Climate change has more severe implications than just feeling warmer weather in the summer or less cold during the winter (Jaramillo, 2007). However the interest of youth in issues of climate change and local environmental conditions is not accompanied by an understanding about the links between these processes. Because of this, there is a need for more research in education, in order to better understand how adolescents think about environmental processes, and specifically about climate change. In this study, we report results about the cognitive understanding that adolescents have towards the concept of climate change; as well as their roles as leaders of their community. To evaluate this process we organized 4 online forums in which 55 adolescents from 15 to 19 years old of 2 indigenous forestry communities of México, from San Juan Nuevo Parangaricutiro, Michoacán and Ixtlán de Juárez, Oaxaca, participated. Content analysis was used as a methodology (Barraza, 1999, 2001; Barraza and Cuaron, 2004). After each response was analyzed, four thematic categories were built: 1) concept knowledge, 2) cognitive understanding, 3) recognizing causes and 4) finding solutions.
Results/Conclusions
Preliminary results indicate that in general, adolescents exhibit low levels of understanding about the concept of climate change. They perceive pollution and natural disasters as consequences of this process, without making links between the local and global processes. Only 5.4% of the adolescents drew links between climate change and changes in localized seeding processes. 85% of the participants identify the human being as the principal cause of the climate change process, and express desire to find solutions, without being able to translate this into concrete actions. These types of studies are useful for the modification and reorganization of the school curriculum in order to consolidate scientific concepts, as well as for the development of participation strategies in the order to foster local actions.
