Climate change is being downgraded in college textbooks – Watts Up With That?

Essays by Eric Worrall

There is evidence that university science teachers may be deliberately ignoring climate propaganda.

Shrinking Climate Change Content in US College Textbooks

Sections on climate change have become shorter and further back in biology textbooks since the 2000s.

McKenzie Prillaman
December 21, 2022

College biology textbooks published in the United States in the 2010s contained less content on climate change than in the 2000s, despite the growing urgency of the climate crisis. Queen^first.

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The researchers evaluated 57 textbooks published between 1970 and 2019. They counted the number of sentences in the book’s passage about climate change — identified by phrases like ‘global warming’ demand’ and ‘greenhouse gases’ — and found that the average number of sentences per passage increased until the 2000s (see ‘Textbook changes’). It peaked during that decade at 52, but then dropped to 45 in the 2010s (The authors consider the mean to be a better value to use than the mean because of the wide range. about paragraph length.)

Furthermore, the average position of sections on climate change has moved from the last 15% of the page in the 1970s — when many scientists first believed the planet was warming — to the last 2.5%. In the 2010s, says Landin, controversial topics are often placed at the end because “it allows teachers to ‘time out’ and then not have to teach them again.”

The themes in the passages about climate change also change. Since the 1990s, the proportion of sentences devoted to solutions has gradually decreased, while content about the impacts of climate change, including Bad weather and aggravated illness, grown. Landin praises a more comprehensive description of these effects. But with the simultaneous reduction of solutions, she says, the balance of content tilts towards hopeless.

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Read more: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-04487-6

Summary of the study;

Coverage of climate change in an introductory biology textbook, 1970–2019

Rabiya Arif Ansari, Jennifer M. Landin
Published: December 21, 2022

Climate change is a potential threat to human society, biodiversity and ecosystem stability. However, a 2021 Gallup poll found that only 43% of Americans see climate change as a serious threat to their lives. In this study, we analyze the relevance of undergraduate biology textbooks on climate change from 1970 to 2019. We focus on four dimensions for content analysis: 1) level relevance, as determined by counting the number of sentences in the passage about climate change, 2) relevancy the starting position of the passage in the book, 3) classifying sentences as addressing descriptions of greenhouse effect, the effects of global warming or actions to ameliorate climate change, and 4) present the data as a figure. We analyzed 57 textbooks. Our findings show that climate change coverage has been steadily increasing, although the largest increases occurred in the 1990s despite the growing threats of climate change. The position of the paragraph on climate change is further back in the book, from the last 15% to the last 2.5% of the pages. Over time, coverage has shifted from being descriptive of the greenhouse effect to focusing primarily on the effects of climate change; The most addressed impact is ecosystem change. Sentences dedicated to possible solutions to climate change peaked in the 1990s with more than 15% of paragraphs, then dropped to 3% in recent decades. Data data shows only global temperature and CO² before 2000, then include photographic evidence and changes to species distribution after 2000. We hope this study will alert curriculum designers and instructors to viewing examine the implicit messages conveyed in climate change lessons.

Read more: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0278532

The study authors also accused science teachers of being climate deniers, or “confusing” about climate change;

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Science teachers express denial or confusion about climate change. Plutzer et al. extensively researched teachers’ classroom methods and educational background related to climate change [12]. They found that, while most teachers talked about the topic, 31% reported sending clearly conflicting messages in an attempt to teach “both sides.” Nearly a third of teachers emphasized that recent global warming “may be due to natural causes” and 12% did not emphasize human causes at all. Less than half of teachers report formal climate change education at university.

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The sequence of chapters can play an important role in how or whether content is addressed in the classroom. Controversial topics of reproduction, evolution, and conservation were placed at the end of biology textbooks in the 1930s, beginning a tradition of book arrangement that is still maintained today. [16]. Instructors often progress through textbooks from one chapter to the next and, in studies examining teacher textbook use, Chapters at the end of the book are often skipped [17, 18].

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Read more: Same link as above

This is a possibility. Maybe textbooks are pushing climate propaganda to the bottom and downgrading the content, because Science teachers are driving the market, by finding and buying textbooks that make it easier for them to avoid having to spread the word to their students.

This kind of thing gives me hope. If I’m right, if researchers are angry about climate propaganda but keep it to themselves, then all that needs to be done is a spark, a push too far, such as a dramatic increase in the amount of indoor air. climate content in exams, and climate activists may have the opportunity open. academic rebellion on their hands.