SAFE WORDS: SOCIAL SUPPORT, HOPE AND MENTAL PROCESSES

Informal science learning centers provide ideal settings for climate change discussions because the topic is salient to the changes being witnessed in the biosphere and the interconnection between the biosphere and human life. These discussions may be able to shift cultural norms by changing how over 70 million visitors each year engage with the content. The authors’ studies of those charged with leading climate change discussions has revealed that the majority of interpreters self-edit or avoid the core science to avoid anticipated conflicts. The National Network for Ocean and Climate Change Interpretation (NNOCCI) received funding from NSF to support communication science training in strategic framing to support informal learning institutions’ in structuring safe conversations and the motivations to advance this story.

This presentation will focus on research into the emotional experience of informal educators as they pursue a collaborative learning experience and the impact of that training on their emotional status and likelihood to advance science-based discussion about climate change at work and with their peers and friends. Results revealed that the training increased educators’ hope about their ability to talk about climate change, created an emerging community of practice, and supported their knowledge needs and self-efficacy related concerns. The presentation will focus on how institutional support is relevant to encouraging interpreters in countering explicit norms against discussing climate change. The presentation will conclude with thoughts about how this program describes social collective action that can promote engaged discussion about the need for climate change policy as a ground-up demand based on altering social norms about discussing climate change, particularly in informal learning settings. It will suggest that civic action may have more potential for action than calls for policy change without social support.