Localizable Climate Change Education in Schools: Examining Impacts on Students' Environmental Science Agency

Abstract

As our daily lives become increasingly affected by climate change, school‐based science education plays a critical role in preparing students to understand and respond to this global crisis. This cohort controlled quasi‐experimental study conducted in the United States examined whether a localized climate change storyline unit compared to traditional instruction could enhance students' environmental science agency (ESA)—the sense of agency students feel when they can mobilize their scientific knowledge and expertise to act in their lives. We investigated localizable storylines, a curriculum design and implementation approach where secondary teachers author part of a climate change storyline unit with teacher‐designed locally relevant phenomena and local action projects. We assessed three dimensions of our ESA framework: sensemaking about climate change phenomena, students taking on roles in collective work, and foundation for change. Analysis of student outcomes ( n  = 2062) revealed significant improvements in sensemaking about phenomena (dimension 1) with meaningful effect size ( g  = 0.251) and enhanced foundation for change (dimension 3, g  = 0.148) among intervention students. We found no significant differences for taking on roles in collective work (dimension 2). Exploratory mediation analyses indicated perceived relevance and perceived coherence mediated the intervention's impact on students' foundation for change. Importantly, positive effects appeared consistent regardless of students' initial climate change views, suggesting the approach transcends pre‐existing differences in climate change concern. This localizable storylines approach shows promise for serving as a scalable model to make localized climate change education more accessible to teachers and schools with consequential effects on students' sense of agency.