The study that inspired us.

In May 2019, Nature Climate Change published the North Carolina State study “Children can foster climate change concern among their parents” by Danielle Lawson, Dr. Kathryn Stevenson and Dr. Nils Peterson. They were interested in finding better ways of promoting climate concern in community and wondered if student exposure to climate science might influence parent/guardian attitudes via the mechanism of intergenerational learning. The unit they used had several elements that proved to be crucial. It didn’t shy away from the complexities of the science. It talked about the impacts of climate change on local species rather than distant penguins and polar bears. It included parent/guardian engagement pieces (like interviews) and required the class to participate in an outdoor service project to help. The resulting data was astounding. It showed not only a measurable increase in parent/guardian climate concern but showed the greatest increase among those traditionally (politically) hardest to convince - a big win for community.

Why did this transfer happen? It turns out that there is something unique about the relationship of adolescents to both learning and to parents and guardians. On the one hand they are at a developmental stage where they can master complex concepts like environmental science while being less influenced by socio-ideological factors than adults are. On the other hand this age may offer a window of opportunity for students to pass on what they have learned in a way that can inspire adults towards higher levels of concern and collective action, regardless of parent/guardian political leanings.

Today we are working with Danielle Lawson to apply for funding to study how well we can bring this successful approach to Illinois schools for free. Listen in as SkyDay Director Ben Whitehouse interviews Dr. Kathryn Stevenson about their work on 91.5 WBEZ Chicago’s Worldview program.