Download or read book Relationship Between Knowledge Confidence and Beliefs in Global Warming written by Logan Smoot and published by . This book was released on 2024 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many scientists are perplexed by the fact that some people do not believe in global warming, despite overwhelming scientific evidence. Prior research suggests that part of the reason might be that people are uninformed (Tobler et al., 2012). However, it is also worth considering how people perceive their own knowledge about global warming. For the general public, believing in global warming depends on trusting experts (Almassi, 2012). Expertise is relative, and the extent to which we defer to an expert depends on our assessment of their knowledge relative to ours. The Dunning-Kruger Effect (DKE) suggests that people tend to overestimate their own knowledge (Kruger and Dunning, 1999), and there is evidence that people are bad at evaluating their knowledge about global warming in particular (Sharp and Hoj, 2010). However, there has been no research directly examining how someone's knowledge about global warming and their confidence in that knowledge relate to their beliefs in global warming. In the present study, we investigate this by having participants take surveys that measure their global warming knowledge, general science knowledge, confidence in their knowledge, and their global warming beliefs. We found that participants were underconfident in their global warming knowledge and this knowledge is the key predictor of one's belief in global warming. In addition, as confidence on the general science knowledge test increased, beliefs in global warming decreased, which is consistent with the DKE.
Download or read book Climate Change Education written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2012-01-12 with total page 98 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The global scientific and policy community now unequivocally accepts that human activities cause global climate change. Although information on climate change is readily available, the nation still seems unprepared or unwilling to respond effectively to climate change, due partly to a general lack of public understanding of climate change issues and opportunities for effective responses. The reality of global climate change lends increasing urgency to the need for effective education on earth system science, as well as on the human and behavioral dimensions of climate change, from broad societal action to smart energy choices at the household level. The public's limited understanding of climate change is partly the result of four critical challenges that have slowed development and delivery of effective climate change education. As one response to these challenges, Congress, in its 2009 and 2010 appropriation process, requested that the National Science Foundation (NSF) create a program in climate change education to provide funding to external grantees to improve climate change education in the United States. To support and strengthen these education initiatives, the Board on Science Education of the National Research Council (NRC) created the Climate Change Education Roundtable. The Roundtable convened two workshops. Climate Change Education Goals, Audiences, and Strategies is a summary of the discussions and presentations from the first workshop, held October 21 and 22, 2010. This report focuses on two primary topics: public understanding and decision maker support. It should be viewed as an initial step in examining the research on climate change and applying it in specific policy circumstances.
Download or read book Research Handbook on Environmental Sociology written by Franzen, Axel and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2021-11-19 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Research Handbook presents the state of the art of empirical sociological research on the causes of, and solutions to, pressing environmental problems. It provides cutting-edge insights into some of the most urgent challenges facing humanity, including anthropogenic climate change and environmental pollution. The contributors argue that profound collective efforts to protect the environment are vital for sustainable development and offer practical solutions to specific contemporary issues.
Download or read book Abrupt Climate Change written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2002-04-23 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The climate record for the past 100,000 years clearly indicates that the climate system has undergone periodic-and often extreme-shifts, sometimes in as little as a decade or less. The causes of abrupt climate changes have not been clearly established, but the triggering of events is likely to be the result of multiple natural processes. Abrupt climate changes of the magnitude seen in the past would have far-reaching implications for human society and ecosystems, including major impacts on energy consumption and water supply demands. Could such a change happen again? Are human activities exacerbating the likelihood of abrupt climate change? What are the potential societal consequences of such a change? Abrupt Climate Change: Inevitable Surprises looks at the current scientific evidence and theoretical understanding to describe what is currently known about abrupt climate change, including patterns and magnitudes, mechanisms, and probability of occurrence. It identifies critical knowledge gaps concerning the potential for future abrupt changes, including those aspects of change most important to society and economies, and outlines a research strategy to close those gaps. Based on the best and most current research available, this book surveys the history of climate change and makes a series of specific recommendations for the future.
Download or read book Advancing the Science of Climate Change written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2011-01-10 with total page 526 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Climate change is occurring, is caused largely by human activities, and poses significant risks for-and in many cases is already affecting-a broad range of human and natural systems. The compelling case for these conclusions is provided in Advancing the Science of Climate Change, part of a congressionally requested suite of studies known as America's Climate Choices. While noting that there is always more to learn and that the scientific process is never closed, the book shows that hypotheses about climate change are supported by multiple lines of evidence and have stood firm in the face of serious debate and careful evaluation of alternative explanations. As decision makers respond to these risks, the nation's scientific enterprise can contribute through research that improves understanding of the causes and consequences of climate change and also is useful to decision makers at the local, regional, national, and international levels. The book identifies decisions being made in 12 sectors, ranging from agriculture to transportation, to identify decisions being made in response to climate change. Advancing the Science of Climate Change calls for a single federal entity or program to coordinate a national, multidisciplinary research effort aimed at improving both understanding and responses to climate change. Seven cross-cutting research themes are identified to support this scientific enterprise. In addition, leaders of federal climate research should redouble efforts to deploy a comprehensive climate observing system, improve climate models and other analytical tools, invest in human capital, and improve linkages between research and decisions by forming partnerships with action-oriented programs.
