People send me stuff. This arrived today in my inbox. This anonymous survey (open to anyone) was announced via the American Geophysical Union mailing list, done by the National Earth Science Teachers Association (NESTA, and also available at their website) and is rather telling.
IMHO many of the questions are rather leading, and based on some news headlines we’ve seen in the past, and in my opinion these lead the survey to a predetermined outcome. That said, I know we have many K-12 educators who read WUWT, and I encourage them to take the survey and give it your best honest answers. For non-educators, there’s a question to declare that as well. (link to survey follows below the Continue reading line).
Some of the questions test knowledge of climate systems, GHG’s and other basic science. I’m sure our WUWT readers will score quite high on those questions. There are a few trick questions too, like the one about Earthquakes causing global warming (insert eye rolling emoticon here). There’s also a question about which nation per capita emits the most GHG’s and the one that is actually in the lead (Qatar) is oddly not listed but instead wants you to answer USA I think. That’s just a couple of the oddities I noticed.
Unfortunately, none of the multiple choice questions had an option to check [ ] This question is ridiculous which I probably would have checked a few times if it were available.
Though, looking at the NESTA website, I see they are pushing a card game from the Union of Concerned Scientists (where you need only a credit card to join, no scientist credentials required) called “Cool it” so I suppose we’ll have to give them points for being silly with this survey, which is about on par with the UCS card game.
Here’s the AGU notice to members and the link to the survey:
Dear Members,
The National Earth Science Teachers Association has developed an anonymous survey to gather information about climate change education underway in the K-12 classroom today.
1. If you are a K-12 educator, please take the survey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/N5ZHKFJ .
2. Please consider forwarding this notice about the survey to your networks of teachers through emails, listservs, and other postings.
The survey will be available through September, and results will be made available through the NESTA website at http://www.nestanet.org in November of this year.
Bethany
[AGU Website]<http://www.agu.org>
Bethany Holm Adamec
Education and Outreach Coordinator
American Geophysical Union
[email deleted as a spam courtesy]
AGU galvanizes a community of Earth and space scientists that collaboratively advances and communicates science and its power to ensure a sustainable future.
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I toughed it out with honest answers.
Need to shower to get the slime off.
All in all, pretty goofy. When asked what are the three most important things you could do to improve your course, I wrote “interview Holdren, Lisa Jackson, and Gavin Schmidt.”
Question 22: Which statement best describes the rate of change of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere over the past 500 years?
Answer choices are: a) No change; b)Linear increase; c)Linear decrease; d)Exponential increase; e)Exponential decrease; f)Don’t know
I’m presuming they’re expecting the answer “exponential increase” — certainly none of the other choices are anywhere close over that time range. [Perhaps they intended 50 years, that is, since Mauna Loa measurements have been made?] But ftp://ftp.cmdl.noaa.gov/ccg/co2/trends/co2_gr_gl.txt indicates that while the rate of change has generally been increasing, it’s not very close to an exponential trend.
Needs an answer option — “None of the above.”
As the parent of middle and high school students in the US, I have had to educate my children with two sets of information. The first is the correct scientific position that man is not the main cause of GW, that our current scientific understanding is extremely limited, and that the current data sets are incomplete (, unreliable, and possibly completely corrupted). The second set of information I give them is the politically correct one that they are expected to “regurgitate” on the tests in order to get a passing grade.
What my kids have learned most from this experience is that those in authority over them cannot be trusted to act in their best interests and that it is not always prudent to loudly express the truth. (I really wish I was joking, but I am not.)
I want to thank this website for the opportunity to answer these questions with some semblance of actual knowledge.
I don’t know what to say. I used to be a member of NESTA, and there are some really nice people in the group. But, they drank the Kool-aid, and it’s not fun talking to them any more.
“Galvanize” is the right word…it concerns scientists, journalists and educators who respond to calls to action like Galvani’s dead frog legs. They act like the real thing but everybody can see there’s no brain activity involved.
53. Please list the top three things you need to do a better job teaching about climate change science:
Keep an open mind
Listen to all views
Remember that consensus does not a science (nor scientist) make
I liked the question about which country has the highest per capita CO2 emissions. In Oz, it has been drummed into us ad nauseum that we need a carbon tax because we have the highest – we were not in the list so I might have to send the survey to Julia so that she can cancel the tax.
