Anthropocentric climate change is a defining issue of the twenty-first century. Considering the severity of the effects, a more appropriate term may be climate crisis. Further, the intensity of the climate crisis, whether it is more frequent natural catastrophes or record-setting heat, puts societies and ecosystems at risk. Even classrooms and students must endure rising temperatures within schools. Yet educators also play an inimitable role in preparing students for a world living in a climate crisis. This requires extensive work to promote understanding and work toward solutions. Over the past twenty years, climate change education has evolved from a topic covered primarily in science classes to a subject covered in all content areas. In social studies, educators focus on the intersection between the climate crisis and issues such as justice, migration, and economics. Yet one of the primary methods for getting people to care about climate change is often missing from social studies curricula. The role of place is usually left unaccounted for in social studies despite place playing an important role in changing individuals’ mindsets about climate change. In addition, the voices that need to be heard most, including those living in locations most susceptible to climate change, are often marginalized. This qualitative study explores how educators in a vulnerable locale account for place when teaching climate change by asking the following question: How/where do social science educators in vulnerable locales form a sense of their place, and in what ways is that sense of place used accounted for when teaching climate change? The sub-questions for this study include: What ecological and cultural experiences and learning inform conceptions of place? How do teachers’ conceptualizations of climate change engage with local and global discourses of land, people, and society? How do teaching contexts (such as place-based education or predominant native schools) create variation across these research questions? This study used various methods, including semi-structured interviews, sensory ethnography, and visual elicitation, to understand how teachers incorporated place into their teaching and how different perspectives of place can inform a more holistic approach to teaching climate change. The study took place in Hawai‘i, a state and former sovereign kingdom with one of the most unique ecosystems in the world. It is a Pacific Island that faces unique challenges from climate change. Moreover, Hawai‘i has a strong understanding of the importance of place that is present through its Indigenous roots and its educational systems. The findings suggest that through a network of embedded and embodied knowledge, participants developed a relationship with land that affected not only who they were as individuals but also how they taught climate change.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University 2015. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This survey research employed a criterion-referenced multiple-choice questionnaire to collect data from 194 FET Geography teachers in the Western Cape province to assess their level of literacy in both climate change science and climate change pedagogy, and to determine the influence of gender, age, qualification, specialisation, experience, grade mostly taught, their experience in providing instruction on climate change and the location of their school. Aspects of climate change science assessed include: climate processes and probable causes of climate change; climate change impacts; and climate change responses. Aspects of climate change pedagogy assessed include: the aims and significance of climate change education; and constructivist teaching principles and practice. The collected data was analysed using percentage frequencies to determine the teachers‟ level of literacy in climate change science and climate change pedagogy; the Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used to determine the influence of the mediating variables on climate change science literacy and climate change pedagogical literacy, respectively. The results indicate that Geography teachers in the Western Cape Province demonstrated „High‟ literacy in climate change science and „Low‟ literacy in climate change pedagogy. Factors such as school location, gender, age and teaching experience were found to have a significant influence on climate change science literacy; whereas qualification, specialisation, grade mostly taught and experience in providing instruction on climate change did not. Conversely, teaching experience and grade mostly taught had a significant influence on climate change pedagogical literacy; whereas school location, gender, age, qualification, specialisation and experience in providing instruction on climate change did not. Based on these findings, it is recommended that professional development interventions in climate change pedagogy are required in order to expose Geography teachers to the aims and significance of climate change education and methods of facilitating problem-based, learner-centred instruction on climate change. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie opnamenavorsing het gebruik gemaak van ‟n kriteriumverwysing- meerkeusige vraelys om data by 194 VOO Aardrykskunde onderwysers in die Wes-Kaap provinsie te versamel om hulle vlak van geletterdheid in beide die wetenskap en pedagogie van klimaatsverandering te bepaal en om die invloed van geslag, ouderdom, kwalifikasie, spesialisasie, ervaring, graad wat die meeste onderrig is, hulle ervaring van onderrig oor klimaatsverandering en die ligging van hulle skool te bepaal. Aspekte van klimaatsverandering wat geassesseer is, het klimaatsprosesse en moontlike oorsake van klimaatsverandering, impakte van klimaatsverandering en reaksies op klimaatsverandering ingesluit. Aspekte van die pedagogie van klimaatsverandering wat geassesseer is, het die doelwitte en betekenisvolheid van opvoeding oor klimaatsverandering en konstruktivistiese onderrigbeginsels en -praktyk ingesluit. Die versamelde data is met persentasiefrekwensie geanaliseer om die onderwysers se vlak van geletterdheid in die wetenskap en pedagogie van klimaatsverandering te bepaal; die Mann-Whitney en Kruskal-Wallis toetse is gebruik om die invloed van bemiddelende veranderlikes op geletterdheid met betrekking tot die wetenskap en pedagogie van klimaatsverandering onderskeidelik te bepaal. Die resultate dui aan dat Aardrykskunde-onderwysers in die Wes-Kaap „Hoë‟ geletterdheid in die wetenskap van klimaatsverandering en „Lae‟ geletterdheid in die pedagogie van klimaatsverandering getoon het. Faktore soos ligging van die skool, geslag, ouderdom en onderrigervaring het ‟n betekenisvolle invloed op geletterdheid in klimaatsverandering gehad, terwyl kwalifikasie, spesialisasie, graad wat die meeste onderrig is en ervaring van onderrig oor klimaatsverandering nie so ‟n invloed gehad het nie. In teenstelling het onderrigervaring en graad wat die meeste onderrig is, ‟n betekenisvolle invloed op geletterdheid in klimaatsverandering gehad, terwyl ligging van die skool, geslag, ouderdom, kwalifikasie, spesialisasie en ervaring van onderrig oor klimaatsverandering nie so ‟n invloed gehad het nie. Op grond van hierdie resultate kan gesê word dat professionele ontwikkelingsingrypings in die pedagogie van klimaatsverandering nodig is om Aardrykskunde-onderwysers bloot te stel aan die doelwitte en belangrikheid van onderwys oor klimaatsverandering en metodes om probleemgebaseerde, leerdergesentreerde onderrig oor klimaatsverandering te fasiliteer.