Journal of Research in Science, Mathematics and Technology Education

High School Students’ Knowledge and Risk Perceptions of Climate Change: The Role of an Elective Environmental Science Course

Osman Aksit 1 *
1 Bogazici University* Corresponding Author
Download PDF
Journal of Research in Science, Mathematics and Technology Education, Volume 8, Issue SI, June 2025, pp. 27-52
OPEN ACCESS VIEWS: 155 DOWNLOADS: 72 Publication date: 15 Jun 2025
ABSTRACT
This study investigated a sample of Saudi Arabian high school students’ understanding of science concepts underlying climate change and their risk perceptions associated with the adverse impacts of climate change before and after participating in an elective environmental science course. A previously validated climate change content knowledge assessment and two Likert-scale items measuring climate change risk perception were administered to 51 eleventh- and twelfth-grade students. The results showed that students had a limited understanding of some key climate change concepts before the course, particularly regarding the greenhouse effect. However, their understanding significantly improved after completing the course, highlighting the positive impact of formal instruction on climate science literacy. Additionally, students’ risk perceptions of climate change were moderate before the course and increased significantly by the end, especially for long-term impacts. This may suggest that increased knowledge may contribute to heightened risk perception, although the relationship between the two was not statistically significant in this study. The findings underscore the importance of incorporating environmental science courses into secondary education to enhance students’ climate literacy and promote informed decision-making regarding climate change, particularly in regions like the Middle East where climate change poses significant challenges.
KEYWORDS
Climate Change Education, Environmental Science, Risk Perception, Secondary Students
CITATION (APA)
Aksit, O. (2025). High School Students’ Knowledge and Risk Perceptions of Climate Change: The Role of an Elective Environmental Science Course. Journal of Research in Science, Mathematics and Technology Education, 8(SI), 27-52. https://doi.org/10.31756/jrsmte.412SI
REFERENCES
  1. Akaygun, S., & Adadan, E. (2020). Fostering senior primary school students’ understanding of climate change in an inquiry-based learning environment. Education 3-13, 49(3), 330–343. https://doi.org/10.1080/03004279.2020.1854961
  2. Aksit, O., McNeal, K. S., Gold, A. U., Libarkin, J. C., & Harris, S. (2018). The influence of instruction, prior knowledge, and values on climate change risk perception among undergraduates. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 55(4), 550-572. https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.21430
  3. Al-Maamary, H. M., Kazem, H. A., & Chaichan, M. T. (2017). Climate change: the game changer in the Gulf Cooperation Council Region. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 76, 555-576. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2017.03.048
  4. Ambusaidi, A., Boyes, E., Stanisstreet, M., & Taylor, N. (2012). Omani students’ views about global warming: Beliefs about actions and willingness to act. International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education, 21(1), 21-39. https://doi.org/10.1080/10382046.2012.639154
  5. Antronico, L., Coscarelli, R., Gariano, S. L., & Salvati, P. (2023). Perception of climate change and geo-hydrological risk among high-school students: A local-scale study in Italy. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 90, 103663. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2023.103663
  6. Baldwin, C., Pickering, G., & Dale, G. (2023). Knowledge and self-efficacy of youth to take action on climate change. Environmental Education Research, 29(11), 1597-1616. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2022.2121381
  7. Ballew, M. T., Goldberg, M. H., Rosenthal, S. A., Gustafson, A., & Leiserowitz, A. (2019). Systems thinking as a pathway to global warming beliefs and attitudes through an ecological worldview. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(17), 8214-8219. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1819310116
  8. Bhattacharya, D., Carroll Steward, K., & Forbes, C. T. (2021). Empirical research on K-16 climate education: A systematic review of the literature. Journal of Geoscience Education, 69(3), 223–247. https://doi.org/10.1080/10899995.2020.1838848
  9. Bodzin, A. M., Anastasio, D., Sahagian, D., Peffer, T., Dempsey, C., & Steelman, R. (2014). Investigating climate change understandings of urban middle-level students. Journal of Geoscience Education, 62(3), 417-430. https://doi.org/10.5408/13-042.1
