Yanlan
Wan
*,
Xiaoyu
Ding
and
Hairong
Yu
College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong, China. E-mail: wanyanlan827525@163.com
First published on 27th July 2023
Climate change presents a global human challenge, and many countries are paying increased attention to climate change issues. Chemistry plays a critical role in addressing climate change. The dual nature of pre-service chemistry teachers’ identity determines the importance of their understanding of climate change. This study employed a phenomenography methodological framework and semi-structured interviews to explore 16 pre-service chemistry teachers’ understanding of climate change's manifestations, causes, impacts, and ways to cope with climate change. The results showed that although pre-service chemistry teachers had a certain knowledge of climate change, their understanding of the concepts of climate change, global climate warming, and greenhouse effects and their interrelatedness was ambiguous or false. Their explanations of the harm caused by acid rain, the mechanism of ozone layer destruction, and the greenhouse effect were inadequate. Factors that influenced pre-service chemistry teachers’ understanding of climate change included school curriculum, particularly chemistry courses, science popularisation aided by information technology, and their informal education through social life experiences. These findings provide insights into pre-service chemistry teachers’ professional development and higher education's approach to teaching about climate change.
China first mentioned the concept of a ‘community of common destiny’ in its 2011 white paper China's Peaceful Development, stating that ‘humanity has only one home on Earth’ (China SCIO, 2011). Recently, China has been paying greater attention to climate change issues, and the government has released annual reports on climate change, such as Responding to Climate Change: China's Policies and Actions (2020), which clearly states that ‘climate change is a common challenge facing mankind’. The government has incorporated carbon peaking and carbon neutrality into the overall layout of ecological civilisation and launched the National Climate Change Adaptation Strategy 2035 (China SCIO, 2021).
Climate change has gained attention in international scientific research and has become a social science subject of interest to many scholars. Climate change is not only a social phenomenon and research topic but is also a significant school curriculum topic. The theme of ‘climate change’ permeates many university subjects, and relates closely in particular to chemical science. Acid precipitation, the ozone layer, and greenhouse gases are significant topics in chemistry. Students’ in-depth comprehension of matter's particle nature and reactions within specific elemental compounds will help them to better understand climate change. As a central science urgently needed by society, chemistry plays an irreplaceable role in addressing climate change-related issues.
The dual identity of pre-service chemistry teachers determines the importance of their understanding of climate change. As college students, pre-service chemistry teachers will become future citizens of society and assume the future of national development (Littrell et al., 2022), just as they will become chemistry teachers who influence chemistry education in the future. Considering these dual attributes of pre-service chemistry teachers’ identities, this study employed a phenomenography methodological framework, semi-structured interviews, and constructivist grounded theory to explore the following core questions:
(1) What is pre-service chemistry teachers’ understanding of the climate change and related topics?
(2) What factors influence pre-service chemistry teachers’ knowledge and understanding of the climate change topic?
We explored these issues by investigating Chinese pre-service chemistry teachers’ knowledge of climate change topics at different grade levels. The results provide suggestions for and insights into teaching about climate change, especially in higher education institutions, to contribute to pre-service chemistry teachers’ professional development.
(1) Students often misunderstand the concept of climate change, but teaching courses related to climate change promotes better understanding. College students often confuse climate change with other environmental issues (Huxster et al., 2015). They may understand other environmental issues’ different characteristics, such as climate change and the greenhouse effect, but they do not understand all the issues and the relationships between them. Therefore, they confuse some of the concepts underlying climate change, such as the greenhouse effect, global warming, and the ozone layer (Dawson and Palmer, 2015; Versprille and Towns, 2015). College students also lack a particle-level understanding of greenhouse gases and have difficulty understanding the greenhouse effect's mechanism and its correspondence with increased CO2 concentration and climate change impacts (Versprille and Towns, 2015). Research shows that college major, gender, and grade level influence students’ understanding of climate change, which has implications for teaching and curriculum development that will improve students’ understanding of climate change (Zhao and Ewert, 2021). For example, students can improve their understanding of climate change by taking related courses (Klapp and Bouvier-Brown, 2021), such as ecological society courses, which help students to better understand climate change (Prasad and Mkumbachi, 2021). Further, students can participate in climate change-related teaching units as this also increases their understanding of climate change (Bofferding and Kloser, 2015). Moreover, process-oriented inquiry learning is an effective teaching tool that improves students’ understanding and attitudes towards the concept of climate change (Cascolan and Prudente, 2018). Researchers proposed a framework for teaching the climate system based on students’ conceptual and scientific perspectives (Shepardson et al., 2012), and explored how students conceptualise a climate system (Shepardson et al., 2014). Research has further shown that students’ understanding of climate change significantly increases when teachers provide even brief instruction during the teaching process (Lombardi and Sinatra, 2012).
(2) Students’ understanding of climate change sources is incomplete. There is a consensus that climate change is almost certainly caused by humans (Arto-Blanco et al., 2017), and most students acknowledge humans’ responsibility for climate change. However, students mostly believe that climate change is related to the hole in the ozone layer. For example, a 2016 study found that 50% of students mentioned ozone depletion as an important factor in triggering climate change (Stevenson et al., 2016). Additionally, students’ understanding of the causes of climate change is strongly related to their age; young people's understanding of the causes of the greenhouse effect has been found to increase with each grade (Frappart et al., 2018).
(3) Students appreciate the impact of climate change and its serious dangers. They are aware of the impact of climate change on the environment and that climate change exacerbates climate events, such as droughts, storm surges, and hurricanes (O’Hare, 2013). For example, climate change leads to global warming, increasing glacier melting and rising sea levels, posing threats to island countries (Prasad and Mkumbachi, 2021). Students are aware of the climate change effects on humans, such as the increased risk of skin cancer, heart disease, and other illnesses (Andersson and Wallin, 2000). Moreover, they believe that global warming only affects temperature, and has little effect on precipitation (Shepardson et al., 2011). Additionally, students have little understanding of climate change's economic impacts, such as the effects on migration (Punter et al., 2011).
(4) Students have an important role in addressing and solving climate change. With a thorough understanding of climate change, students can contribute positively to community development by developing mitigation and adaptation methods (Mugambiwa and Dzomonda, 2018). Therefore, climate change should be included in the higher education curriculum (Arto-Blanco et al., 2017). Previous studies indicate that the most accepted climate change mitigation options involve planting trees (Kilinc et al., 2009), reducing pollution (Garg and Lal, 2022), especially factory pollution (Daniel et al., 2004), and reducing traffic (Bofferding and Kloser, 2015). However, students’ understanding of this problem is incomplete and only scratches the surface.
Previous research focuses on primary and middle school students; few studies investigate university students’—especially pre-service chemistry teachers’—understanding of climate change. A few university education studies explored the importance of climate change knowledge and suggestions for university teaching from the perspective of earth sciences, but very few studies have explored the understanding of global climate change among university students majoring in teacher education from the perspective of the chemical sciences. Therefore, this study explored Chinese pre-service chemistry teachers’ understanding of climate change knowledge. The findings provide suggestions for and insights into teaching and curriculum development in both basic and higher education.
Phenomenography research employs interviews that conform to its theoretical framework as a data collection method. It is a basic psychological research method used to understand individuals’ psychology and behaviour through their relative communication with researchers. In this study, we conducted semi-structured interviews to identify pre-service chemistry teachers’ understanding of climate change issues at different grade levels.
We developed the study's semi-structured interview outline after reviewing the existing literature and consulting two university chemistry experts. The interview comprised five dimensions that addressed conceptual issues and chemical knowledge related to climate change: (1) an overall understanding of climate change; (2) climate change manifestations, including an understanding of global warming, acid precipitation, ozone layer depletion, and other related issues; (3) reasons for climate change, including an understanding of issues related to the greenhouse effect; (4) climate change's impact; and (5) ways to deal with climate change. See Appendix 1 for a detailed interview outline.
Sample sizes are usually small in most phenomenography studies due to the concentrated nature of the analysis topics; a sample of 15–20 participants is usually considered large enough to reveal possible ideas and plausible explanations (Trigwell, 2000). From the student sample (those who volunteered to participate in the research), we randomly selected eight pre-service chemistry teachers at the freshman stage and eight pre-service chemistry teachers at the senior stage; these are numbered PCT-F-01 to 08 (4 males, 4 females) and PCT-S-01 to 08 (4 males, 4 females). The 16 participants’ characteristics are shown in Table 1.