I took the survey and did my best, but (as others have said) there were far too many questions for which the correct answer did not appear. Disgusting. Granted, the subjects I taught during my 40 plus years of teaching were music, real estate, and English; I still have a research doctorate and can usually tell good information from claptrap. The survey assumes a moderate level of knowledge, appropriate for an informed layman as well as a climate scientist; what it doesn’t assume is an objective viewpoint. Disgusting. [Did I say that before?]
I got the sense taking the survey that all the “sceptical” questions were designed to root out those sceptics who happened to take the survey, and then eliminate them from the final tally. I hope I’m proven wrong, but these people have proven themselves in the past to not be above such shenanigans.
Is this the same survey that Yale put out last year? HaroldW noted the strange question about “exponential” CO2 increase. I examined in great detail how foolish this question was in a Compuserve SCIMATH forum thread last October:
http://community.compuserve.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?tsn=1&nav=messages&webtag=ws-sciencemath&tid=129885
HaroldW says:
“Needs an answer option — “None of the above.””
That’s true for many of the questions.
Actually, I didn’t think the survey was that bad. Having been exposed to psychological type questions on numerous “team building” exercises while working for large organizations, I seem to be used to a certain amount of ambiguity in surveys. I thought it gave me a fair chance to choose an answer that reflected my opinion on most matters. Sure, some question answers were a bit ambiguous, but you would expect that on any format except essay questions. You have to keep in mind that real global warmers are unhappy with the answers that didn’t properly express their extreme views just as you are unhappy with some of the choices you had to settle for to represent your view.
Question 19, about attitudes to “teaching the science of climate change”. Now what do you think they mean by “positive” and “negative” attitudes?
If anyone can complete the survey… How is this any more scientific than the run-of-the-mill Internet poll?
Yes, it creeps up on you, coming after a string of “reasonable” questions.
How often are you still beating your wife?
a) once a week
b) once every other week
c) we’re in counseling….
It’s apparently not a “stupid” survey, as some think. They want the ability to publish “results” based on one or two loaded questions like this. I skipped the question.
From The Broad Foundation’s ‘Statistics on American K-12 Public Education’ here
The pathetic thing is that this survey was designed/written by and for those that are currently teaching our kids science. No wonder our school system(s) gets a failing grade in math and science when compared to most other industrialized nations. While we are lucky enough to still have a few excellent educators involved in our school system(s), I’m afraid this survey is probably a good example of the knowledge and capabilities of the norm.
They need to learn how to write sentences that aren’t leading, or confusing. Here’s one resource for writing science articles and statements:
http://alternativehypothesis.wordpress.com/2011/08/21/ten-lessons
Found myself answering “I don’t know” fairly often.
Wish the climate science community were so honest.
wermet says:
August 21, 2011 at 7:59 pm
“What my kids have learned most from this experience is that those in authority over them cannot be trusted to act in their best interests and that it is not always prudent to loudly express the truth. (I really wish I was joking, but I am not.)”
I think very few have grasped just how tragic this situation is. It is the tyranny of Political Correctness and someday we might find ourselves passing around illegal photocopies of web posts. It is valuable that kids learn that those in authority over them cannot be trusted to act in their best interests. But how much better the society in which such wisdom was unnecessary.
Based on the other replies there may be more than one set of questions, particularly depending on if you are or are not a teacher or retired teacher. I found the questions leading much like those that I get from my representative in congress or the republican party (yes I am) or the NRA (I quit them). I did try to give my best answer, but it was hard. I think I left one blank. The bad part of participating is that I now believe that I have been manipulated to support their agenda.
John Andrews, Knoxville, Tennessee
Sorry, not touching it. Any survey that is run through with bias runs counter to my proper science inquiry radar.
I kind of agree, but I would have said that the way the question was put precluded me ticking any box that was satisfactory. Eg, a yes/no for,
Well, we have seasons, so in any given place, yes, climate changes every year, but if we’re talking global climate, then, no, climate change can only be measured in decadal trends. No tick-a-box for these distinctions, unfortunately.
Then there was;
Options were linear increase/decrease, exponential increase/decrease, but CO2 was steadyish up until about 150 years ago, so you have a long lead of little change and then an exponential increase. No tick-a-box really fit that description.
Then the multiple options on this question;
A lot, some, a little, none at all? Well, it depends on the time period. Last thirty years? Little to none. Last century? Some. Can it have a major influence? Yes. The question is ill-phrased.
Other than that, the questions were ok I thought, and I’d kill to see the results. Most of the questions don’t have controversial answers, they’re basic, and I’d love to know how many K-12 teachers got the basics right.
If you think the survey was “odd”, just wait for the results to be posted.