1. Misconceptions about climate change
Research
Data
Results
Conclusion
Plans
Misconceptions about climate change
Opportunities or obstacles?
Anett Kádár1,2
Andrea Farsang1,2
1Department of Physical Geography and Geoinformatics, University of Szeged, Hungary
2MTA-SZTE Research Group on Geography Teaching and Learning
Corresponding author: Anett Kádár

2. What is a misconception?
Deeply embedded, faulty cognitive structures, incompatible with current scientific concepts, even teaching can hardly change them (Korom, 2002).
Vernacular misconception
Preconception
Cultural misconception
Popular misconception
Conceptual misconception
Reference: Korom E. (2002): Az iskolai tudás és a hétköznapi tapasztalat ellentmondásai: természettudományos tévképzetek. In: Csapó Benő (ed.): Az iskolai tudás. Budapest, Osiris Kiadó, pp

3. Research information Aims
Cross-sectional comparative analysis to identify misconceptions related to climate and climate change
Identify sources of geographical information
Analyse the role of the following variables in the formation of misconceptions:
age
gender
information sources
importance of topic
attitude toward geography
level of formal knowledge
geography mark

4. Research information Sample
Ntotal = 498 from Bonyhád, Budapest, Hódmezővásárhely, Kiskunhalas, Szeged, Szeghalom
6 primary schools
5 secondary schools
Grade
Number
Age (year)
Girls (%)
Boys (%)
No answer (gender %) 3 90
8.1
48.3
51.7
0.0 5 96
10.2
50.0 7
101
12.4
62.4
37.6 9
114
14.8
59.6
40.4 11 97
16.8
62.3
37.7
3.1

5. Data collection and evaluation
Data collection methods
Data evaluation methods
Word association test
(six stimulus words)
Content analysis
Word clouds based on word frequency
Garskof-Houston Relatedness Quefficient → graphs
Open ended questions
(six basic climate- and climate change-related questions)
Descriptive statistics
Sources of geographical information
Ranking
Mathematical statistics
Other background information + a formal assessment test for grade 9 and 11 students

6. Results Word associations
The quantitative and qualitative changes in the conceptual system of the age groups can be monitored well, and the possible misconceptions of students can also be predicted.
Word cloud of grade 11 students, from the associations given to „global warming”

7. Results Open ended questions
The most common misconceptions about climate and climate change are as follows:
due to ozone layer depletion and/or the "ozone hole", greenhouse effect, and thus global warming are intensifying;
the ozone layer is responsible for global climate change;
greenhouse effect is caused by pollutants which form a separate layer in the atmosphere;
greenhouse effect is caused by carbon dioxide which forms a separate layer in the atmosphere;
the Sun orbits the Earth;
it is colder at night when the sky is cloudy, because the Moon cannot warm the Earth;
the Earth is nearer the Sun when it is summer in the Northern Hemisphere, that is why summers are warmer.

8. Results
Open ended questions

9. Results Open ended questions
A grade 3 student’s drawing of how the Sun warms the Earth; a desert is located on the side of the Earth that is closer to the Sun, at the same time, there is ice age on the opposite hemisphere

10. A grade 5 student’s drawing of the consequences of global warming
Results
Open ended questions
A grade 5 student’s drawing of the consequences of global warming

11. Results Open ended questions
A grade 7 student’s drawing of how the Sun warms the Earth, carbon dioxide is shown to be a separate layer that is responsible for greenhouse effect

12. Results Open ended questions
A grade 9 student’s drawing of how the Sun warms the Earth; air pollution is depicted as a separate layer in the atmosphere

13. Results Open ended questions
A grade 11 student’s drawing of how the Sun warms the Earth, greenhouse gases form a separate layer in the atmosphere

14. Results Background information
The responses of the students indicated that their knowledge was dominated by concepts learnt at school.
Gender did not influence the formation of misconceptions.
Of all the other analysed variables, only one significant difference was found, and only if the whole sample was analysed together:
the more important a student ranked the variable „teacher’s explanation” concerning climate and climate change, the fewer misconceptions they had in general.
Based on the assessment test results, the more secure and accurate a student’s knowledge is, the fewer misconceptions they had, though the difference was not significant.

15. Conclusion
Misconception formation is influenced, though not exclusively, by the interaction of information sources, age- specific cognitive abilities, and grade-specific curriculum content.
Misconceptions should not be identified only as obstacles, but as an opportunity to help students develop a correct conceptual system in the course of learning and instruction.
The development of a correct conceptual system is the result of active and meaningful learning and instruction, which allow students to obtain transferable knowledge that can be used in their everyday life, in their future work, and in other professional or scientific fields.

16. Further research
A joint project with M. Gubler of the University of Bern, Switzerland, focusing on the analysis of the Swiss and Hungarian curricula to assess how local characteristics of climate change are represented within the subject of Geography.
Implementation of a survey developed by M. Gubler and colleagues ( to identify:
how close or distant Swiss and Hungarian students perceive climate change impacts,
thoughts and emotions students associate with climate change,
misconceptions,
factors influencing students' attitudes regarding sustainable behavioural intentions.
Gaining deeper insights into the effectiveness of our educational systems (i.e. curricula) and teaching materials are in terms of building climate change literacy and consciousness.
Development of new, innovative teaching concepts and materials (