Participant | Year | Gender | Age |
---|---|---|---|
PCT-F-01 | Freshman | Female | 19 |
PCT-F-02 | Freshman | Male | 19 |
PCT-F-03 | Freshman | Female | 19 |
PCT-F-04 | Freshman | Female | 18 |
PCT-F-05 | Freshman | Male | 18 |
PCT-F-06 | Freshman | Male | 20 |
PCT-F-07 | Freshman | Male | 18 |
PCT-F-08 | Freshman | Female | 19 |
PCT-S-01 | Senior | Female | 22 |
PCT-S-02 | Senior | Male | 22 |
PCT-S-03 | Senior | Female | 22 |
PCT-S-04 | Senior | Male | 23 |
PCT-S-05 | Senior | Male | 22 |
PCT-S-06 | Senior | Female | 22 |
PCT-S-07 | Senior | Male | 23 |
PCT-S-08 | Senior | Female | 23 |
Before beginning the formal interviews, the researchers ensured they had an in-depth understanding of all the information related to the interview questions, and that they were fully familiar with the interview content and process. The interviews were conducted over two weeks.
Researchers interviewed each participant separately according to the interview outline. The researchers maintained sufficient self-reflection and flexibility, listened and recorded well, captured timely responses that were valuable to the study, and skilfully followed up, affirming participants’ ideas and statements at the right time to encourage them, but avoided interfering with participants’ cognitive processes by not commenting on the participants’ ideas or statements. Each interview lasted approximately 30 minutes.
The day after the interview, we transcribed the notes and recordings word-by-word in a careful, accurate, and comprehensive manner, and marked all silent language signals (such as silence, pauses, and laughter) in the written transcription to ensure accuracy. We obtained 16 interview records.
To ensure the reliability and validity of this study, four professors, two from the field of teacher education and two from the field of chemical science, were invited to provide guidance on the study's methodology, outline of the semi-structured interviews, research process, and analysis. Timely modifications to the study were made based on the recommendations of the four experts.
During the interviews, nearly all participants mentioned the greenhouse effect, global warming, the ozone hole, and other phenomena related to climate change. Some participants mentioned the influence of rising sea levels, the famous ‘El Niño’ phenomenon, the Antarctic glacier melting, and the loss of polar bears’ habitat. For example, PCT-F-04 noted that ‘I have watched documentaries about polar bears being displaced due to melting Arctic ice’. These results suggest that pre-service chemistry teachers have a certain overall understanding of climate change based on their existing knowledge and experience. This finding is consistent with that of previous studies (Varela et al., 2020).
We found that both freshman and senior pre-service chemistry teachers had a reasonable understanding of the meaning of climate change. Although they could not provide a precise definition of climate change, they could explain it from certain perspectives. All participants mentioned temperature as a climate change indicator, and two mentioned precipitation. For example, PCT-S-02 mentioned that ‘climate change can be measured by some of the indicators used to measure weather, such as temperature and precipitation’.
Only four senior pre-service chemistry teachers could identify the relationship between climate change, global warming, and the greenhouse effect, while the other 12 were not clear about the difference. This suggests that most pre-service chemistry teachers have a vague or even incorrect understanding of climate change, global warming, and the greenhouse effect and the relationships between them, and confuse the three concepts to a large extent. However, four senior pre-service chemistry teachers understood the concept well, suggesting that university course learning facilitates students’ understanding of climate change.
(2) Pre-service chemistry teachers adequately understand global warming's root causes, and the seniors know more than the freshmen. All participants mentioned that ‘the increase in CO2 content leads to global warming’ and provided examples from a chemistry perspective that some human behaviours, such as automobile emissions, coal burning, straw burning, and industrial exhaust emissions from factories, may lead to global warming. For example, PCT-F-02 believed that ‘CO2, SO2, CO, and other gases produced by coal combustion lead to global warming’; PCT-S-03 pointed out that ‘with the development of the economy, automobile exhaust emissions have increased greatly; there are also harmful gases such as SO2produced by human mining and processing combustion; gases such as CO2produced by straw combustion will damage the atmosphere and lead to climate warming’. These findings suggest that all pre-service chemistry teachers appropriately understand global warming's root causes and the corresponding chemical behaviour, and that the seniors have a richer and more comprehensive understanding than the freshmen.
