"Will polar bears melt?". A qualitative analysis of children's questions about climate change

Katharine Lee; Julie Barnett

doi:10.1177/0963662520952999

"Will polar bears melt?". A qualitative analysis of children's questions about climate change

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

20 Citations (SciVal)

117 Downloads (Pure)

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 14 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	https://doi.org/10.1177/0963662520952999
Publication status	Published - 1 Nov 2020

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 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.

Funders
Economic and Social Research Council

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 13 Climate Action

Keywords

children
climate change
psychological distance

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Communication
Developmental and Educational Psychology
Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)

Access to Document

10.1177/0963662520952999Licence: CC BY

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.
Accepted author manuscript, 440 KB

Cite this

@article{117d9295356744ee95b940dad8b65dba,

title = "{"}Will polar bears melt?{"}. A qualitative analysis of children's questions about climate change",

abstract = "Climate change poses a grave threat to future generations, yet relatively little research examines children{\textquoteright}s understandings of the issue. This study examines the questions children ask about climate change – rather than their answers to adults{\textquoteright} questions – exploring whether their questions suggest they view climate change as psychologically proximal or distant. Children aged 10–12 from 14 UK schools took part in an online event, asking scientists questions in a {\textquoteleft}climate zone{\textquoteright}. 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{\textquoteright} questions elucidated the ways in which they position climate change as both a proximal and distant phenomenon.",

keywords = "children, climate change, psychological distance",

author = "Katharine Lee and Julie Barnett",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} The Author(s) 2020.",

year = "2020",

month = nov,

day = "1",

doi = "10.1177/0963662520952999",

language = "English",

volume = "29",

pages = "868--880",

journal = "Public Understanding of Science",

issn = "0963-6625",

publisher = "SAGE Publications Ltd",

number = "8",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - "Will polar bears melt?". A qualitative analysis of children's questions about climate change

AU - Lee, Katharine

AU - Barnett, Julie

PY - 2020/11/1

Y1 - 2020/11/1

N2 - 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 14 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.

AB - 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 14 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.

KW - children

KW - climate change

KW - psychological distance

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85090235335

U2 - 10.1177/0963662520952999

DO - 10.1177/0963662520952999

M3 - Article

SN - 0963-6625

VL - 29

SP - 868

EP - 880

JO - Public Understanding of Science

JF - Public Understanding of Science

IS - 8

ER -

"Will polar bears melt?". A qualitative analysis of children's questions about climate change

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

UN SDGs

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this