  10. Bofferding, L., & Kloser, M. (2015). Middle and high school students’ conceptions of climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies. Environmental Education Research, 21(2), 275-294. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2014.888401
  11. Bond, T. G., & Fox, C. M. (2015). Applying the Rasch model: Fundamental measurement in the human sciences (3rd Ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315814698
  12. Boon, H. (2009). Climate change? When? Where?. The Australian Educational Researcher, 36(3), 43-64. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03216905
  13. Boone, W. J., Staver, J. R., & Yale, M. S. (2014). Rasch analysis in the human sciences. Springer Science & Business Media. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6857-4
  14. Boyes, E., & Stanisstreet, M. (2012). Environmental education for behaviour change: Which actions should be targeted?. International Journal of Science Education, 34(10), 1591-1614. https://doi.org/10.1080/09500693.2011.584079
  15. Boyes, E., Stanisstreet, M., Skamp, K., Rodriguez, M., Malandrakis, G., Fortner, R., … Hye-Gyoung, Y. (2014). An international study of the propensity of students to limit their use of private transport in light of their understanding of the causes of global warming. International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education, 23(2), 142-165. https://doi.org/10.1080/10382046.2014.891425
  16. Brügger, A., Gubler, M., Steentjes, K., & Capstick, S. B. (2020). Social identity and risk perception explain participation in the Swiss youth climate strikes. Sustainability, 12(24), 10605. https://doi.org/10.3390/su122410605
  17. Cartwright, T. J., Hemler, D., & Magee, P. A. (2021). Investigating weather, climate, and climate change understanding of Appalachian middle-level students. The Electronic Journal for Research in Science & Mathematics Education, 25(2), 6-29.
  18. Chang, C.H., & Pascua, L. (2016). Singapore students’ misconceptions of climate change. International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education, 25(1), 84–96. https://doi.org/10.1080/10382046.2015.1106206
  19. Chhokar, K., Dua, S., Taylor, N., Boyes, E., & Stanisstreet, M. (2012). Senior secondary Indian students’ views about global warming, and their implications for education. Science Education International, 23(2), 133-149.
  20. Chiu, J. L., & Linn, M. C. (2011). Knowledge integration and wise engineering. Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research, 1(1), Article 2. https://doi.org/10.7771/2157-9288.1026
  21. Cirit, D.K., & Aydemir, S. (2021). Exploring levels of secondary school students’ knowledge: Global warming, acid rain, and ozone layer depletion. Education Quarterly Reviews, 4(1), 199–212.
  22. Cohen, J. (1992). A power primer. Psychological Bulletin, 112(1), 155-159. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/14805-018
  23. College Board. (2020). AP Environmental Science Course and Exam Description (Effective Fall 2020). Retrieved from: https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/media/pdf/ap-environmental-science-course-and-exam-description.pdf
  24. Cosby, A., Menchon, P., & Manning, J. K. (2025). Exploring the effect of the source of information on awareness of climate change in secondary students in the Gippsland Region. Interdisciplinary Journal of Environmental and Science Education, 21(2), e2507. https://doi.org/10.29333/ijese/15902
  25. Dawson, V. (2015). Western Australian high school students’ understandings about the socioscientific issue of climate change. International Journal of Science Education, 37(7), 1024–1043. https://doi.org/10.1080/09500693.2015.1015181
  26. Dawson, V., & Carson, K. (2013). Australian secondary school students’ understanding of climate change. Teaching Science, 59(3), 9-14. https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.687801424068812
  27. Deng, Y., Wang, M., & Yousefpour, R. (2017). How do people's perceptions and climatic disaster experiences influence their daily behaviors regarding adaptation to climate change? — A case study among young generations. Science of the Total Environment, 581–582, 840-847. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.01.022
  28. Duit, R., & Treagust, D. F. (2003). Conceptual change: A powerful framework for improving science teaching and learning. International Journal of Science Education, 25(6), 671-688. https://doi.org/10.1080/09500690305016
  29. Düsing, K., Asshoff, R., & Hammann, M. (2019). Students’ conceptions of the carbon cycle: Identifying and interrelating components of the carbon cycle and tracing carbon atoms across the levels of biological organisation. Journal of Biological Education, 53(1), 110–125. https://doi.org/10.1080/00219266.2018.1447002
  30. Ervin-Blankenheim, E. (2023). Teaching deep time concepts in a time of climate change: College and university faculty experiences conveying geologic principles. [Doctoral dissertation, St. Francis Xavier University].
