Climate Change Education and Secondary School Students: A Meta-Synthesis (1993-2017)

Interest in climate change education has grown increasingly in educational research over the last two decades, during which there have been numerous studies and reviews. This paper synthesizes knowledge focusing on secondary school students and climate change education. A meta-synthesis was conducted over 76 papers, identified by a systematic literature review approach, involving students from 26 nationalities. The multiple methodologies used and the variety of sociocultural student profiles made it challenging to generalize the findings. This meta-synthesis allows us to establish the background for this population concerning the following areas: general knowledge, levels of awareness and responsibility ratings related to the phenomenon, concern and perception of risk, pro-environmental attitudes, and perceived self-efficacy. Generally, secondary school students demonstrate similar knowledge about the issue and share common misconceptions. The dimension of perceptions and attitudes is more diverse.