A Global History of Humanity: Qualitative analysis of climate change through the lens of critical environmental education
Master thesis
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https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3172267Utgivelsesdato
2024Metadata
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The primary objective of the study presented in this thesis was to carry out a thorough qualitative content analysis of a chosen human history textbook based on the Critical Environmental Education (CEE) framework and to investigate the issues of climate change and how it is represented in the text and critical pedagogy related to it. To attain the research goal, emphasis was placed on the language and notions presented in a textbook, based on analyzing historical, cultural, and political contexts and the representation of climate change and its possible solutions from a CEE viewpoint.The method applied was a directed qualitative content analysis, which systematically applied the existing theories as a background for the code scheme construction. A CEE-based coding analysis steered the study, pointing out the pedagogy of critical concepts directed toward pro-critical thinking and social justice in and through education.This study is centered on the third volume of “A Global History of Humanity” with the title “Intensifying Frontiers: From a World of Nations to Global Capitalism (from 1870 CE to the 21st Century”. An intensive research study related to climate change problems was conducted within this volume. The book was downloaded from the “Get Up and Goal Project” website since it was easily accessible and contemporary educational resources tend to be relevant.The data collection process included the book’s analysis to identify appropriate themes, concepts, and ideas about climate change. The coding procedure utilized NVivo qualitative data analysis software to structure the coding. A hierarchical coding structure was outlined based on the CEE paradigm, the principles of critical pedagogy, and subjects related to climate change, such as the identified causes of climate change, environmental consequences, education, policy, and governance, together with the solutions.The analysis demonstrated that the textbook mainly pointed out human activities, including industrialization, deforestation, and greenhouse gas (CO2) emissions, as the key drivers of climate change, with an overwhelmingly negative attitude towards it. The inclusion of scientific consensus, endorsing human-derived influence on global warming, is a statement that highlights the authority of people over the formation of the planet’s climate. The follow-up to weather phenomena, such as extreme weather, rising tides, loss of biodiversity, and so forth, was drawn in the text, and these are counted as part of global climate change problems. It revealed that the book demonstrated these changes by accepting the notion that climate change should be treated like any other international issue with serious environmental consequences.In the coding results, the textbook’s tendency appeared to deal with the merits of individual activities and way of life alterations as the most important remedies for climate change. Interpreted like this, a behaviorist point sometimes causes one to ignore the contradictions behind environmental issues and the need for systemic change. The findings indicated that didactic material often displays a lack of illustration of the systemic solutions and an array of points of view. The reception of the individual accountability concept as the main focus could stand against developing critical thinking and comprehensive knowledge of socio-political factors affecting climate change.Methodological questions, including the finder’s possible subjectivity concerning the book material and the generalizability limits, were raised due to the focus on only one textbook. To offset these problems, there was the process of continuous self-reflection on personal biases, the provision of a full account of the research process, which was a source of transparency, and the usage of predefined coding frameworks and NVivo software, which improved the study’s confirmability and dependability.Visualizations produced with the help of NVivo depicted thematic structures and interrelations of different codes based on the similarity of words. Word clouds and circular diagrams portrayed the thematic structure and interrelations across the codes formed based on word similarity. For instance, the phrase “world” was the most frequent, occurring 607 times and comprising 1.36% of the total word count, reflecting a global viewpoint in the textbook. According to the cluster analysis using the Pearson correlation coefficient (PCC), significant correlations across themes such as “Climate change”, “Impacts-Environmental crisis”, and “Policy-National policies”, were observed, illustrating the interrelation of environmental repercussions and policy measures.Based on the findings of this study, although the textbook adequately conveys the significant implications of climate change and emphasizes human contributions, there is an urgent necessity to incorporate constructivist ideas into climate change teaching. Highlighting critical thinking, teamwork, and exploring other perspectives can further cultivate a more thorough understanding among students of the nature of the challenges and their solutions. The education system may also consider the significant negative sentiment observed during the coding process to encourage students to adopt a sentimentally balanced approach to climate change issues. This integration corresponds with the objectives of critical pedagogy, seeking to enable learners to interrogate and alter sociocultural frameworks that contribute to environmental challenges.The last part of the project concludes with practical recommendations aimed at helping teachers improve the presentation of climate change in teaching resources and activities through the integration of systemic solutions, the focus on local initiatives, and the inclusion of different viewpoints to promote environment literacy, tan the sustainability approach, and create encouragement in the future generations.