| Session Title: Climate Change Education Projects: Advancing the Dialogue Through Effective use of Evaluation Strategies |
| Multipaper Session 587 to be held in Palos Verdes A on Friday, Nov 4, 8:00 AM to 9:30 AM |
| Sponsored by the Environmental Program Evaluation TIG |
| Chair(s): |
| Beverly Farr, MPR Associates, bfarr@mprinc.com |
| Abstract: The papers that are included in this session will illuminate how the evaluation process can enhance the goals of a set of projects--in this case Climate Change Education projects supported by NSF, NASA, and NOAA--that are designed to advance the discourse on climate change, uncover effective communication strategies, and translate research into classroom instruction. Two of the papers focus on intervening variables and mitigating factors that evaluators need to tease out to contextualize implementation and explain impact. One paper focuses on the evaluation of research experiences for teachers that can translate into classroom practice, and finally, one paper addresses the issue of developing common indicators of impact across a range of projects focused on common goals. The theme that runs through this set of papers is the process of communicating values and translating values into effective practices and evidence success. |
| Value of Global Climate Change Research Experiences on Classroom Practice |
| Lori Reinsvold, University of Northern Colorado, lori.reinsvold@unco.edu |
| Little is known about how teachers' research experiences change secondary science classroom practices. Literature indicates that teachers value research experiences, but it is unclear how this influences their teaching practices and the learning of their students. Besides the support provided by the project itself, evaluators must also consider the mandates imposed by the school to which the teachers will return if they are going to truly understand how teachers make the transition from laboratories to classrooms. The evaluation of the National Center for Atmospheric Research: Research Experience Institute, a global climate change program for secondary science teachers, will be used to explore the indicators that most influence teacher practice. |
| Emotions, Politics and Climate Change |
| John Fraser, Institute for Learning Innovation, fraser@ilinet.org |
| The vast number of climate change programs targeted toward changing public attitudes focus on public change. Yet, those charged with climate change education are also deeply aware of the negative impacts climate change will have on the world and their own health and well-being. This Cassandra experience is exacting a toll on the educators that may limit their ability to succeed. This paper will address how social discourses surrounding climate change harm educators and how educators may unknowingly undermine their own work. The presenter will offer examples of the environmental movement's dominant persuasion techniques, results of a study on the emotional experiences of conservationists, and recent results from funded climate change programs in order to identify a potential mitigating factor that may serve as a useful predictor in process and summative evaluation. |
| The Right Half of Your Logic Model: How Values Affect the Middle Ground Between Measurable Outcomes and Long-term Goals |
| Ardice Hartry, University California, Berkeley, hartry@berkeley.edu |
| In evaluation, we often do not fully understand the relationship between short-term effects - what we can expect to accomplish over the duration of a project - and long-term outcomes - the overall goals of a project, yet we base our entire evaluation on the rigor of this relationship. For instance, if we assume that changes in students' attitudes towards science leads to increased achievement in science, then we feel we only need measure changes in attitudes. These assumptions are often based upon underlying and unacknowledged values and perspectives, rather than on research and evidence. This presentation explicates the problem using the example of an evaluation of a Global Climate Change Education program. At recent national meetings, multiple evaluators raised the issue of relying on these assumptions and their underlying values; this presentation sets out to describe both pitfalls associated with blind acceptance of these assumptions and potential solutions based on current literature. |
| Use of Common Measures Across Diverse Climate Change Education Projects: How do you Show Collective Value? |
| Beverly Farr, MPR Associates, bfarr@mprinc.com |
| The projects included in the CCEP Grants Program across NSF, NASA, and NOAA all have two goals: 1) Workforce Development: Preparing a new generation of climate scientists, engineers, and technicians equipped to provide innovative and creative approaches to understanding global climate change and to mitigate its impact; 2)Public Literacy: Preparing U.S. citizens to understand climate change and its implications. They vary, however, in the levels they address--from public agencies to research organizations to universities to public schools-and in the strategies they use to achieve their objectives. The activities of the projects cannot always be directly linked to the ultimate goal, however, and intervening outcomes need to be examined to assess the impact of the projects overall. As the funders, NSF, NASA, and NOAA desire to know what the projects together contribute to the accomplishment of the ultimate goals, and the evaluators want to collaborate by establishing common indicators. |