(3) Pre-service chemistry teachers have a certain understanding of the source of acid precipitation. Students can analyse acid precipitation's harm to buildings from a chemical perspective but cannot analyse its harm to soil in combination with soil elements.
Regarding acid precipitation sources, participants explained the sources and mechanisms of sulphuric and nitric acid precipitation. All of the pre-service chemistry teachers had a good understanding of sulphuric acid precipitation sources and their chemical reactions and could correctly write the chemical equation for a sulphuric acid precipitation reaction. Among them, PCT-F-06, PCT-S-03, and PCT-S-05 wrote the answer, ‘S + O2 = SO2SO2 + H2O = H2SO32H2SO3 + O2 = 2H2SO4or 2SO2 + O2 = 2SO3SO3 + H2O = H2SO4’ listing two reactions for sulphur dioxide, while the rest listed only one. Fourteen pre-service chemistry teachers believed that the main source of sulphuric acid precipitation was burning coal, while only PCT-F-03 and PCT-F-06 believed that it involved factory exhaust emissions. However, pre-service chemistry teachers had a limited understanding of nitric acid precipitation sources and their chemical reaction equations. The seniors could give examples of nitric acid precipitation causes, such as automobile exhaust emissions and nitrogen fertiliser use. Six seniors could write the nitric acid precipitation reaction equation; for example, PCT-S-05 wrote the equation, ‘N2 + O2 = 2NO 2NO + O2 = 2NO23NO2 + H2O = 2HNO3 + NO’. However, the freshmen did not understand much about it. Regarding measures to reduce acid rain, participants provided examples from the sulphur element perspective to reduce coal combustion, treat exhaust gas to reduce harmful gases such as SO2, implement desulphurisation treatment for coal, and use alternative energy. In general, the senior pre-service chemistry teachers knew more about acid precipitation and offered more suggestions for the prevention and control of acid precipitation than the freshmen.
Regarding the harm caused by acid precipitation, most participants mentioned ‘the harm to buildings and plant growth’. For example, PCT-S-01 thought that ‘acid precipitation can corrode buildings and crops, and then have a great impact on human beings’, and she wrote an equation for the reaction of the main components of a building with acid rain, ‘CaCO3 + 2H+ = Ca2+ + H2O + CO2↑’. Meanwhile, PCT-S-07 mentioned the corrosion of steel frames: ‘for example, there are some common steel frames nowadays, which are mainly composed of iron, and iron and sulphuric acid will undergo a substitution reaction, which will cause corrosion of this steel and may make the building unstable’. This shows that pre-service chemistry teachers explain the interaction between acid rain and building materials in detail. Regarding soil corrosion by acid rain, participants could only suggest that ‘high acidity is bad for plant growth’, but they were unclear about the soil elements and how they react with acid rain.
(4) Pre-service chemistry teachers have a certain understanding of the ozone layer and can describe the role of the ozone layer and the substances that destroy it. All participants had a certain understanding of ozone layer depletion. The freshman pre-service chemistry teachers were taking the inorganic chemistry course, which included this topic, so they explained ozone in more detail; all the senior pre-service chemistry teachers mentioned that they had learned about it in college textbooks. For example, regarding an ozone layer formation mechanism, PCT-F-04 could accurately say, ‘ozone is the decomposition of ultraviolet radiation into oxygen atoms, which are unstable and form ozone with oxygen’, while PCT-S-03 analysed ozone in more depth based on physical and structural chemistry knowledge and mentioned that ‘the oxygen–oxygen bonding level in ozone is 1.5, which is supposed to be formed with oxygen radicals’. Regarding ‘how to measure the ozone content’, freshman pre-service chemistry teachers responded based on acquired knowledge; for example, PCT-F-02 said, ‘we can measure ozone by measuring ultraviolet light’, and PCT-F-06 said, ‘it can be detected by using some reducing agents to make use of the oxidation of ozone’. PCT-F-04 also indicated that they had just learned the corresponding chemical equation. All the senior pre-service chemistry teachers indicated that they had learned this information previously, but could not immediately recall it.
