A new study says that majority of California public school textbooks misrepresent the science behind climate change as they voice uncertainty on the issue of whether it is indeed happening and if humans caused this environmental problem.
Published in the journal Environmental Education Research, the researchers wanted to determine the role of textbooks in the knowledge of sixth grade students on climate change since the bulk of the knowledge they acquire about this predicament comes through classroom discussions and reading their books.
Using systematic functional analysis, they studied the language of the chapters related to climate change in four science textbooks for sixth grade students in California. Analyzing linguistic variables like types of nominal groups, processes, circumstance and modality system, they found that these major textbooks 'framed climate change as uncertain in the scientific community'.
The textbooks' chapters discussing climate change have 279 clauses containing 2,770 words.
"We found that through language choices, the text portrayed climate change as uncertain along several lines, such as whether climate change was happening, whether humans were causing it and what the effects will be," K.C. Busch, a doctorate student at Stanford University said.
Science textbooks offer factual information on reality. Textbooks have 'authoritative stance' that usually use declarative sentences based on scientific facts. However, in these textbooks they analyzed, there are statements that contain uncertainties through the use of words or phrases like could, might or may appear.
To cite an example, the textbook Focus on Earth Science by Prentice Hall stated in one chapter for climate change, "Not all scientists agree about the causes of global warming. Some scientists think that the 0.7 Celsius degree rise in global temperatures over the past 120 years may be due in part to natural variations in climate."
This shows that uncertainty in textbooks will spur further debates on whether global warming is indeed happening and if it is caused by human actions. Hence, the authors recommend that these textbooks need updating on the current issues the world is facing like global warming.
To the author's surprise, one textbook even stated that there are positive effects of global warming. In the same textbook, the authors said that climate change could have positive effects as places that are 'too cold for farming' may now be used as farmlands and farmers in some places that has a cold season could plant two crops in one year instead of just one.
Busch and co-author Diego Román, an assistant professor of education at Southern Methodist University, said that though this study may not be applicable to all science textbooks, it shows that 'problems within texts' that reach a large proportion of the American teen population, could significantly influence their stand in the issue of climate change and influence them to take immediate mitigating action to curb global warming.
"The point here is that being misinformed about climate change serves as an impediment for us to achieve any of these goals," Busch said.
In a recent Yale University survey, one in five Americans think that global warming is not happening. Apparently, the survey also shows that only 11 percent of the population is 'very worried' about global warming and its effects to the environment. Only 11 percent is 'very' interested to hear about global warming while 24 percent is not interested at all.
