HR: 14:10h
AN: ED23C-03    [Abstracts]
TI: Improving the climate literary of students, educators and the public - The Climate Literacy Initiative
AU: * Dupigny-Giroux, L L
EM: ldupigny@uvm.edu
AF: University of Vermont, Department of Geography 200 Old Mill Building 94 University Place, Burlington, VT 05405-0114, United States
AB: The Climate Literacy Initiative of the Association of American Geographers (AAG) was largely born out of the growing realization of the misconceptions held by university students about the atmosphere, weather, climate and increasingly, climate variability and change. One way to quantify students' perceptions and scientific understanding about a topic like global warming, was via the reflection rubric common to service-learning pedagogy. This revealed the dichotomy that students, and society in general, face between a research-style presentation of scientific results versus an opinion article that might appear in a local news outlet. These reflections also revealed the underlying gaps in student knowledge about basic atmospheric dynamics and the complexities of the linkages across the air-land-ocean interface. In order to address these knowledge gaps, climate pedagogy and resources are critical. A weather and climate needs assessment of some Vermont K-8 teachers revealed that their primary interests revolved around curriculum development and enhancement; experimental learning for their students; innovative activities using existing Internet-based resources and; professional development. This presentation will highlights the activities of the Climate Literacy Initiative, including its collaboration with the ESPERE group in Germany and the Climate Change Education Working group, sponsored by the U.S. Climate Change Science Program.
DE: 0805 Elementary and secondary education
DE: 0810 Post-secondary education
DE: 0815 Informal education
DE: 0850 Geoscience education research
DE: 3305 Climate change and variability (1616, 1635, 3309, 4215, 4513)
SC: Education and Human Resources [ED]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting