Thoughts regarding the teaching of weather, climate, and climate change
Abstract:
The primary goal of this contribution is to help teachers better understand some relevant concepts and issues involved in sharing knowledge about Earth system science characteristics of weather, climate, and climatic change. Ideas build from existing knowledge regarding better strategies and approaches for teaching science and environmental issues, along with ideas about how climate change education is different. In addition to addressing existing (mis)understandings, this work moves forward discussing three additional important topics in climate change education. One concern is the tendency for some to conflate the concepts of weather (including extreme weather events) and climate. Another challenge is sharing an understanding regarding how the spatial scale (i.e., global versus local) and temporal scale (i.e., seasons and individual years versus millennia) influence an understanding of differing aspects of the concept of climate. An additional task involves helping students understand differences between climate change, short-term variability within the Earth climate system, and human-induced climate change. Foundational knowledge of natural science perspectives will assist in moving forward with education addressing social science and humanistic aspects of climate and climate change.