Undergraduate students' climate change learning at Dalhousie University

Abstract

Behaviour change, influenced by a basis of climate change knowledge is an important way for individuals to mitigate climate change. This requires the presence of climate change education in Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs), though previous studies show that climate change education is not being thoroughly integrated into all faculties. To further investigate students’ perception of their climate change learning at Dalhousie University, a Likert scale questionnaire was sent to all undergraduate students in their final year of study. Science faculties had comparatively high scores, while health faculties had comparatively low scores. Results indicate that students in certain programs don’t believe they are learning enough about climate change and that students are not taking or are not offered many courses associated with climate change. There is a perceived inability and difficulty in scoping climate change into certain curriculums, a problem that cannot be solved individually but requires institutional change. There is a lot of growth potential in the climate change learning at Dalhousie University. Climate change is a trans-disciplinary problem and can be integrated and contextualized into any faculty. This integration must be done imminently to increase student knowledge and address these gaps.