plausibility on a scale from 1 to 10: 1 being greatly implausible (or even impossible) and 10 being highly plausible. Try to use the full range of numbers in your responses.

figure bfigure b

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Lombardi, D., Sinatra, G.M. College Students’ Perceptions About the Plausibility of Human-Induced Climate Change. Res Sci Educ 42, 201–217 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11165-010-9196-z

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