Abstract
Climate change poses a grave threat to future generations, yet relatively little research examines children’s understandings of the issue. This study examines the questions children ask about climate change - rather than their answers to adults’ questions – exploring whether their questions suggest they view climate change as psychologically proximal or distant. Children aged 10-12 from fourteen UK schools took part in an online event, asking scientists questions in a ‘climate zone’. The questions were analysed using thematic analysis. The themes related to the nature and reality of climate change, its causes, impacts, and solutions. Participants seemed most exercised about the future impacts of and ways of ameliorating climate change, with some questions evoking science-fiction disaster imagery. The contents of participants’ questions elucidated the ways in which they position climate change as both a proximal and distant phenomenon.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 868-880 |
| Journal | Public Understanding of Science |
| Volume | 29 |
| Issue number | 8 |
| Early online date | 4 Sept 2020 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Nov 2020 |
Funding
The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The first author’s PhD is funded by the ESRC.
Access to Document
- PUS_article_4_August.PDF
FORTHCOMING: Lee, Katharine ; Barnett, Julie. / "Will polar bears melt?". A qualitative analysis of children's questions about climate change. In: Public Understanding of Science. 2020. (C) SAGE Publications. Reproduced by permission of SAGE Publications.