scholarly journals Developing a model of climate change behavior among adolescents

2018 ◽  
Vol 151 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 589-603 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn T. Stevenson ◽  
M. Nils Peterson ◽  
Howard D. Bondell
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Change Behavior

scholarly journals The Virtual Field Trip: Investigating How to Optimize Immersive Virtual Learning in Climate Change Education

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gustav B. Petersen ◽  
Sara Klingenberg ◽  
Richard E. Mayer ◽  
Guido Makransky
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Test Performance ◽  
Transfer Test ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Outcome Expectations ◽  
Training Group ◽  
Change Behavior ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
8Th Grade ◽  
Virtual Field

Immersive Virtual Reality (IVR) is being used for educational virtual field trips (VFTs) involving scenarios that may be too difficult, dangerous, or expensive to experience in real life. We implemented an immersive VFT within the investigation phase of an inquiry-based learning (IBL) climate change intervention. Students investigated the consequences of climate change by virtually travelling to Greenland and exploring albedo and greenhouse effects first hand. A total of 102 7th and 8th grade students were randomly assigned to one of two instructional conditions: 1) narrated pre-training followed by IVR exploration or 2) the same narrated training material integrated within the IVR exploration. Students in both conditions showed significant increases in declarative knowledge, self-efficacy, interest, STEM intentions, outcome expectations, and intentions to change behavior from the pre- to post-assessment. However, there was a significant difference between conditions favoring the pre-training group on a transfer test consisting of an oral presentation to a fictitious UN panel. The findings suggest that educators can choose to present important prerequisite learning content before or during a VFT. However, adding pre-training may lead to better transfer test performance, presumably because it helps reduce cognitive load while learning in IVR.

scholarly journals Exploring the Cognitive and Emotional Impact of Online Climate Change Videos on Viewers

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (22) ◽  
pp. 9571
Author(s):  
Nai-Hua Chen
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Negative Binomial ◽  
Emotional Responses ◽  
Negative Binomial Regression ◽  
Climate Science ◽  
Emotional Impact ◽  
Change Behavior ◽  
Binomial Regression ◽  
Temperature Environment ◽  
Regression Techniques

Climate change is a significant challenge for the international community. A significant part of addressing this challenge involves informing people about climate change to try and change behavior. Organizations like Technology, Entertainment, and Design (TED) use social media as a means of disseminating information about the complexities of climate science. In this study, we investigate viewers’ responses to 50 TED videos associated with climate change that are posted on YouTube. We elucidate the opinions of both speakers and viewers through sentiment analysis of 59,023 comments and negative binomial regression techniques of viewers’ reactions. The most frequently mentioned keywords are emission, temperature, environment, nature, renewable energy, and economics. The top three emotions evoked by reviewer are trust, fear, and anticipation. The issue of economics is largely responsible for triggering these emotional responses.

scholarly journals Fear Emotion Decelerates Outcomes of Climate Change Education

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jin Chen ◽  
Xueqi Wang
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Treatment Group ◽  
Educational Outcomes ◽  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Climate Change Education ◽  
Video Clips ◽  
Change Behavior ◽  
Target Emotion ◽  
Group Emotion

Abstract Emotion mediating educational outcomes has been recognized for decades. However, empirical experiments to test these predictions, particularly for climate change education, which is often mixed with various emotions, are rare. In this study, we conducted a two-week climate change education program with specific video clips designed to induce fear or hope in students to explore how emotions affect educational outcomes. The study involved 1,730 students from nine middle schools in three coastal cities (Xiamen, Shenzhen, and Ningbo) in China. The results demonstrated that emotional video clips are a successful stimulus for the target emotion. In the hope treatment group, emotion did not significantly affect the educational outcomes, as indicated by the limited change in students’ climate change involvement, self-efficiency, and mitigation behavior. However, in the fear treatment group, emotion significantly decelerated students’ change in mitigation behavior compared to the lecture-only group. These decelerated behaviors are mostly located at the behavior change of low carbon life. Based on the mediation analysis, both the hope group and lecture-only group had direct effects on climate change mitigation behavior, while the fear group only had an indirect effect on climate change behavior, mediated primarily by climate change involvement. The study thus highlighted that both negative and positive emotions should not indiscriminately used in climate change education programs to safeguard significant educational outcomes.

Guilt and Shame in U.S. Climate Change Communication

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Jacquet
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
The United States ◽  
Scientific Uncertainty ◽  
Washington Dc ◽  
Climate Change Communication ◽  
Change Communication ◽  
Corporate Advertising ◽  
Change Behavior ◽  
The One

Some of the major misconceptions in the United States about climate change—such as the focus on scientific uncertainty, the “debate” over whether climate change is caused by humans, and pushback about how severe the consequences might be—can be seen as communications battles. An interesting area within communications is the contrasting use of guilt and shame for climate-related issues. Guilt and shame are social emotions (along with embarrassment, pride, and others), but guilt and shame are also distinct tools. On the one hand, guilt regulates personal behavior, and because it requires a conscience, guilt can be used only against individuals. Shame, on the other hand, can be used against both individuals and groups by calling their behavior out to an audience. Shaming allows citizens to express criticism and social sanctions, attempting to change behavior through social pressure, often because the formal legal system is not holding transgressors accountable. Through the use of guilt and shame we can see manifestations of how we perceive the problem of climate change and who is responsible for it. For instance, in October 2008, Chevron, one of the world’s largest fossil fuel companies, placed advertisements around Washington, DC, public transit stops featuring wholesome-looking, human faces with captions such as “I will unplug things more,” “I will use less energy,” and “I will take my golf clubs out of the trunk.” Six months later, DC activists reworked the slogans by adding to each the phrase “while Chevron pollutes.” This case of corporate advertising and subsequent “adbusting” illustrates the contrast between guilt and shame in climate change communication. Guilt has tended to align with the individualization of responsibility for climate change and has been primarily deployed over issues of climate-related consumption rather than other forms of behavior, such as failure to engage politically. Shame has been used, largely by civil society groups, as a primary tactic against fossil fuel producers, peddlers of climate denial, and industry-backed politicians.

Audience Segmentation and Climate Change Communication

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald W. Hine ◽  
Wendy J. Phillips ◽  
Aaron B. Driver ◽  
Mark Morrison
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Target Population ◽  
Message Content ◽  
Climate Change Communication ◽  
Audience Segmentation ◽  
Change Communication ◽  
Change Behavior ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Marketing Principles ◽  
And Behavior

Scientists and policy makers face significant challenges when attempting to engage the public about climate change. An important first step is to understand the number and nature of the audiences one plans to target—a process known as audience segmentation. Segmentation involves identifying, within an audience or target population, homogenous subgroups that share similar demographic and/or psychographic profiles. After segmenting an audience, climate change communicators can target their messages based on the unique characteristics of each subgroup. For example, to stimulate engagement and behavior change, messages aimed at audiences that are skeptical about climate change may require different content and framing than messages aimed at audiences already deeply concerned about climate change. The notion of matching message content to audience characteristics has a long history, dating back to the Ancient Greeks. More recently, audience segmentation has played a central role in targeted advertising and also social marketing, which uses marketing principles to help “sell” ideas and behaviors that benefit society. Applications to climate change communication are becoming more common, with major segmentation and communication initiatives being implemented across the globe. Messages crafted to meet the needs of specific audience segments are more likely to be read, understood, and recalled than generic ones, and are also more likely to change behavior. However, despite these successes, the approach has not been uniformly embraced. Controversies have emerged related to the cost effectiveness of segmentation strategies, choice of segmentation variables, potential effects related to social stigmatization, whether segmentation encourages shallow (as opposed to deep) change, the extent to which segments are “found” as opposed to socially constructed by researchers, and whether interindividual differences are best conceptualized in terms of categories or dimensions.

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