X-DBER 2021 Conference

Climate change is an existential threat to all life on earth; the documented impacts of climate change are extensive and of a devastating scale. National education recommendations (Vision and Change, AAAS 2010; 4DEE, Klemow et al., 2019) encourage undergraduate students and their educators to better understand and address this global issue. However, guidance for faculty instruction in climate change is lacking at all levels and within these existing frameworks. To better serve our students, educators need guidance in identifying major conceptual areas of how climate change impacts ecological systems. We introduce the Biotic Impacts of Climate Change Core Concepts (or BIC4, BICC Core Concepts), a guide to instructors to develop curriculum and to education researchers studying students’ understanding of climate change.

In our talk, we will present the BIC4 and discuss its development. We will present the results of expert review and preliminary interviews in the development of the BIC4. We will also discuss how the BIC4 connects to other ecological education frameworks (4DEE). We will then discuss student and expert responses to interview questions framed by the BIC4. These questions are intended to illuminate differences between student and expert understanding in how living things are affected by climate change, and we will discuss the differences observed in our data.

Author List: Ryan D.P. Dunk, Julie Sexton, Krystal Hinerman, and Emily A. Holt