Applying Quantitative and Covariational Reasoning to Think About Systems: The Example of Climate Change

Abstract

Climate change is not an easy phenomenon to understand; its complexity requires students and teachers to develop systems thinking competencies to deal with ideas such as multiple interrelated variables (interconnectedness), identifying circular causality between variables (feedback loops), and examining patterns of variation over time (dynamic relationships). Mathematics can play a prominent role in helping students and teachers deal with those concepts through engaging their quantitative and covariational reasoning abilities. In particular, quantitative and covariational reasoning play a role in activating systems thinking competencies necessary to understand two key concepts of climate change: The Earth’s energy budget and the link between carbon dioxide (CO2) pollution and global warming. This chapter discusses the role of quantitative reasoning in developing an understanding of the energy budget as a system formed by multiple interacting components in terms of quantities and relationships between them. The chapter also discusses the role of covariational reasoning in developing an understanding of the energy budget’s response to CO2 pollution in terms of variation in the planet’s average surface temperature over time (dynamic relationships). This includes making sense of the greenhouse effect as the covariation of two quantities with respect to time that obeys a circular causality relationship (feedback loop). The chapter illustrates these claims with examples from two preservice mathematics teachers who participated in a study examining how they made sense of the mathematics involved in modeling climate change. The chapter also discusses implications for teaching and research in both mathematics and science education.