This study investigates how course design for a first year introductory
class on climate change impacts student understanding of this global
issue. The course was developed to situate the scientific knowledge of
climate change alongside the political, economic, and social dimensions
of this human-caused crisis. This intentional course development was to
give students a more holistic understanding of the causes, impacts, and
solutions. The curriculum is widely interdisciplinary with scientific
concepts, like the functioning of the climate system and tools of
climate system research, taught alongside politics, economics, media
analysis, and social justice. A teaching as research project was
conducted to assess how adding the sociopolitical context impacted
student's ability to situate their knowledge of the scientific basis of
climate change using systems thinking. As climate change, and scientific
research, operate within the social and political landscape students
became more informed citizens through learning these connections.
Student participants in the study have a range of backgrounds and were
all majors within the college of natural sciences during their first
semester of college, though not all majoring in earth sciences