Teaching Climate Change Science to High School Students Using Computer Games in an Intermedia Narrative

Glenn Gordon Smith,Metin Besalti,Katie Laux,Allan Feldman,Molly Nation

doi:10.29333/ejmste/103570

Abstract

We explored how computer games developed as part of an innovative set of climate change education materials helped students learn and gain interest in global climate change (GCC) science by making it personally relevant and understandable. This research was conducted in a public school district in the southeastern United States. The curriculum, Climate Change Narrative Game Education (CHANGE), used a local, place-based approach using scientific data gathered from the Gulf of Mexico coast and incorporated (a) computer games, (b) a scientifically web-based science fiction novel about future Gulf coast residents, and (c) hands-on laboratory activities. This paper focuses on how the computer games affected students’ learning, validity of their beliefs about GCC, and understanding of the effects of GCC on the region’s sea level and storms. The data collected included students’ exam scores, and surveys about student perceptions of climate change science and perceptions of the materials. On exam questions related to GCC science, students who participated in the CHANGE curriculum scored significantly higher than their peers who did not. Also, their beliefs about GCC increased in validity. The nature and design of the computer games had a strong impact on students’ understanding of sea level rise and storms.

Highlights

There is international consensus among scientists that global climate change (GCC) is one of the most significant environmental challenges we face (IPCC, 2013)
We explored how computer games developed as part of an innovative set of climate change education materials helped students learn and gain interest in global climate change (GCC) science by making it personally relevant and understandable
We investigated how a climate change science curriculum including interdisciplinary science, a local, placebased approach and impacted high school student learning of climate change science, their beliefs, and how educational computer games contributed to their understanding of climate change

Summary

Introduction

There is international consensus among scientists that global climate change (GCC) is one of the most significant environmental challenges we face (IPCC, 2013). Two of the major effects of GCC are: (1) the rising of sea level due to thermal expansion of the oceans and melting of continental ice, and (2) anomalous and extreme weather events. Both of these are worrying to inhabitants in the southeastern United States with its long coastlines and extensive low-lying barrier islands. In this region, small changes in sea level cause extensive social impacts and economic losses (Galindo-Gonzalez et al, 2011). It is imperative that students become aware of how this will affect the built environment (where we live) by learning the science behind GCC and what can be done to mitigate these effects

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Conclusion