  31. Fick, S. J., & Songer, N. B. (2017). Characterizing middle grade students’ integrated alternative science knowledge about the effects of climate change. Journal of Education in Science, Environment and Health, 3(2), 138–156. https://doi.org/10.21891/jeseh.325792
  32. Frappart, S., Moine, M., Jmel, S., & Megalakaki, O. (2018). Exploring French adolescents’ and adults’ comprehension of the greenhouse effect. Environmental Education Research, 24(3), 378–405. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2016.1147529
  33. Friedland, A., & Relyea, R. (2015). Environmental Science for AP (2nd Ed.). BFW Publications.
  34. Ganzach, Y., Ellis, S., Pazy, A., & Ricci-Siag, T. (2008). On the perception and operationalization of risk perception. Judgment and Decision Making, 3(4), 317-324. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1930297500000887
  35. García-Vinuesa, A., Carvalho, S., Meira Cartea, P. Á., & Azeiteiro, U. M. (2021). Assessing climate knowledge and perceptions among adolescents. An exploratory study in Portugal. The Journal of Educational Research, 114(4), 381-393. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220671.2021.1954582
  36. George, D., & Mallery, P. (2019). IBM SPSS Statistics 26 step by step: A simple guide and reference. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429056765
  37. Gunes, P. (2020). Students’ belief biases concerning climate change and factors considered while evaluating informal reasoning arguments. Journal of Education in Science, Environment and Health, 6(1), 24–34. https://doi.org/10.21891/jeseh.560668
  38. Guttry, C., Döring, M., & Ratter, B. (2017). How distant is climate change? Construal level theory analysis of German and Taiwanese students’ statements. International Journal of Asian Social Science, 7(5), 434-447. https://doi.org/10.18488/journal.1.2017.75.434.447
  39. Guy, S., Kashima, Y., Walker, I., & O’Neill, S. (2014). Investigating the effects of knowledge and ideology on climate change beliefs. European Journal of Social Psychology, 44(5), 421-429. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2039
  40. Hermans, M., & Korhonen, J. (2017). Ninth graders and climate change: Attitudes towards consequences, views on mitigation, and predictors of willingness to act. International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education, 26(3), 223-239. https://doi.org/10.1080/10382046.2017.1330035
  41. Hickman, C., Marks, E., Pihkala, P., Clayton, S., Lewandowski, R. E., Mayall, E. E., ... & Van Susteren, L. (2021). Climate anxiety in children and young people and their beliefs about government responses to climate change: a global survey. The Lancet Planetary Health, 5(12), e863-e873. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(21)00278-3
  42. Huang, J., & Bu, Y. (2025). Who views what from whom? Social media exposure and the Chinese public’s risk perceptions of climate change. Risk Analysis, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1111/risa.17716
  43. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). (2022). Climate change 2022: Impacts, adaptation and vulnerability. Contribution of working group II to the sixth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009325844
  44. Jarrett, L., & Takacs, G. (2020). Secondary students’ ideas about scientific concepts underlying climate change. Environmental Education Research, 26(3), 400-420. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2019.1679092
  45. Kahan, D. M., Peters, E., Wittlin, M., Slovic, P., Ouellette, L. L., Braman, D., & Mandel, G. (2012). The polarizing impact of science literacy and numeracy on perceived climate change risks. Nature Climate Change, 2(10), 732-735. https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate1547
  46. Kılınç, A., Stanisstreet, M., & Boyes, E. (2008). Turkish students’ ideas about global warming. International Journal of Environmental and Science Education, 3(2), 89-98.
