Changing Climate, Changing Attitude?. (October 2014) - Gorr, Claudia
Abstract KLIMA X, a climate change exhibition adapted for the Finnish Science Center Heureka, promotes climate change mitigation by offering extraordinary opportunities for immersion and physical engagement. The case study presented here investigated how KLIMA X contributed to a change in young people's attitudes towards climate change. A mixed method was applied by combining a scientific field experiment and Personal Meaning Mapping. An observation of multiple facets of attitude revealed that the intention to act against climate change did not increase significantly even though other facets of attitude like emotional involvement and knowledge did. Interestingly, those students that both visited the exhibition and had a follow-up class showed a decreased intent to act against climate change compared to the group that only experienced the exhibition. Those students whose action intent increased significantly were likely to be personally interested in Earth Sciences, prefer an abstract/linguistic learning style and feel that their actions would be acknowledged by peers.