Regarding the role of the ozone layer and the substances that destroy it, all participants knew that it protects against ultraviolet rays and that freon is a destructive substance. The senior pre-service chemistry teachers provided more detailed explanations compared with the freshman; for example, PCT-S-08 mentioned that ‘the ozone layer can block ultraviolet light from the sun, which can damage human skin and cause diseases such as skin cancer, and if the ozone layer is destroyed, violet light, which is shortwave light, has high energy and can cause more free radicals in the air, which are very unstable and can collide with each other and may aggravate the greenhouse effect’. These findings show that pre-service chemistry teachers have a certain understanding of ozone, its role, and the substances that destroy it. This knowledge is also covered in university textbooks.
(2) Pre-service chemistry teachers lack understanding of greenhouse gases; senior pre-service chemistry teachers can better explain the mechanism of greenhouse effect intensification than freshmen. All participants mentioned CO2 as a greenhouse gas. Three also mentioned NO2 and SO2; however, although these gases are harmful, they are not greenhouse gases. Therefore, most pre-service chemistry teachers’ knowledge of greenhouse gases is limited to CO2, and some mistakenly regarded other harmful gases as greenhouse gases. None of the participants knew that water vapour is the most abundant greenhouse gas on earth, most did not know how CO2 and other greenhouse gases aggravate the greenhouse effect, and only PCT-S-03 answered that ‘I studied this in college. The increase in CO2will affect the thickness of the atmosphere, which will lead to the intensification of the greenhouse effect’.
The interview results show that pre-service chemistry teachers do not clearly understand greenhouse gases, except for CO2. They incorrectly believe that CO2 is the most abundant greenhouse gas on earth, mistake other harmful gases as greenhouse gases, and do not have a clear understanding of the relationship between greenhouse gases and the greenhouse effect. It is also difficult for pre-service chemistry teachers to understand the greenhouse effect mechanism and the corresponding relationship with increased carbon dioxide concentrations and climate change effects. This has been confirmed in previous studies (Versprille and Towns, 2015). Senior pre-service chemistry teachers have a clearer and deeper understanding of the problems than the corresponding freshman.
(3) Pre-service chemistry teachers have a good understanding of CO2 and can identify CO2 sources and locations from a carbon cycle perspective. Regarding CO2 sources, all participants mentioned that CO2 is produced by burning fossil fuels or straws, and most noted that some biological behaviours in nature, such as respiration and plant and animal decomposition, can also produce CO2. Additionally, some participants mentioned automobile exhaust emissions. All participants identified plant photosynthesis as the CO2 destination. Pre-service chemistry teachers provided reasonable answers regarding the source and location of CO2 in modern society.
Regarding climate change mitigation, most participants recognised human responsibility for climate change, which is consistent with previous research findings (Arto-Blanco et al., 2017). Participants suggested pro-environmental measures, such as using clean energy, energy conservation, reducing energy consumption, and reducing emissions to mitigate climate change. For example, PCT-F-03 proposed that ‘more trees can be planted to make more use of CO2, and CO2can be absorbed for synthesis through the design of photocells, to reduce the burning of fossil fuels and automobile exhaust emissions’. PCT-S-08 suggested exhaust treatment: ‘factory emissions are treated, and car exhaust emissions are installed with gas conversion devices so that toxic exhaust gases are converted into non-toxic and harmless gases before they are emitted’. These results show that pre-service chemistry teachers tend to look beyond the simple ‘green life’ solution by proposing more scientific and practical measures to mitigate climate change. Senior pre-service chemistry teachers were better at this than freshmen.
