Chang, Chew Hung

The evaluation of classroom-based educational interventions is fraught with tensions, the most critical of which is choosing between focusing the inquiry on measuring the effects of treatment or in proximately utilizing the data to improve practice. This paper attempted to achieve both goals through the use of intervention-oriented evaluation of a professional development programme intended to diagnose and correct students’ misconceptions of climate change. Data was gathered, monitored and analyzed in three stages of a time-series design: the baseline, treatment and follow-up stages. The evaluation itself was the ‘intervention’ such that the data was allowed to ‘contaminate’ the treatment. This was achieved through giving the teacher unimpeded access to the collected information and to introduce midcourse corrections as she saw fit to her instruction. Results showed a significant development in students’ conceptual understanding only after the teacher’s decision to use direct and explicit refutation of misconceptions. Due to the accessibility of feedback, it was possible to locate specifically at which point in the process that the intervention was most effective. The efficacy of the intervention was then measured through comparing the scores across the three research stages. The inclusion of a comparison group to the design is recommended for future studies.

This paper describes a baseline empirical study of Singapore secondary students' understanding of climate change . It reports that despite evidence of significant awareness on the topic , what learner's think they know does not match up with what they really know. Like other students around the world, their understanding of the phenomenon is not deep enough for accurate definition, explanation and linking of critical concepts together coherently and correctly. The paper critically examines how the introduction of a new national syllabus in geography in Singapore at grade 9level considers current developments in scientific discourse and affords the opportunity to help students develop values , knowledge, and skills to engage the climate change topic. The study argues for geographic education to be responsive in addressing gaps identified through updating the curriculum with current scientific discourse and by providing skills for students to engage a growing volume of information on climate change from various media.

This study identified secondary school students’ alternative conceptions (ACs) of climate change and their resistance to instruction. Using a case-based approach, a diagnostic test was administered to Secondary 3 male students in a pre-test and post-test. The ACs identified in the pre-test were on the causes of climate change, the natural greenhouse effect and its properties, the enhancement of the greenhouse effect, the elements involved in heat-trapping and their characteristics. There were also notable ACs on the effects of climate change, mostly on how the phenomenon is related to non-atmospheric events such as tsunami, earthquakes, acid rain and skin cancer. The students confuse the Montreal with the Kyoto Protocol as the primary treaty aimed at curbing greenhouse gas emissions. Whereas there was significant improvement in students’ understanding in the post-test, the distribution of responses for each of the ACs showed that the reduction in erroneous responses was not sufficient to reject the ACs fully. The authors recommend that instruction should move beyond patchwork pedagogy to a more explicit acknowledgement, incorporation and direct refutation of misconceived knowledge structures.

This presentation provides a brief overview on some key concepts in determining the outcomes of climate change education including the knowledge domains on the science, impacts and management of climate change, as well as taking into consideration the cognitive domains of outcomes such as factual recall, deep understanding, skill in analyzing climate change information, for example. The presentation will also discuss the concepts of awareness, knowledge, attitude and action in developing curriculum for learning about climate change. The ultimate aim of education is not just to “inform people, but to change them” (UNESCO, 1997). It is based on this philosophy that CCE should transform learners from knowing and doing something about climate change to being a global citizen ready to engage the issues of climate change.

Climate change is an important theme in the investigation of human–environment interactions in geographic education. This study explored the nature of students’ understanding of concepts and processes related to climate change. Through semi-structured interviews, data was collected from 27 Secondary 3 (Grade 9) students from Singapore. The data was subjected to thematic analysis using Chi and Roscoe's conceptual change framework. The results showed that the students’ base knowledge of climate change is composed of incomplete and incorrect elements built within coherent and structurally sound mental models. Due to the consistency of the models in expanding the logic, albeit erroneous, of explaining the climate change conundrum, it is posited that students are unaware of mistakes inherent in their judgements. Transformation of these mental models through multiple and deliberate refutations should be foremost in a geography teacher's pedagogical approach.