Abstract:

Teaching is successful only when learning (a change in behaviour) is achieved. Diverse effective strategies are employable by teachers to facilitate students’ learning within the formal context of climate change education (CCE), covering the cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains corresponding to the head, heart and hands model. This quantitative study adopts a descriptive survey research design to assess teachers’ expressed capacity building needs in order to ascertain gaps pertaining to effective teaching strategies related to the CCE-infused curriculum in Enugu state. A total of 410 in-service public secondary school teachers serve as respondents in this study, spread across four education zones within the study area. A self-developed questionnaire served as the instrument for data collection in this study. This instrument passed face validity and reliability tests (Alpha = .84). Descriptive statistics, mean, mean differences tests and exploratory factor/dimension reduction analyses were applied to analyze data. Overall, teachers expressed high capacity building need in most of the CCE strategies listed, irrespective of tested teacher variables. Also, the results show two underlying factors/themes under which capacity building needs on the listed CCE strategies are grouped – innovative, learner-centered/inclusive teaching strategies and the use of instructional materials/media. Inference drawn from findings is that learner-centered strategies/media are lacking in CCE, which would inhibit students’ learning about climate change. If the current trend is disregarded, achieving holistic CCE as captured by the head, heart and hands model will be unattainable and with severe consequences on the future of the earth’s environment.

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