This interactive graph shows Americans' interest in climate news by state, congressional district, or county.
The resource includes a description of the data, methodology, and the survey questions used.
Teaching Tips
Positives
This resource provides a way for students to see how the desire to hear about climate change depends on location in America.
Additional Prerequisites
Students should have a basic understanding of global warming.
Differentiation
After using the resource, students could poll people in their community on how interested they are in climate news and see how the results compare.
Students can work in small groups to answer the following questions:
What surprised you about this data?
What didn't surprise you?
How does geography impact this data?
Only adults over 18 were polled. If the scientists interviewed high school students, how do you think this data would change?
How do you think this data would change if the researchers used the term climate change instead of global warming?
Scientist Notes
This resource presents data on the public interest in climate news and stories in the USA using a multilevel regression with post-stratification to model the national survey dataset. The 999 bootstrap simulations used to visualize the data showed a 95% confidence level indicating the accuracy of the entire dataset on public interest in climate stories to inform better decision-making, policies, and education initiatives. There is no contradiction in the concepts or methods used, thus, this resource is recommended for educators to teach their grade students about the variability of public interest in climate stories.
Standards
College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Standards
Dimension 1: Developing Questions and Planning Inquiries
D1.3.9-12 Explain points of agreement and disagreement experts have about interpretations and applications of disciplinary concepts and ideas associated with a supporting question.
Dimension 2: Civics
D2.Civ.10.6-8 Explain the relevance of personal interests and perspectives, civic virtues, and democratic principles when people address issues and problems in government and civil society.
D2.Civ.6.9-12 Critique relationships among governments, civil societies, and economic markets.
Common Core English Language Arts Standards (CCSS.ELA)
Reading: Science & Technical Subjects (6-12)
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.11-12.7 Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in diverse formats and media (e.g., quantitative data, video, multimedia) in order to address a question or solve a problem.
