Climate Change Education at Informal Science Institutions Should Emphasize Action

Climate change is a complex topic that can be challenging to teach for educators at informal education institutions, such as zoos and aquariums. Climate change education is especially difficult because both learners' and educators' are influenced by their prior beliefs, attitudes, and experiences with climate change. Among environmental educators, there is a lack of understanding regarding the educator-visitor relationship at informal science education institutions. Evaluating the educator-visitor relationship is important so that educators can create programs that are both interesting and useful for the general public. This study compared the perceptions and experiences of educators at informal science education institutions with the expectations and experiences of visitors to these institutions.

The authors surveyed educators and visitors at informal science education institutions across the U.S. mid-Atlantic region. These institutions included zoos, aquariums, nature centers, and nonprofit and governmental environmental organizations. The authors first distributed an online questionnaire to science educators, and 60 staff members at various institutions completed the survey. The questionnaire assessed the educators' beliefs about climate change and the content and frequency of their climate change education programs. Next, the authors developed an online questionnaire for visitors to science education institutions. Ten institutions distributed the survey via email contact lists of institution members, regular visitors, teachers, and other program participants. A total of 530 visitors completed the survey. The questionnaire for visitors measured the participants' attitudes about climate change education programs.

Results indicated a disconnect regarding the educators' beliefs about their programs and the type of programming that was actually delivered. Most of the surveyed educators felt their institutions were in a good position to provide climate change education to the general public and that they had no barriers in providing such education. However, the authors found that climate change education programming was not offered frequently at the institutions in the study. The programming that was offered was often part of programs on other environmental topics.

The second disconnect was between the type of information that visitors wanted to know versus what educators believed the visitors should know. Participant educators reported focusing their programs on understanding how climate change works and dispelling common misunderstandings about climate change. Yet visitors reported high levels of understanding regarding the process of climate change. Instead, visitors wanted to learn about concrete ways to take action to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

The results of this study may be limited because of an imbalance in the demographics of visitors who completed the survey: two thirds of the respondents were female and the median age was 52. In addition, most of the respondents had visited multiple educational institutions, and many had repeatedly visited particular institutions. These characteristics are likely not representative of the average visitor, and the findings may not be the same for visitors who come to these institutions less frequently. Furthermore, the study's questionnaire only measured perception of climate change knowledge, not actual knowledge. Participants may have over-reported how much they know about climate change.

The authors recommend that science educators should provide more guidance on climate change adaptation and mitigation, rather than providing basic information on the scientific process of climate change. In addition, the authors recommend that science education institutions create regional partnerships to deliver shared messages regarding climate change. When multiple institutions deliver the same message, the message is amplified and members of the community are more likely to retain the information. These messages should help prompt action among community members by focusing on behavior change rather than simply providing information.