Download or read book Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States written by U.S. Global Change Research Program and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2009-08-24 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Summarizes the science of climate change and impacts on the United States, for the public and policymakers.
Download or read book Climate Change and Conceptual Change written by David Joseph Clark and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 171 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Global Warming ("GW") is easily one of the most pressing concerns of our time, and its solution will come about only through a change in human behavior. Compared to the residents of most other nations worldwide, Americans report lower acceptance of the realities of GW. In order to address this concern in a free society, U.S. residents must be convinced or coerced to take the necessary actions. In spite of the democratic appeal of education, however, many climate communicators appear to be settling on the notion that emotional persuasion is superior to education. We'll set an empirical foundation in Chapter 2, reviewing an experiment in the Numerically Driven Inferencing (NDI) paradigm that sheds some light on the cognitive processes involved in learning and attitude shifts in response to surprising policy-relevant information. Chapters 3-6 contain results from a comprehensive program of research specifically targeting climate-related attitudes and beliefs in the United States. As alluded to above, there have been many surveys of American attitudes. Chapter 3 provides an overview of our approach to assessing climate-related beliefs and attitudes. In particular, we note relationships observed in one survey between scientific literacy regarding the GW mechanism on one hand and attitudes, including "willingness to sacrifice" on the other. As with some other empirical approaches, our results suggest that U.S. residents generally accept anthropogenic (i.e., "human caused") climate change, and support action on this issue. But even if this is the case, Chapter 4 describes an experiment demonstrating that these beliefs and attitudes are disturbingly fragile in the face of cherry-picked, misleading numerical facts. Chapter 5 then describes a pair of experiments evaluating the effects of representative numerical facts. Chapter 5's Study 1 (Section 5.1) demonstrates that even when students report strong psychological effects after receiving a set of surprising numbers, their beliefs and attitudes will not necessarily be affected. Chapter 5's Study 2 (Section 5.2) improves upon the clarity of materials used in Study 1 and demonstrates that such materials can effectively increase climate change acceptance and concern. In both of these studies, as with the study presented in Chapter 4, this relatively uncontextualized, surprising numerical information undermines students' confidence in their own knowledge. Chapter 6 reports on three successful experiments (spanning four samples) that provide a coherent explanation of the mechanism of climate change that includes relevant numerical facts. As with Study 2 in Chapter 5, this intervention shifts participant attitudes towards the scientific consensus. Unlike uncontextualized numerical information, however, this mechanism intervention additionally leaves participants feeling that they know more than they did prior to instruction. Chapter 6's Study 1 (Section 6.1) establishes this effect in classroom-based settings at two culturally distinct universities. Chapter 6's Study 2 (Section 6.2) provides an initial evaluation of the time-course of retention for the cognitive shifts that followed our mechanism intervention, and Chapter 6's Study 3 (Section 6.3) provides a successful demonstration of durable shifts with the general population online. Taken together, these experiments point the way towards effective curricula and on-line materials that can help bolster support to combat climate change. While we must certainly be sensitive to the needs, values, and interests of our target audiences, we should not reflexively steer away from science education. Indeed, the experiments in this dissertation provide empirical support for the notion that science education materials can have a meaningful and lasting impact on GW attitudes and beliefs. While this may not provide the complete behavioral solution we need for the United States (and the world), it seems likely that such shifts will make behavioral and policy changes far more tractable in the coming years.
Download or read book Perception and Knowledge written by Walter Hopp and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2011-04-07 with total page 259 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book offers a provocative, clear and rigorously argued account of the nature of perception and its role in the production of knowledge. Walter Hopp argues that perceptual experiences do not have conceptual content, and that what makes them play a distinctive epistemic role is not the features which they share with beliefs, but something that in fact sets them radically apart. He explains that the reason-giving relation between experiences and beliefs is what Edmund Husserl called 'fulfilment' - in which we find something to be as we think it to be. His book covers a wide range of central topics in contemporary philosophy of mind, epistemology and traditional phenomenology. It is essential reading for contemporary analytic philosophers of mind and phenomenologists alike.
