“I Did the Best I Possibly Could”: Factors\nInfluencing Teachers’ Incorporation of Climate Science in High\nSchool Chemistry

Anthropogenic impacts on Earth’s\nclimate are critical issues\nthat necessitate broad public action. Understanding the scientific\nconsensus on climate change is known to correlate to taking actions\nthat combat climate change. K-12 schools serve a key role in providing\npublic education, but high school chemistry teachers have been found\nto minimally incorporate climate change in their courses. Here we\nexplore high school chemistry teachers’ beliefs and practices\nabout incorporating climate change topics. In semistructured interviews,\n10 teachers reported incorporating climate change topics in their\ncourses. These teachers’ approaches to doing so are heavily\nimpacted by their distinct local contexts. Each of these teachers’\ncontext provides a unique set of factors that promote or impede their\nincorporation of climate change topics. Of these teachers, all report\nfinding ways to leverage their available supports to work around the\nbarriers they face, but many report a desire to provide a better education\non climate change. These teachers report logistical barriers that\nprevent them from fully realizing their instructional goals, including\nlack of time, insufficient content knowledge, and lack of suitable\ncurricula. Notably, there is a clear consensus among these teachers\nthat stand-alone curricular modules about climate change topics are\nunsuitable. Rather, they aspire to integrate and blend climate change\neducation throughout their chemistry courses. This highlights a need\nfor flexible curricular resources and individualized professional\ndevelopment to support teachers’ needs in light of their unique\ncontext.