{"id":223708,"date":"2019-07-21T01:14:04","date_gmt":"2019-07-21T05:14:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=223708"},"modified":"2019-07-21T01:14:04","modified_gmt":"2019-07-21T05:14:04","slug":"canadian-high-school-science-courses-behind-on-climate-change-says-ubc-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/07\/21\/canadian-high-school-science-courses-behind-on-climate-change-says-ubc-study\/","title":{"rendered":"Canadian high school science courses behind on climate change, says UBC study"},"content":{"rendered":"
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FILE: Arctic Islands in Merchants Bay, on the coast of Baffin Island’s Cumberland Peninsula, Nunavut, Canada. Durban Island is the top one, center. Padloping Island is top left. (Photo By Doc Searls from Santa Barbara, USA – 2014_11_21_lhr-lax_133c, CC BY 2.0<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

VANCOUVER \u2014 High school students in\u00a0Canada\u00a0may not be getting the full story about climate change, according to a new study by researchers from the University of British Columbia and Lund University in Sweden.<\/p>\n

The study analysed high school science textbooks and curricula in all 13 provinces and territories and interviewed people responsible for curriculum design in six provinces.<\/p>\n

It found in general, Canadian curricula covers the facts that climate change is happening and that it’s caused by humans, but not the strength of the scientific consensus behind climate change, its impacts or solutions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat’s important because if students don’t understand that there are solutions or that experts agree this is a problem that’s caused by humans, they’re unlikely to be motivated to help solve the problem,\u201d said Seth Wynes, a UBC doctoral candidate and the lead author of the study.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that part of the role of science education in\u00a0Canada\u00a0as laid out in various provincial documents is to prepare students to be environmental citizens,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The study rated the curricula on six core areas: basic knowledge of the physical climate, rising global temperatures, the human-caused nature of climate change, its negative consequences and the possibility of avoiding the most severe effects of climate change through implementing solutions that reduce emissions from fossil fuels.<\/p>\n

The researchers found performance on these key areas varies by province and territory.<\/p>\n

Initially, Wynes said he suspected that provinces with a greater presence of fossil fuel industry might have lower coverage of climate change in classrooms. But the study did not reveal a correlation.<\/p>\n

In fact, it found that curriculum in Saskatchewan, which has the highest per capita greenhouse gas emissions in\u00a0Canada\u00a0and whose emissions have been steadily rising, had the most comprehensive coverage of climate change, followed by Ontario.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s an encouraging indicator of how curricula are designed in\u00a0Canada,\u201d said Wynes.<\/p>\n

British Columbia covered three of the key areas \u2014 the physical climate, the fact climate change is caused by humans, and its impacts \u2014 and new grade 11 and 12 curriculum is set to be implemented in the coming school year.<\/p>\n

Nova Scotia and New Brunswick had the oldest curriculum documents and also the least comprehensive coverage of climate change. The study found mandatory courses only covered the fact the climate is warming.<\/p>\n

It also found Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island presented human-caused climate change as being up for debate among experts.<\/p>\n

There may also be differences in what documents are instructing teachers to teach and what students are actually learning, according to Wynes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt can be difficult for teachers if they’re in a community where this issue is polarized. On the other hand, there’s space for teachers who are passionate about the subject to really dig in deeper and engage students on a higher level,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Teachers need extra support and Canadian curricula may need revision because of the fast-changing nature of the climate crisis, added Wynes.<\/p>\n

\u201cFifteen years ago, there were some things we didn’t know. That’s going to change the learning objectives and it might also change the amount of focus you’re going to put on this subject,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Wynes conceded that the study is limited by its analysis of science curriculum alone, and that other subjects and courses can sometimes incorporate climate change education. But, he said, for the most part, science courses are where climate change is addressed.<\/p>\n

Previously, Wynes was a high school science teacher who trained in Ontario and taught in the U.K. and northern Quebec.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a lot of conversations with students and answered their questions about climate change. They often came to me with a lot of misunderstandings,\u201d Wynes said, noting some students were concerned about running out of fossil fuels \u2014 unaware that meeting national and global emissions reduction targets means leaving a large portion in the ground.<\/p>\n

Wynes was motivated to conduct the study partly by his own experience as a teacher and also by polling from around 2015, which suggested that a large portion of young adults in\u00a0Canada\u00a0who were in high school in the recent past weren’t that concerned about climate change.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor this generation, where climate change is going to have such a large impact on their future and is already having an impact on their present, it’s really important they understand the fundamental aspects of this problem so they’re able to contribute to decisions that are made by society or through actions in their own life,\u201d Wynes said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

VANCOUVER \u2014 High school students in\u00a0Canada\u00a0may not be getting the full story about climate change, according to a new study …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":223027,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-223708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ca","category-news","mauthors-brenna-owen","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223708"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223708\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":223709,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223708\/revisions\/223709"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/223027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}