Climate Change Education in Primary and Lower Secondary Education: Systematic Review Results

Abstract

Global climate change is rightly receiving increasing attention, including in the field of education. Climate change education (CCE) is becoming one of the key areas of education in general and it is therefore not surprising that more attention is also being paid to climate education research. This review study presents an analysis of papers focusing on climate education for ISCED (International Standard Classification of Education) 1 and 2 students. The selection of the analyzed sources follows the PRISMA 2020 statement; out of 850 identified records, 43 made it into the analysis. Articles that met each of the following criteria were included in the analysis: (i) the impact of the article meets the inclusion in the Web of Science Core Collection service, (ii) the article was published in the period 2001–2020, (iii) the central theme of the article is CCE, (iv) the target audience is ISCED 1, ISCED 2 students or their teachers, (v) the article has a research character with the presentation of methodology and results, or it is a review study that includes an analysis of the records meeting the criteria described above. The quantitative description of the results shows the diversity in journals publishing studies, the exponential increase in their number in recent years, and the hegemony of the United States in this field of research. The qualitative content analysis shows that the most frequently addressed topics focus on knowledge, behavior, actions, experiences, and attitudes. The results show that as the urgency of climate change increases, so do the number and diversity of research studies on climate education for the target group. Most of these studies focus on the mitigation behaviors and willingness to act of students.