Download or read book Mediating Climate Change written by Julie Doyle and published by Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.. This book was released on 2011 with total page 195 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Doyle argues that cultural discourses have problematically situated nature and the environment as objects externalised from humans and culture.
Download or read book Reproducibility and Replicability in Science written by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2019-10-20 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the pathways by which the scientific community confirms the validity of a new scientific discovery is by repeating the research that produced it. When a scientific effort fails to independently confirm the computations or results of a previous study, some fear that it may be a symptom of a lack of rigor in science, while others argue that such an observed inconsistency can be an important precursor to new discovery. Concerns about reproducibility and replicability have been expressed in both scientific and popular media. As these concerns came to light, Congress requested that the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine conduct a study to assess the extent of issues related to reproducibility and replicability and to offer recommendations for improving rigor and transparency in scientific research. Reproducibility and Replicability in Science defines reproducibility and replicability and examines the factors that may lead to non-reproducibility and non-replicability in research. Unlike the typical expectation of reproducibility between two computations, expectations about replicability are more nuanced, and in some cases a lack of replicability can aid the process of scientific discovery. This report provides recommendations to researchers, academic institutions, journals, and funders on steps they can take to improve reproducibility and replicability in science.
Download or read book Climate Change 2021 The Physical Science Basis written by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2023-07-26 with total page 2410 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Working Group I contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) provides a comprehensive assessment of the physical science basis of climate change. It considers in situ and remote observations; paleoclimate information; understanding of climate drivers and physical, chemical, and biological processes and feedbacks; global and regional climate modelling; advances in methods of analyses; and insights from climate services. It assesses the current state of the climate; human influence on climate in all regions; future climate change including sea level rise; global warming effects including extremes; climate information for risk assessment and regional adaptation; limiting climate change by reaching net zero carbon dioxide emissions and reducing other greenhouse gas emissions; and benefits for air quality. The report serves policymakers, decision makers, stakeholders, and all interested parties with the latest policy-relevant information on climate change. Available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.
Download or read book Geography Education Promoting Sustainability written by Eila Jeronen and published by MDPI. This book was released on 2020-04-15 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Through out the current period of educational change, Geography education has also changed. The innovations may be the starting point to affect conceptual change and paradigm shifts. Geography education assimilates and integrates knowledge, skills and scientific methodologies. The ten articles in this book illuminate a wide range of topics of interest to Geography education. In their article, Skarstein and Wolff discuss how the interplay between the environment, society and economy pillars of sustainability thinking play out on scales of time, space and multitude and how geography teachers can support the students’ understanding of sustainability. Yli-Panula et al. analysed used teaching and learning methods to find out good ones for promoting sustainability in geography. The same idea can be found in Duffin's and Perry’s article on Place-Based Ecology Education. In their article, Dür and Keller discuss the topics of quality of life, sustainability and global justice based on the goals of Education for Sustainable Development. Evaluation is an important part of learning. It is reviewed by Schauss and Sprenger regarding climate change education. The following two articles deal with students' views of landscapes worth conserving. In both studies, students expressed concern about the state of the environment. Yli-Panula et al. found that the Mexican students seldom considered their own activities in relation to the environment while Yli-Panula et al. stated that only some of the Finnish and Swedish students act as observers while others actively care for their environment. The remaining three articles deal with teaching methods and models. Benninghaus et al. present a benchmark method, which allows statements about the quality of the maps/diagrams in general. Álvarez-Otero and De Lázaro y Torres, on the other hand, describe their Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge model. Kopnina and Saari discusses student assignments reflecting on the documentary film through critical pedagogy and ecopedagogy.
