Teaching climate change conceptually

Just a few days ago (2 Mar 23), ST reported that the ability of our land ecosystems are declining in their ability to absorb atmospheric carbon dioxide. This spells trouble for mankind. How might we help our students understand the nuanced and inter-related nature of global warming? To do this, it is important to also teach the concepts of feedback loops and tipping point. The article by Climate Reality Project defines climate feedback loops as processes that can either amplify or diminish the effects of climate forcings. Forcings are factors like solar input, greenhouse gas emissions, and airborne particles like dust, smoke, and soot that come from human and natural sources which influence Earth's heat budget. Feedback loops strengthen or weaken the effects of these factors which then starts a cyclical chain reaction all over again. Tipping point is defined as a small change within the (climatic) system that can move a fairly stable system to a very different state.

These are two important steps you can take to help your students uncover these concepts and transfer their learning (Stern et al., 2017, Wiggins & McTighe, 2005).

1) Uncovering concepts (instead of covering content) 

You can consider using the SEEI framework (Paul & Elder, 2013) to help students learn these concepts more effectively. The steps for SEEI are:

1) Provide clear explanations of the target concept(s) e.g. feedback loops and tipping point. You can consider providing a one page overview with elaboration and examples, and or use video clips.

2) Assign students to small groups and ask them read the explanations together with the goal of understanding the target concept(s). Encourage them to ask questions and seek answers using their PLDs.

3) Have them work collaboratively to explain the concepts using SEEI 

• State the idea clearly 
• Elaborate on the idea (in order words ... this also means ... )
• Exemplify (for example ... a non example would be ...)
• Illustrate with a metaphor, analogy or image (it is like ... )

Circulate to provide feedback, encourage students to generate good examples and non-examples, and provide illustrations to the concepts. Do not allow students to use examples embedded in the provided text. Students should come up with their own examples or non-examples to demonstrate understanding.

4)  Students groups can present to the class. For example, some groups can share their statements of the ideas, while others can elaborate or provide examples. You can have more groups share their illustrations as they are more varied than the other elements of SEEI. This is a good time for AfL as students demonstrate their understandings and (mis)understandings.

2)  Transferring knowledge

Transferring knowledge is a critical step in helping students see the world differently. For example, instead of rote learning Topic 3.2 on climate change in the new upper sec syllabus, they would now understand the significance of anthropogenic factors and inter-connectedness between human and natural systems.

After students have uncovered the concepts of feedback loops and tipping point, they need to practice transfer. Consider this next step: Students read articles and watch videos related to the real world phenomena of:

• Melting of permafrost in the Arctic, which is a huge global store of methane and carbon, resulting in the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
• Losing of polar sea ice causing a lowered reflective index (albedo), thereby exposing the darker ocean surface which absorbs heat more readily.
• Die-back of the Amazon rainforests which makes them more susceptible to fires, therefore releasing more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
• Large-scale coral bleaching which reduces the ability of our oceans to sequester atmospheric carbon dioxide.  

You can present this inquiry: "Knowing the importance of the inter-connectedness of climate change within our natural systems, how might you design an educational programme to highlight the fact that global warming is more urgent and immediate than we might have imagined?"

Students then work in groups to come up with proposals that take into consideration the inter-connectedness of global warming and immediacy of climate action. They will present their proposals to the class, and discuss how their understanding of concepts such as feedback loops and tipping points influenced their decisions.  

Concluding remarks

While it takes more time and effort to teach conceptually and effect transfer, you can also see that authentic transfer tasks such as the one suggested above make for a meaningful learning experience. Students have the opportunity to learn about authentic real-world examples and collaborate in decision-making that concretise abstract concepts. Instead of merely repeating them without real understanding, you will also see right away if their ability to apply the concepts is weak. 

In summary, concepts and conceptual relationships are like keys to opening treasure chests. These keys are buried in the ground, which have to be uncovered in specific contexts. The transfer task is like the treasure chest, which presents that novel situation to unlock students' conceptual understanding. The burden of uncovering the key, and thinking about how to unlock the treasure chest lies on the learner, not the teacher.

References:

Stern, Ferraro & Mohnkern (2017) Tools for Teaching Conceptual Understanding, Corwin CA

Wiggins G P & McTighe J (2005) Understanding by Design, Alexandria VA

 The Climate Reality Project (retrieved 4 Mar 23)