Kean Student Survey Provides Data on Climate Change Understanding

Kean University students believe that high schools should do a better job of educating students on climate change, according to preliminary findings from a survey conducted by university researchers.

Assistant Professor Karen Woodruff, Ph.D., of the Department of Elementary and Physical Education, and Professor Daniela Shebitz, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Environmental and Sustainability Sciences, are collaborating on a research project designed to measure students’ understanding of climate change and its environmental impact as part of a wider research project on climate change education. 

“The idea of the survey is to see how our students consider climate change, understand the causes and consequences of our changing climate on a local and global scale, and take actions to lower their environmental impact,” Shebitz said. “One of our goals is to have students more aware of the connection between our health and our air, our water and the overall environment.” 

Over 875 students have already completed the survey. Registered students who have not already taken the climate survey can do so anonymously at this survey link. The researchers hope to complete data collection this month, but will leave the survey open until they reach their goal of 1,000 students.

The Kean survey is based on one developed at Yale University. Questions focus on global warming and sustainability; policy changes such as regulating CO2 and funding research into renewable energy sources; and specific actions individuals can take, such as carpooling, using reusable bags, and contacting legislators about sustainability issues. The survey’s findings will be used to shape future initiatives on campus and beyond. The authors of the Yale Climate Survey gave the Kean researchers permission to use their tool so that the responses gained through their research can be compared to those of over 100,000 respondents across the globe.

Preliminary findings comparing Kean students to global and local New Jersey data suggest that Kean students are more likely than other people to believe global warming is happening and more convinced that humans are causing it. Kean students said they learned about climate change in high school, but feel strongly that schools should do a better job of educating students.

Kean graduate student Rick Esner, who is pursuing his master’s degree in speech-language pathology, is a research assistant on the project. 

“I think it is possible for all careers and fields to prioritize sustainability in the work that they do,” he said. “The importance of educating the future generation on the environment and our impact as a society on it cannot be understated, and I am glad I get to be part of something that helps with that education.”

The climate change survey ties in with a broader initiative of the researchers, to help K-12 educators in New Jersey integrate climate change education in school curriculum. New Jersey, in 2020, became the first state in the U.S. to mandate that climate change be taught in core content areas across different subjects in public schools.

A climate change education workshop at Kean on April 19 will be directed at K-12 teachers, part of the collaborative research project.

“Climate change is the most interdisciplinary context for learning the content we teach students in school – math, science, language arts, visual and performing arts, world languages and more,” Woodruff said. “Everything we teach in school can be done in the context of our interactions as humans with the natural world.”

In addition to offering workshops and a keynote address by Sarah Sterling-Laldee, the New Jersey Department of Education’s senior climate change education advisor, the researchers will use the event to gather data on what New Jersey teachers need to integrate climate change into their work.

The researchers said they are excited for the opportunity to integrate climate change education into classrooms in both K-12 education and higher education.

“We've been working with the local school districts for a very long time on getting people more excited to integrate sustainability into different curricula,” Shebitz said. “We see this research project as a terrific opportunity to marry our disciplines of education and science, and also to convey to others that only through an interdisciplinary lens can we effectively communicate the complexity of climate change.”