Climate Change in the American Mind: Spring 2025
Scientific Reports
Grades9, 10, 11, 12, APGeography
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Learn about our review process →
Provided by Yale Program on Climate Change Communication
What it is
- In this report from Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, students will analyze the results of a survey conducted to understand how adults think and feel about climate change and its impacts.
- Students will view graphs, data tables, and summaries to understand the opinions of the 1,040 survey participants living in the United States about the beliefs, perceived risks of, and personal responses to climate change.
Teaching tips
Positives
- By having the data visualizations, a written summary of the conclusions, and the data tables, students can have a better, more complete understanding of the survey results.
- Though the text as a whole is quite long, the written portions are easy for students to understand and are organized in easily digestible parts.
Prerequisites
- Students should understand climate change, what causes it, and how it impacts the Earth’s systems.
Differentiation & Implementation
- Classes with limited time can read the executive summary of the study’s findings.
- Teachers can highlight the part of the report that focuses on the feelings Americans have about climate change. Teachers can ask students to identify their own emotions about climate change, using this resource to identify and process their emotions.
- Teachers can display a selection of the report's graphs and charts around the room. Students can visit these in stations, writing down what they notice and questions they have.
- To make geographical connections, teachers can have students consider how a person’s location can influence their answers to these questions. Teachers can highlight the portion of Americans who have considered relocating to avoid climate change impacts as an example.
- This resource can be connected to Sustainable Development Goal 13, Climate Action.
From the scientist review
This survey details Americans’ opinions on climate change and shows how they have changed since 2008. The survey is rigorously designed with a large, nationally representative sample. All results are presented in clear figures, and complete methods and data tables are available in the appendix. This resource is recommended for teaching.
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Hosted on climatecommunication.yale.edu
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