Social studies curricula and the National Climate Assessment

Lori Kumler, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Political Science & International Studies, University of Mount Union

Bethany Vosburg-Bluem

Assistant Professor of Education, Otterbein University

CLEAN conference call, 6/17/14

What is considered “social studies”?

History

Government

Geography

Civics

Economics

Psychology

Others: sociology, global issues, and the like

Social studies as field has had issues related to identity and purpose since early 1900s

Framework for social studies standards

50 separate versions--no commonly adopted standards by states

BUT, many states’ standards are informed in part by standards created by professional disciplinary associations

NCSS (National Council for the Social Studies)

NCGE (National Council for Geographic Education

National Standards for Civics and Government (Center for Civic Education)

Voluntary National Content Standards in Economics (Council for Economic Education)

National Standards for High School Psychology Curriculua (American Psychological Association)

Attempted movement towards common standards

C3 standards, fall 2013: College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards: Guidance for Enhancing the Rigor of K-12 Civics, Economics, Geography, and History (NCSS)

To what extent do any of these standards actually include climate change concepts?

Briefly: very little

Civics standards contain zero references to climate change

NCSS social studies standards include mention of “climate” in one standard: People, Places and Environments

NCGE standards contain the most

5 standards in Grade 8, but 3 are really natural science in content

5 social science oriented standards in Grade 12

In theory, in which types of courses/grades might social studies cover climate change?

Relevant in all social studies subjects mentioned in first slide

More likely to be covered in grades 4 and higher

In practice, which types of social studies courses/grades do cover climate change?

Briefly: probably very few

Difficult to know without comprehensive school/classroom level survey

Based on standards, most likely to be covered in courses such as geography, current issues, world history

Among 38 states we examined, trend towards climate related standards being included in K-5 or 6-8 more frequently than in 9-12 (p=0.025; p=0.033)

Source: Downey, L., Gentile, S. J., Hollweg, K.S., Hubbard-Sánchez, J., Johnson, C., Kumler, L., LaRocque, L., Poppleton, K., Shiflett-Fitton, D., Shuttleworth, J. (Eds.). (2013). Advancing Climate Change Environmental Education: Resources and Suggestions. Ithaca, NY: EECapacity, Cornell University Civic Ecology Lab, and North American Association for Environmental Education. Retrieved from: http://www.eecapacity.net/climate-change-ee-project-based-online-learning-community-alliance.html

C3 standards

How might the regional data from NCA be useful for formal and non-formal social studies educators? The obvious: if they are to be of any use, connect them to social studies

standards

This is also extremely difficult to do given diversity of standards and subjects

Perhaps connect to higher impact standards: NCGE (geography) and NCSS (social studies) standards

Of the 37 state standards we examined, a mean of 80.8% of climate references were found in geography related standards

Emphasize state and regional level data

Reach out to EE organizations that already have connections with teachers

Purple: possible actions for you to focus on

Some excerpts of NCA content that social studies educators might find useful

Connect to government budgeting exercise (state or local)

Red: sectors most likely to be touched on in social studies

Orange: also likely, but less so than red

Controversial “current events”

Government decisions

Economics and livelihood

Emphasize government decisions

Emphasize costs (individual and government)

Emphasize demographic shifts

Connect to historical human adaptation

Where do we see social studies going in the future in terms of climate change?

Nowhere to go but up: we see increased emphasis due to media and political attention

We also see increased contention (e.g. Wyoming, Michigan)

Concerns about publishing our work

Data specific to our study: Politicization of climate change in education? An analysis of K-12 state social studies content standards in traditionally red and blue states (do not quote or cite)

Content analysis of social studies standards in red (n=22) versus blue (n=18) states

“Climate change” v. “Global warming”

moderate negative relationship between publication year and global warming references

Pearson’s r -.380