  47. Kolenatý, M., Kroufek, R., & Činčera, J. (2022). What triggers climate action: The impact of a climate change education program on students’ climate literacy and their willingness to act. Sustainability, 14(16), 10365. https://doi.org/10.3390/su141610365
  48. Kurup, P. M., Levinson, R., & Li, X. (2021). Informed-decision regarding global warming and climate change among high school students in the United Kingdom. Canadian Journal of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education, 21(1), 166–185. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42330-020-00123-5
  49. Labban, A., Morsy, M., Abdeldym, A., Abdel Basset, H., & Al-Mutairi, M. (2023). Assessment of changes in heatwave aspects over Saudi Arabia during the last four decades. Atmosphere, 14(11), 1667. https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos14111667
  50. Lee, T. M., Markowitz, E. M., Howe, P. D., Ko, C. Y., & Leiserowitz, A. A. (2015). Predictors of public climate change awareness and risk perception around the world. Nature Climate Change, 5(11), 1014-1020. https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2728
  51. Leiserowitz, A. (2005). American risk perceptions: Is climate change dangerous?. Risk Analysis, 25(6), 1433-1442. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6261.2005.00690.x
  52. Leiserowitz, A., Carman, J., Buttermore, N., Neyens, L., Rosenthal, S., Marlon, J., Schneider, J., & Mulcahy, K. (2022). International Public Opinion on Climate Change, 2022. New Haven, CT: Yale Program on Climate Change Communication and Data for Good at Meta.
  53. Libarkin, J. C., Gold, A. U., Harris, S. E., McNeal, K. S., & Bowles, R. P. (2018). A new, valid measure of climate change understanding: Associations with risk perception. Climatic Change, 150, 403-416. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-018-2279-y
  54. Linn, M. C. (2006). The knowledge integration perspective on learning and instruction. In R. K. Sawyer (Ed.), The Cambridge handbook of the learning sciences (pp. 243-264). Cambridge University Press.
  55. Lin, J. (2017). Chinese grade eight students’ understanding about the concept of global warming. EURASIA Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 13(5), 1313–1330. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2017.00672a
  56. Linn, M. C. (2008). Teaching for conceptual change: Distinguishing or extinguishing ideas. In S. Vosniadou (Ed.), International handbook of research on conceptual change (pp. 694-722). Routledge.
  57. Linacre, J. M. (2024). A user’s guide to Winsteps Ministeps Rasch-model computer programs [version 5.7.1]. Retrieved from https://www.winsteps.com/a/Winsteps-Manual.pdf
  58. Lombardi, D., & Sinatra, G. M. (2012). College students’ perceptions about the plausibility of human-induced climate change. Research in Science Education, 42, 201-217. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11165-010-9196-z
  59. Loewenstein, G. F., Weber, E. U., Hsee, C. K., & Welch, N. (2001). Risk as feelings. Psychological Bulletin, 127(2), 267-286. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/0033-2909.127.2.267
  60. McNeal, K. S., Spry, J. M., Mitra, R., & Tipton, J. L. (2014). Measuring student engagement, knowledge, and perceptions of climate change in an introductory environmental geology course. Journal of Geoscience Education, 62(4), 655-667. https://doi.org/10.5408/13-111.1
  61. Morote, Á. F., & Hernández, M. (2024). Knowledge and perception of Spanish school children of climate change. Children’s Geographies, 22(3), 465-479. https://doi.org/10.1080/14733285.2024.2303581
  62. National Science Board (NSB). (2018). Science and Engineering Indicators 2018. NSB-2018-1. Alexandria, VA: National Science Foundation. Retrieved from: https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/2018/nsb20181/
  63. Özdem, Y., Dal, B., Ozturk, N., Sonmez, D., & Alper, U. (2014). What is that thing called climate change? An investigation into the understanding of climate change by seventh-grade students. International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education, 23(4), 294-313. https://doi.org/10.1080/10382046.2014.946323
  64. Pahl, S., Sheppard, S., Boomsma, C., & Groves, C. (2014). Perceptions of time in relation to climate change. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, 5(3), 375-388. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.272
