BUILDING STUDENT UNDERSTANDING OF CLIMATE SCIENCE USING A CULTURALLY AND REGIONALLY BASED HIGH SCHOOL CURRICULUM SUPPLEMENT

Colorado Plateau Carbon Connections is a regionally relevant, culturally responsive, technology-rich high school climate change curriculum for the Colorado Plateau/Four Corners region. Funded by an NSF Climate Change Education Partnership grant, the 10-lesson curriculum supplement is a result of collaboration between Northern Arizona University climate scientists, social scientists and educators and the NASA-funded Biological Sciences Curriculum Study Carbon Connections project. The curriculum introduces students to regional and global climate change effects and builds their understanding of climate science using simulations and climate models. The models are based on authentic data and allow students to explore the roles of carbon dioxide, volcanic forcing, El Niño effects, solar variability, and anthropogenic inputs to the climate system. Students also negate climate misconceptions using climate science, and analyze personal connections to the climate system. They examine their own carbon footprints and propose regionally based solutions for mitigating the effects of climate change. The curriculum was field tested in Spring 2012 with 384 students and ten teachers in seven schools. The evaluation design included classroom observations, online teacher implementation logs, teacher and student interviews, a student attitude survey, and a student science content assessment. The evaluation results show strong student engagement with over 67% of students recorded as “highly engaged”. Students had statistically significant gains in content knowledge yielded from a twenty question multiple choice pre-and post-test. Eight additional attitude questions indicate student beliefs about climate change and their ability to be part of the solution increased over the course of the study. This curriculum also serves as a model for integrating regional issues into climate science education.