Enhancing learning, communication and public engagement about climate change – some lessons from recent literature

TLDR

This paper sets out to develop key messages for the theory and practice of environmental education by reviewing recent research literature on climate change communication and education. The authors reviewed 92 peer‑reviewed studies, analyzing how learners understand climate change messages, the communicative contexts, barriers to public engagement, and strategies—such as content, visualizations, framing, and audience segmentation—to address those barriers. The paper concludes that climate change communication and education must address barriers to public engagement simultaneously, urging scholars to focus on senses and spheres of agency, sociocultural factors, and the complexities of developing scientific literacy within non‑formal education settings.

Abstract

This paper sets out to develop key messages for the theory and practice of environmental education from a review of recent research literature on climate change communication (CCC) and education. It focuses on how learners of climate science understand messages on climate change, the communicative contexts for education on climate change, the barriers that can be found to public engagement with climate change issues, and how these barriers can be addressed. 92 peer-reviewed studies were examined. The analysis focuses on the goals and strategies of CCC, and how barriers can be addressed given the research findings on: (a) the content of CCC, (b) visualizations, (c) framing, (d) audience segmentation. The paper concludes that CCC and education need to address barriers to public engagement on several levels simultaneously. It recommends that scholars of environmental education focus critical attention on how practice addresses senses and spheres of agency; sociocultural factors; and the complexities of developing scientific literacy given the interpretative frames and prior understandings that are brought to bear by the public in non-formal education settings.