1. Social studies curricula and the National Climate Assessment Lori Kumler, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Political Science & International Studies, University of Mount Union Bethany Vosburg-Bluem Assistant Professor of Education, Otterbein University CLEAN conference call, 6/17/14

2. What is considered “social studies”?  History  Government  Geography  Civics  Economics  Psychology  Others: sociology, global issues, and the like  Social studies as field has had issues related to identity and purpose since early 1900s

3. Framework for social studies standards  50 separate versions--no commonly adopted standards by states  BUT, many states’ standards are informed in part by standards created by professional disciplinary associations  NCSS (National Council for the Social Studies) NCSS  NCGE (National Council for Geographic Education NCGE  National Standards for Civics and Government (Center for Civic Education) National Standards for Civics and Government  Voluntary National Content Standards in Economics (Council for Economic Education) Voluntary National Content Standards in Economics  National Standards for High School Psychology Curriculua (American Psychological Association) National Standards for High School Psychology

4. Attempted movement towards common standards  C3 standards, fall 2013: College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards: Guidance for Enhancing the Rigor of K-12 Civics, Economics, Geography, and History (NCSS) C3 standards

5. To what extent do any of these standards actually include climate change concepts?  Briefly: very little  Civics standards contain zero references to climate change  NCSS social studies standards include mention of “climate” in one standard: People, Places and Environments  NCGE standards contain the most  5 standards in Grade 8, but 3 are really natural science in content  5 social science oriented standards in Grade 12

6. In theory, in which types of courses/grades might social studies cover climate change?  Relevant in all social studies subjects mentioned in first slide  More likely to be covered in grades 4 and higher

7. In practice, which types of social studies courses/grades do cover climate change?  Briefly: probably very few  Difficult to know without comprehensive school/classroom level survey  Based on standards, most likely to be covered in courses such as geography, current issues, world history  Among 38 states we examined, trend towards climate related standards being included in K-5 or 6-8 more frequently than in 9-12 (p=0.025; p=0.033)

8. Source: Downey, L., Gentile, S. J., Hollweg, K.S., Hubbard-Sánchez, J., Johnson, C., Kumler, L., LaRocque, L., Poppleton, K., Shiflett-Fitton, D., Shuttleworth, J. (Eds.). (2013). Advancing Climate Change Environmental Education: Resources and Suggestions. Ithaca, NY: EECapacity, Cornell University Civic Ecology Lab, and North American Association for Environmental Education. Retrieved from: http://www.eecapacity.net/climate- change-ee-project-based-online-learning- community-alliance.htmlhttp://www.eecapacity.net/climate- change-ee-project-based-online-learning- community-alliance.html C3 standards

9. How might the regional data from NCA be useful for formal and non-formal social studies educators?  The obvious: if they are to be of any use, connect them to social studies standards  This is also extremely difficult to do given diversity of standards and subjects  Perhaps connect to higher impact standards: NCGE (geography) and NCSS (social studies) standards  Of the 37 state standards we examined, a mean of 80.8% of climate references were found in geography related standards  Emphasize state and regional level data  Reach out to EE organizations that already have connections with teachers Purple: possible actions for you to focus on

10. Some excerpts of NCA content that social studies educators might find useful

12.  Connect to government budgeting exercise (state or local)

13.  Red: sectors most likely to be touched on in social studies  Orange: also likely, but less so than red  Controversial “current events”  Government decisions  Economics and livelihood

14.  Emphasize government decisions  Emphasize costs (individual and government)  Emphasize demographic shifts  Connect to historical human adaptation

15. Where do we see social studies going in the future in terms of climate change?  Nowhere to go but up: we see increased emphasis due to media and political attention  We also see increased contention (e.g. Wyoming, Michigan)  Concerns about publishing our work

17. Data specific to our study: Politicization of climate change in education? An analysis of K-12 state social studies content standards in traditionally red and blue states (do not quote or cite)  Content analysis of social studies standards in red (n=22) versus blue (n=18) states

20. “Climate change” v. “Global warming”  moderate negative relationship between publication year and global warming references  Pearson’s r -.380