Climate Change Understanding in Secondary Geography Education
摘要
Secondary geography education has been identified as a crucial tool for transferring necessary knowledge and skills, as well as influencing the attitudes of people toward environmental protection, as part of efforts to mitigate climate change. The study essentially discussed the importance of geography education in understanding of climate change at secondary school. Also, the paper investigates climate change concepts captured in Senegalese secondary school geography curriculum and students’ and geography teachers’ understanding about climate change. A descriptive survey and thematic area content analysis were used. Results showed that the curriculum was found to be inadequate for effective climate change education, with 43% of relevant climate change content not addressed. Geography teachers had a fair understanding of climate change concepts, while students had a scant understanding. It is recommended that climate change content should be explicitly integrated into all the geography topics from lower to upper secondary level across all grades so as to enhance climate change literacy of geography teachers and students. The government of Senegal should thoroughly train geography teachers on climate change education and provide necessary resources for effective climate change teaching at secondary school.