Education in the Anthropocene: assessing planetary health science standards in the USA
Date
2023-09-27
Authors
Capel, Samantha L.R.
Allan, Brian F.
Favela, Alonso
Clem, C. Scott
Ooi, Sean Khan
Virrueta Herrera, Stephany
Wilson, Loralee J.
Strickland, Lynette R.
Version
Published version
OA Version
Citation
S.L.R. Capel, B.F. Allan, A. Favela, C.S. Clem, S.K. Ooi, S. Virrueta Herrera, L.J. Wilson, L.R. Strickland. 2023. "Education in the Anthropocene: assessing planetary health science standards in the USA" Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, Volume 290, Issue 2007. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2023.0975
Abstract
The environmental crises defining the Anthropocene demand ubiquitous mitigation efforts, met with collective support. Yet, disengagement and disbelief surrounding planetary health threats are pervasive, especially in the USA. This scepticism may be influenced by inadequate education addressing the scope and urgency of the planetary health crisis. We analysed current K-12 science standards related to planetary health throughout the USA, assessing their quality and potential predictors of variation. While planetary health education varies widely across the USA with respect to the presence and depth of terms, most science standards neglected to convey these concepts with a sense of urgency. Furthermore, state/territory dominant political party and primary gross domestic product (GDP) contributor were each predictive of the quality of planetary health education. We propose that a nation-wide science standard could fully address the urgency of the planetary health crisis and prevent political bias from influencing the breadth and depth of concepts covered.
Description
License
© 2023 The Authors.Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited.