12/07/2017
Dear Prospective TMEO Teachers,
Thank you for your interest in being a part of this exciting professional development opportunity! By participating in the TMEO workshop and project, you will help inoculate students and peers across the country against misinformation about climate change.
Background
In March 2017, the Heartland Institute began mailing unsolicited packets of climate science denial propaganda to tens of thousands of teachers across the United States. Heartland, a libertarian think-tank that has been active in casting doubt on the health risks of to***co as well as established climate science, claimed that it intended to send out up to 200,000 packets with the goal of reaching every science teacher in the country. The packets included a DVD and a booklet entitled “Why Scientists Disagree about Global Warming”, suggesting that teachers “use them in your classroom.” A misleading New York Times quote was featured on the outer envelope. In short, the goal of the packets was to encourage teachers actively to misinform their students about climate science. The National Center for Science Education (NCSE), immediately sprang into action to get accurate information to teachers that would both discourage them from using the packets themselves and give them detailed explanations of why the material was unacceptable for use in the science classroom. The flyers were designed to help teachers dissuade parents, administrators or colleagues who might be in favor of using the materials to "teach the controversy". The three flyers that NCSE developed were made available free on our website, distributed to our own network of 6,000 teachers, and widely disseminated by other organizations including the National Science Teachers Association. The National Center for Science Education was able to respond quickly because we have been active for over 30 years in ensuring that evolution is taught accurately and resisting efforts to introduce the non-scientific alternatives of creationism or intelligent design into science classrooms. In 2012, NCSE added climate change education to our mission, as similar efforts to require or encourage teachers to devote “equal time” to casting doubt on climate science were becoming more common. We have a long history of helping teachers cover topics that are societally, but not scientifically, contentious. When we began working on climate change education, one of the challenges was a dearth of information about which teachers, at what grade levels, and in which science courses, were covering the topic and how.
Accordingly, in 2015, NCSE, in collaboration with researchers at the Pennsylvania State University, carried out the first representative national survey of U.S. middle and high school science teachers to learn how climate change is actually being taught. The results were published in the journal Science in 2016 (Plutzer et al., 2016). Encouragingly, the survey found that climate change is being widely taught. On the other hand, the majority of teachers conceded that they have little formal training on climate science and were not especially confident in their content expertise. This lack of expertise was confirmed by the response to a question asking what percentage of climate scientists agrees that human activities are the main driver of climate change. The correct answer is an overwhelming 97%, but only 40% of teachers chose the correct survey option of 80%-100%. This worrying result suggests that science teachers, like so many others, have been affected by misinformation campaigns, such as those by the Heartland Institute, that falsely suggest that the reality of climate change is still in substantial scientific doubt.
The Heartland Institute’s mailing, beginning with its title, exploited precisely this widespread misconception. Knowing, as we did, that a great many teachers were themselves unaware of the depth of the scientific consensus, one of the flyers developed by NCSE explained exactly how the 97% consensus claim was arrived at, undergirded as it is by a wealth of evidence from several lines of research. Helping teachers overcome the prevalent misconceptions about what climate scientists know and how they know it is, however, only the first step. Ideally, teachers need tools to help their students recognize and overcome those misconceptions as well.
Pedagogy
Misconception-based learning is a powerful way to neutralize misinformation while improving science literacy (Bedford, 2010). This approach involves explaining scientific concepts while directly refuting related misconceptions. Misconception-based learning results in greater and more long-lasting learning gains relative to standard lessons (McCuin et al., 2014). It increases student’s argumentative skills and awareness of the importance of evidence (Kuhn and Crowell, 2011), fosters critical thinking skills (Berland and Reiser, 2008), and provokes greater student interest (Manson et al., 2008).
This teaching approach also equips students with the tools and confidence to engage in conversations with family and friends about contentious topics such as climate change.
Developing such a tool for teachers is the primary goal of this proposal. The broader impact of the project will be achieved by disseminating the field-tested tool to as many teachers as possible, in collaboration with NCSE, NOAA, and the Alliance for Climate Education (ACE).
Overview
This is a multi-phase project that will:
We have produced a unit of 5 unique lessons using the misconception-based learning approach developed by Dr. John Cook at GMU. These lessons address misconceptions identified in the Heartland packet, and include lessons on the scientific consensus on climate change, modelling, the geologic record of climate change, extreme weather events, and solutions and sustainability. All lessons are hands-on PBL, and utilize activities from the NOAA CLEAN interactive database. Lessons are also flexible so that the lessons can be adapted to local issues and data.
You will be one of 8 master teachers selected to be trained on these lessons, and to then deliver these lessons in your classrooms.
We will assess the impact of the lessons on specific student learning outcomes, and use this feedback to develop and conduct teacher training webinars in cooperation with ACE. These webinars will be marketed and distributed the nationally.
In addition to being a part of this effort, you will also have the opportunity to join a group of NCSE Ambassador Teachers to help expand the program in your area. Lessons will also be submitted to the CLEAN database, and you will be connected to the NOAA Planet Stewards program.
To learn more about the NOAA CLEAN database, go to https://cleanet.org/index.html.
To learn more about the NOAA Planet Stewards program, go to https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education/planet-stewards/.
To learn more about NCSEteach, go to https://ncse.com/teach.
To learn more about ACE, go to https://acespace.org/.
We hope to see your application soon!
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Sincerely,
Brad Hoge, Director of Teacher Support
NCSE
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