Experience with Global Warming Is Changing People's Minds About It

• This short article summarizes the findings of multiple surveys about why Americans are changing their opinions about global warming.
• The research suggests that public perception of climate change can be more effectively influenced by emphasizing personal impact stories, communicating local effects, and enhancing pro-climate social norms.

Positives

• This brief summary of the research is much more accessible to students than the full 25-page report on which it is based.
• The article discusses some of the connections between political parties and climate change beliefs.
• Two graphs are included that display key data collected in the study.

Additional Prerequisites

• Students should have a basic understanding of climate change and American politics.
• If students are unfamiliar with statistics, they may need support interpreting the correlational data.
• Teachers should address the limitations of self-reported data with students.

Differentiation

• Students can identify the impacts of global warming in their area and share personal stories with their community to help shift perspectives.
• Civics classes can discuss the differences in opinion about global warming between republicans and democrats and why these differences exist.
• Cross-curricular connections can be made with statistics classes by exploring the correlational data and the methods used in the surveys.
• Social studies classes can watch this video after reading the article to gain some additional perspective about why some people may have different views. Have students research other examples of propaganda as well.