  65. Punter, P., Ochando-Pardo, M., and Garcia, J. (2011). Spanish secondary school students’ notions on the causes and consequences of climate change. International Journal of Science Education, 33, 447-464. https://doi.org/10.1080/09500693.2010.492253
  66. Qin, Z., Wu, Q., Bi, C., Deng, Y., & Hu, Q. (2024). The relationship between climate change anxiety and pro-environmental behavior in adolescents: the mediating role of future self-continuity and the moderating role of green self-efficacy. BMC Psychology, 12(1), 241. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-024-01746-1
  67. Ratinen, I. (2021). Students’ knowledge of climate change, mitigation and adaptation in the context of constructive hope. Education Sciences, 11(3), 103. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci11030103
  68. Ratinen, I., & Uusiautti, S. (2020). Finnish students’ knowledge of climate change mitigation and its connection to hope. Sustainability, 12(6), 2181. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12062181
  69. Reiche, D. (2010). Energy Policies of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries—possibilities and limitations of ecological modernization in rentier states. Energy Policy, 38(5), 2395-2403. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2009.12.031
  70. Rohmawati, F.Y., Salmayenti, R., Rizki, A., Perdinan, Iliyyan, D.U., & Alim, A.S. (2024). High school student’s climate change literacy: Evidence from Bogor, Indonesia. Pakistan Journal of Life and Social Sciences, 22(2), 12087-12100. https://doi.org/10.57239/PJLSS-2024-22.2.000863
  71. Sciberras, E., & Fernando, J. W. (2022). Climate change-related worry among Australian adolescents: An eight-year longitudinal study. Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 27(1), 22-29. https://doi.org/10.1111/camh.12521
  72. Sezen-Barrie, A., Henderson, J.A., & Drewes, A.L. (2022). Spatial and temporal dynamics in climate change education discourse: An ecolinguistic perspective. In B. Puig & M.P. Jiménez-Aleixandre (Eds.) Critical thinking in biology and environmental education - Facing challenges in a post-truth world. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-92006-7_11
  73. Sharma, A., Yadav, A., Gupta, D., & Bashir, A. (2019). Fake news, disinformation and misinformation in social media: a review. Studies in Computational Intelligence, 838, 103-123. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13278-023-01028-5
  74. Shepardson, D. P., Niyogi, D., Choi, S., & Charusombat, U. (2009). Seventh grade students’ conceptions of global warming and climate change. Environmental Education Research, 15(5), 549-570. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504620903114592
  75. Shepardson, D. P., Niyogi, D., Choi, S., & Charusombat, U. (2011). Students’ conceptions about the greenhouse effect, global warming, and climate change. Climatic Change, 104(3-4), 481-507. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-009-9786-9
  76. Shi, J., Visschers, V. H., Siegrist, M., & Arvai, J. (2016). Knowledge as a driver of public perceptions about climate change reassessed. Nature Climate Change, 6(8), 759–762. https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2997
  77. Sivonen, J. (2023). Attitudes toward global and national climate policies in Finland–The significance of climate change risk perception and urban/rural-domicile. GeoJournal, 88(2), 2247-2262. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-022-10750-0
  78. Sjöberg, L. (2004). Explaining individual risk perception: The case of nuclear waste. Risk Management, 6(1), 51-64. https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.rm.8240172
  79. Slovic, P., Finucane, M. L., Peters, E., & MacGregor, D. G. (2004). Risk as analysis and risk as feelings: Some thoughts about affect, reason, risk and rationality. Risk Analysis, 24(2), 1-12.
  80. Spence, A., Poortinga, W., & Pidgeon, N. (2012). The psychological distance of climate change. Risk Analysis: An International Journal, 32(6), 957-972. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1539-6924.2011.01695.x
  81. Steentjes, K., Pidgeon, N., Poortinga, W., Corner, A., Arnold, A., Böhm, G., Mays, C., Poumadère, M., Ruddat, M., Scheer, D., Sonnberger, M., Tvinnereim, E. (2017). European Perceptions of Climate Change: Topline findings of a survey conducted in four European countries in 2016. Cardiff: Cardiff University.