Download or read book Psychology and Climate Change written by Susan Clayton and published by Academic Press. This book was released on 2018-06-05 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Psychology and Climate Change: Human Perceptions, Impacts, and Responses organizes and summarizes recent psychological research that relates to the issue of climate change. The book covers topics such as how people perceive and respond to climate change, how people understand and communicate about the issue, how it impacts individuals and communities, particularly vulnerable communities, and how individuals and communities can best prepare for and mitigate negative climate change impacts. It addresses the topic at multiple scales, from individuals to close social networks and communities. Further, it considers the role of social diversity in shaping vulnerability and reactions to climate change. Psychology and Climate Change describes the implications of psychological processes such as perceptions and motivations (e.g., risk perception, motivated cognition, denial), emotional responses, group identities, mental health and well-being, sense of place, and behavior (mitigation and adaptation). The book strives to engage diverse stakeholders, from multiple disciplines in addition to psychology, and at every level of decision making - individual, community, national, and international, to understand the ways in which human capabilities and tendencies can and should shape policy and action to address the urgent and very real issue of climate change. Examines the role of knowledge, norms, experience, and social context in climate change awareness and action Considers the role of identity threat, identity-based motivation, and belonging Presents a conceptual framework for classifying individual and household behavior Develops a model to explain environmentally sustainable behavior Draws on what we know about participation in collective action Describes ways to improve the effectiveness of climate change communication efforts Discusses the difference between acute climate change events and slowly-emerging changes on our mental health Addresses psychological stress and injury related to global climate change from an intersectional justice perspective Promotes individual and community resilience
Download or read book The State of Science written by Marc Zimmer and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2020-07-20 with total page 221 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New research and innovations in the field of science are leading to life-changing and world-altering discoveries like never before. What does the horizon of science look like? Who are the scientists that are making it happen? And, how are we to introduce these revolutions to a society in which a segment of the population has become more and more skeptical of science? Climate change is the biggest challenge facing our nation, and scientists are working on renewable energy sources, meat alternatives, and carbon dioxide sequestration. At the same time, climate change deniers and the politicization of funding threaten their work. CRISPR, (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) repurposes bacterial defense systems to edit genes, which can change the way we live, but also presents real ethical problems. Optogenetics will help neuroscientists map complicated neural circuitry deep inside the brain, shedding light on treating Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. Zimmer also investigates phony science ranging from questionable “health” products to the fervent anti-vaccination movement. Zimmer introduces readers to the real people making these breakthroughs. Concluding with chapters on the rise of women in STEM fields, the importance of US immigration policies to science, and new, unorthodox ways of DIY science and crowdsource funding, The State of Science shows where science is, where it is heading, and the scientists who are at the forefront of progress.
Download or read book Does Knowledge Matter An Investigation of the Relationship Between Mental Models of Climate Change and Proenvironmental Behaviors written by Rebecah Dawn Davis and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the face of the myriad environmental challenges that humans face as a result of global change, citizens will increasingly be expected to understand complex phenomena such as climate change. Decisions such as individual behavior choices, voting, and activism are related to understanding these issues. This study addresses the question of how an educated citizenry might adapt to evolving public information as scientists refine their own understanding and predictions about global change. This dissertation describes an investigation of mental models of climate change and their relationship to proenvironmental behaviors. The purpose of this study is to test the hypothesis that behaving in an environmentally responsible manner involves an understanding of the phenomenon, in this case, climate change; holding proenvironmental attitudes, which orient an individual towards a normative goal frame; and receiving situational cues that strengthen the normative goal frame. This study tests these hypotheses by measuring mental models of climate change, beliefs about climate change, attitudes towards climate change and behavioral intentions in one study and then manipulating situational cues in an experimental decision-making setting in another. The study incorporates both correlational and experimental designs. Correlational data comprised responses from US adults on three instruments: mental models of climate change, beliefs about and attitudes towards climate change, and proenvironmental behaviors. Patterns of correlations for mental models, beliefs/attitudes, and self-reported behaviors were analyzed and multiple regression analysis were employed to fit models to the data. For the experimental design, individuals were randomly presented with one of three environmental messages and asked their willingness to engage in actions to address climate change. Logistic regression analysis was employed to model relationship between mental models, attitudes, and experimental condition on behavioral intentions. Both main effects and interactions were analyzed. With both self-reported behaviors and behavioral intentions as dependent variables, mental model scores were not independently predictive of proenvironmental behaviors. The beliefs/attitudes survey yielded three scores that were independently predictive of proenvironmental behaviors: the belief that climate change is caused by humans, the belief that there is evidence climate change is happening, and attitudes towards climate change. The main experimental intervention in this study, environmental messaging, did not result in any meaningful differences in willingness to engage in actions to address climate change. Attitudes were the only main effect predictive of proenvironmental behavioral intentions, yet none of the interactions with attitudes were statistically significant. The interaction of mental models and messaging was statistically significant. The results of this study show a relationship between education and behavior. There was no teaching intervention or data collected about formal and informal learning experiences related to climate change so little can be said about what types of education are most effective, but the data suggests that knowledge affects responsiveness to situational cues that impact behavioral decisions.
Download or read book An Assessment of Attitudes Knowledge and Beliefs of Global Warming written by James Eric Fason and published by . This book was released on 1996 with total page 350 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Teaching and Learning about Climate Change written by Daniel P. Shepardson and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2017-02-17 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Responding to the issues and challenges of teaching and learning about climate change from a science education-based perspective, this book is designed to serve as an aid for educators as they strive to incorporate the topic into their classes. The unique discussion of these issues is drawn from the perspectives of leading and international scholars in the field. The book is structured around three themes: theoretical, philosophical, and conceptual frameworks for climate change education and research; research on teaching and learning about global warming and climate change; and approaches to professional development and classroom practice.
