A STUDY OF K-12 TEACHERS’ CLIMATE CHANGE KNOWLEDGE IN THE UNITED STATES

Abstract

Climate change education is increasingly getting streamlined in the schools in the United States. However, studies have shown that teachers are yet to develop a basic understanding about climate change science. At the same time, as climate change continues to be a controversial issue in the United States and political parties are divided on their opinion about the issue and the solutions they propose, it impacts teachers and consequently their knowledge, beliefs and teaching practices. This paper presents the findings of an online survey conducted among teachers in the United States about their climate change knowledge and the factors such as teaching experience in K-12, grade level they teach, subject they primarily teach, educational degree, attendance of professional development on climate change and whether they teach climate change that can influence the same.