Attitudes about Climate Change among Mexico City High School Students
Raúl Calixto Flores *
Diversity and Interculturality, National Pedagogical University, Carretera al Ajusco 24, Col. Héroes de Padierna, Tlalpan, Ciudad de México, 14200, México.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
The article aims to describe the attitudes that secondary school students have about climate change.
The study was developed with a group of each one in a high school of Tlalpan Delegation, in Mexico City. The scale was shaped by a series of statements containing actions related to climate change. The construction of the scale involved working with “judges” and several pilotages, in order that the statements were directed to obtain the attitude before a situation. And problematizing situations constitute “brief cases” of an environmental problem, placing the students before a “dilemma” in which they are involved and have to make a decision, in order to relate the attitudes with the pro-environmental behaviors. In first grade students, a greater number of favorable attitudes to act before the effects of climate change are identified; the number of positive attitudes in students of the subsequent grades decreases. Among the conclusions, it is necessary to emphasize the need for environmental education to promote the development of attitudes and actions to reverse the effects of climate change.
Keywords: Attitudes, environmental education, climate change, social representation.