  82. Stevenson, K. T., Peterson, M. N., & Bondell, H. D. (2019). The influence of personal beliefs, friends, and family in building climate change concern among adolescents. Environmental Education Research, 25(6), 832-845. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2016.1177712
  83. Stevenson, K. T., Peterson, M. N., Bondell, H. D., Moore, S. E., & Carrier, S. J. (2014). Overcoming skepticism with education: interacting influences of worldview and climate change knowledge on perceived climate change risk among adolescents. Climatic Change, 126, 293-304. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-014-1228-7
  84. Stoutenborough, J. W., & Vedlitz, A. (2014). The effect of perceived and assessed knowledge of climate change on public policy concerns: An empirical comparison. Environmental Science & Policy, 37, 23-33. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2013.08.002
  85. Tamar, M., Wirawan, H., Arfah, T., & Putri, R. P. S. (2021). Predicting pro-environmental behaviours: The role of environmental values, attitudes and knowledge. Management of Environmental Quality: An International Journal, 32(2), 328-343. https://doi.org/10.1108/meq-12-2019-0264
  86. Taylor, S., & Jones, B. (2020). Tackling climate-science learning through futures thinking. Set: Research Information for Teachers, 3(3), 23-29. https://doi.org/10.18296/set.0183
  87. Thaker, J., Richardson, L. M., & Holmes, D. C. (2023). Australians’ perceptions about health risks associated with climate change: Exploring the role of media in a comprehensive climate change risk perception model. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 89, 102064. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2023.102064
  88. Tobler, C., Visschers, V. H., & Siegrist, M. (2012). Consumers’ knowledge about climate change. Climatic Change, 114, 189-209. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-011-0393-1
  89. Tranter, B., & Skrbis, Z. (2014). Political and social divisions over climate change among young Queenslanders. Environment and Planning A, 46(7), 1638-1651. https://doi.org/10.1068/a46285
  90. Van der Linden, S. (2014). On the relationship between personal experience, affect and risk perception: The case of climate change. European Journal of Social Psychology, 44(5), 430-440. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2008
  91. Van der Linden, S. (2017). Determinants and measurement of climate change risk perception, worry, and concern. In M. Nisbett (Ed.), The Oxford encyclopedia of climate change communication. Oxford University Press.
  92. Varela, B., Sesto, V., & García-Rodeja, I. (2020). An investigation of secondary students’ mental models of climate change and the greenhouse effect. Research in Science Education, 50, 599-624. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11165-018-9703-1
  93. Wang, S., Hurlstone, M. J., Leviston, Z., Walker, I., & Lawrence, C. (2019). Climate change from a distance: An analysis of construal level and psychological distance from climate change. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 230. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00230
  94. Weber, E. U., Eblais, A., & Betz, N. Y. (2002). A domain-specific risk-attitude scale: Measuring risk perceptions and risk behavior. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 15, 263-290. https://doi.org/10.1002/bdm.414
  95. Weber, E. U., & Stern, P. C. (2011). Public understanding of climate change in the United States. American Psychologist, 66(4), 315-328. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0023253
  96. Whitmarsh, L. (2011). Scepticism and uncertainty about climate change: Dimensions, determinants and change over time. Global Environmental Change, 21(2), 690-700. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2011.01.016
  97. Wildbichler, S., Haagen-Schützenhöfer, C., & Schubatzky, T. (2025). Students’ ideas about the scientific underpinnings of climate change: a systematic review of the literature. Studies in Science Education, 61(1), 117-169. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057267.2024.2395206
  98. Wright, B. D. & Linacre, J. M. (1994). Reasonable mean-square fit values. Rasch Measurement Transactions, 8(3), 370.
  99. Xie, B., Brewer, M. B., Hayes, B. K., McDonald, R. I., & Newell, B. R. (2019). Predicting climate change risk perception and willingness to act. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 65, 101331. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2019.101331
  100. Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. (2025). Yale Climate Opinion Maps 2024. https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/visualizations-data/ycom-us-2024/
  101. Yu, T. K., Lavallee, J. P., Di Giusto, B., Chang, I. C., & Yu, T. Y. (2020). Risk perception and response toward climate change for higher education students in Taiwan. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 27, 24749-24759. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-07450-7
  102. Zobeidi, T., Yazdanpanah, M., & Bakhshi, A. (2020). Climate change risk perception among agriculture students: The role of knowledge, environmental attitude, and belief in happening. Journal of Agricultural Science and Technology, 22(1), 43-55.
LICENSE
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.