Asynchronous student engagement in analysis of climate data achieves learning objectives related to climate change understanding, statistical competence, and climate anxiety
Learning in asynchronous online environments has gained importance over the last several decades, and educational environment shifts from the COVID-19 pandemic appear to have increased this need. Science educators and students need information about which approaches work in the asynchronous environm...
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ftillinoisstauni:oai:ir.library.illinoisstate.edu:fpbiosci-1123 2023-07-02T03:32:35+02:00 Asynchronous student engagement in analysis of climate data achieves learning objectives related to climate change understanding, statistical competence, and climate anxiety Meixner, Thomas Ciancarelli, B. Farrell, E. P. Garcia, D. Silva Josek, T. Kelly, M. M. Meister, Paul Antone Soule, D. Darner, Rebekka 2023-01-01T08:00:00Z application/pdf https://ir.library.illinoisstate.edu/fpbiosci/123 https://doi.org/10.1080/10899995.2023.2193810 https://ir.library.illinoisstate.edu/context/fpbiosci/article/1123/viewcontent/Darner.pdf unknown ISU ReD: Research and eData https://ir.library.illinoisstate.edu/fpbiosci/123 doi:10.1080/10899995.2023.2193810 https://ir.library.illinoisstate.edu/context/fpbiosci/article/1123/viewcontent/Darner.pdf Faculty Publications – Biological Sciences Climate change education asynchronous quantitative literacy climate change anxiety Climate Education text 2023 ftillinoisstauni https://doi.org/10.1080/10899995.2023.2193810 2023-06-10T22:32:47Z Learning in asynchronous online environments has gained importance over the last several decades, and educational environment shifts from the COVID-19 pandemic appear to have increased this need. Science educators and students need information about which approaches work in the asynchronous environment where informal feedback tends to be reduced, compared to other teaching modalities. In this study, we asynchronously implemented a learning module across 5 institutions that guided students (N = 199) from prescriptive data analysis through guided inquiry and eventually to open inquiry. The module focuses on the science behind climate change. Students work with the same authentic data sets used by professional scientists to examine geologic history and causes of climate change. By analyzing contemporary atmospheric carbon dioxide and temperature data and then using the 800,000-year record available from the Vostok ice core proxy record of atmospheric properties, students identify the causes of climate change and discover the unprecedented nature of recent atmospheric changes. Using a pre/post-module assessment, we demonstrate improvement in students’ understanding of climate change processes and statistical methods used to analyze data. However, there was no evidence that the module develops students’ scientific reasoning about the relationship between causation and correlation. Students maintained that correlation is not causation, even when a robust causal mechanism (i.e., the greenhouse effect) explains the link between atmospheric carbon dioxide and temperature. Finally, our analysis indicated that generally, anxiety about climate change was reduced during the module, such that students become less anxious about the climate change the more they learn about it. However, science-denying students experienced much higher anxiety about climate change than students who accepted the scientific consensus about climate change. Climate science-dissenting students were so few in this study that a statistical comparison ... Text ice core Illinois State University Research and eData (ISU ReD) Journal of Geoscience Education 1 11 |
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Illinois State University Research and eData (ISU ReD) |
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Climate change education asynchronous quantitative literacy climate change anxiety Climate Education |
spellingShingle |
Climate change education asynchronous quantitative literacy climate change anxiety Climate Education Meixner, Thomas Ciancarelli, B. Farrell, E. P. Garcia, D. Silva Josek, T. Kelly, M. M. Meister, Paul Antone Soule, D. Darner, Rebekka Asynchronous student engagement in analysis of climate data achieves learning objectives related to climate change understanding, statistical competence, and climate anxiety |
topic_facet |
Climate change education asynchronous quantitative literacy climate change anxiety Climate Education |
description |
Learning in asynchronous online environments has gained importance over the last several decades, and educational environment shifts from the COVID-19 pandemic appear to have increased this need. Science educators and students need information about which approaches work in the asynchronous environment where informal feedback tends to be reduced, compared to other teaching modalities. In this study, we asynchronously implemented a learning module across 5 institutions that guided students (N = 199) from prescriptive data analysis through guided inquiry and eventually to open inquiry. The module focuses on the science behind climate change. Students work with the same authentic data sets used by professional scientists to examine geologic history and causes of climate change. By analyzing contemporary atmospheric carbon dioxide and temperature data and then using the 800,000-year record available from the Vostok ice core proxy record of atmospheric properties, students identify the causes of climate change and discover the unprecedented nature of recent atmospheric changes. Using a pre/post-module assessment, we demonstrate improvement in students’ understanding of climate change processes and statistical methods used to analyze data. However, there was no evidence that the module develops students’ scientific reasoning about the relationship between causation and correlation. Students maintained that correlation is not causation, even when a robust causal mechanism (i.e., the greenhouse effect) explains the link between atmospheric carbon dioxide and temperature. Finally, our analysis indicated that generally, anxiety about climate change was reduced during the module, such that students become less anxious about the climate change the more they learn about it. However, science-denying students experienced much higher anxiety about climate change than students who accepted the scientific consensus about climate change. Climate science-dissenting students were so few in this study that a statistical comparison ... |
format |
Text |
author |
Meixner, Thomas Ciancarelli, B. Farrell, E. P. Garcia, D. Silva Josek, T. Kelly, M. M. Meister, Paul Antone Soule, D. Darner, Rebekka |
author_facet |
Meixner, Thomas Ciancarelli, B. Farrell, E. P. Garcia, D. Silva Josek, T. Kelly, M. M. Meister, Paul Antone Soule, D. Darner, Rebekka |
author_sort |
Meixner, Thomas |
title |
Asynchronous student engagement in analysis of climate data achieves learning objectives related to climate change understanding, statistical competence, and climate anxiety |
title_short |
Asynchronous student engagement in analysis of climate data achieves learning objectives related to climate change understanding, statistical competence, and climate anxiety |
title_full |
Asynchronous student engagement in analysis of climate data achieves learning objectives related to climate change understanding, statistical competence, and climate anxiety |
title_fullStr |
Asynchronous student engagement in analysis of climate data achieves learning objectives related to climate change understanding, statistical competence, and climate anxiety |
title_full_unstemmed |
Asynchronous student engagement in analysis of climate data achieves learning objectives related to climate change understanding, statistical competence, and climate anxiety |
title_sort |
asynchronous student engagement in analysis of climate data achieves learning objectives related to climate change understanding, statistical competence, and climate anxiety |
publisher |
ISU ReD: Research and eData |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://ir.library.illinoisstate.edu/fpbiosci/123 https://doi.org/10.1080/10899995.2023.2193810 https://ir.library.illinoisstate.edu/context/fpbiosci/article/1123/viewcontent/Darner.pdf |
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ice core |
genre_facet |
ice core |
op_source |
Faculty Publications – Biological Sciences |
op_relation |
https://ir.library.illinoisstate.edu/fpbiosci/123 doi:10.1080/10899995.2023.2193810 https://ir.library.illinoisstate.edu/context/fpbiosci/article/1123/viewcontent/Darner.pdf |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1080/10899995.2023.2193810 |
container_title |
Journal of Geoscience Education |
container_start_page |
1 |
op_container_end_page |
11 |
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1770272192096894976 |