Although pre-service chemistry teachers have a satisfactory understanding of climate change-related knowledge, the interviews exposed some shortcomings. Some pre-service chemistry teachers hold incorrect models of climate change, which hinder their understanding of how and why climate change occurs (Zangori et al., 2017). First, some pre-service chemistry teachers confuse climate change, global climate warming, and the greenhouse effect, and these incorrect concepts were not eliminated through their university studies. Second, pre-service chemistry teachers have a limited understanding of nitric acid precipitation and cannot analyse or explain the harm caused by acid precipitation combined with soil elements. Third, although pre-service chemistry teachers have a certain understanding of the ozone layer, they are not clear about its depletion mechanism (Howard et al., 2013). Understanding ozone formation and depletion mechanisms is crucial for better ozone layer protection. Fourth, pre-service chemistry teachers do not have a good understanding of the greenhouse effect and global warming (Jakobsson et al., 2009), or of the greenhouse effect's mechanisms and impact on the earth. The chemical factors involved in these mechanisms, such as electromagnetic radiation and substances’ particulate properties, facilitate the understanding of relevant knowledge and strengthen the connection between theoretical knowledge and practical life. Fifth, pre-service chemistry teachers have an insufficient understanding of greenhouse gases. The study participants could only name CO2 as a greenhouse gas; most did not know that CO2 intensifies the greenhouse effect. Participants also did not have a good understanding of how and why carbon moves (Zangori et al., 2017).
Our analysis identified the main factors that affect pre-service chemistry teachers’ understanding of climate change. First, senior-level pre-service chemistry teachers have a more scientific and in-depth understanding of many climate change-related aspects compared with freshman-level pre-service chemistry teachers. This suggests that college courses, especially chemistry-related courses, greatly impact the pre-service chemistry teachers’ cognition and understanding of climate change (Zhao and Ewert, 2021). This indicates that studying relevant knowledge in college chemistry courses positively affects pre-service chemistry teachers’ understanding of climate change issues. Participants repeatedly mentioned climate change knowledge in college chemistry courses during the interviews. For example, the explanation of ozone in the freshman inorganic chemistry course provides pre-service chemistry teachers a deeper understanding of ozone layer-related issues. Studies have also shown that relevant course work improves college students’ understanding of climate change (Carman et al., 2021; Aksit et al., 2018).
Second, science popularisation, supported by information technology, affects climate change knowledge. Information technology's various media and network resources occupy people's lives. Most pre-service chemistry teachers expressed during the interviews that they learned some information and trends about climate change from watching the news, videos, and related documentaries. Gaining knowledge from popular science, supported by information technology, is an important avenue for students to acquire climate change knowledge. Today's college students experience more exposure to climate change through school and the media than previous generations (Aksit et al., 2018). With information technology's rapid development, science communication continues to develop. As a kind of public welfare social education resource, popular science is increasingly important for improving citizens’ scientific literacy.
Third, pre-service chemistry teachers’ dual identity affects their experience and understanding of the climate change theme. Some pre-service chemistry teachers’ college experiences influenced their knowledge and understanding of climate change—for example, participating in climate change community activities, listening to climate change lecture reports, and participating in debates on topics related to climate change. Additionally, as social citizens, pre-service chemistry teachers are widely active in various social organisations and places, such as visiting science and technology museums and other museums. The dissemination of climate change knowledge in these places will affect pre-service chemistry teachers’ understanding of climate change. This reflects the importance of informal learning on pre-service chemistry teachers’ development (Heider et al., 2022).
Our findings show that, although pre-service chemistry teachers have a certain understanding of climate change's global social science issue, they still have a vague or even incorrect understanding of some conceptions, which need to be strengthened and improved. Higher education plays an important role in providing future citizens and leaders with the ability to address systemic issues behind complex problems such as climate change (Liu, 2022). Chemical science plays an important role in solving climate change-related issues. Chemistry curriculums should strengthen their teaching of global climate change (Wan and Bi, 2020), and develop pre-service chemistry teachers’ ability to thoroughly and accurately explain the greenhouse effect, acid precipitation, ozone layer, and other related mechanical issues from a micro perspective; consider climate change's performance and causes from a macro and meso level; reflect on the impact of climate change; and identify ways to manage it and related issues from the perspective of future social development and human survival.
As modern society and information technology continue to develop, scientific communication and climate change popularisation, coupled with climate change attention in non-formal education, should be strengthened to improve pre-service chemistry teachers’ awareness and understanding of climate change from multiple levels and perspectives, enhance their scientific literacy and humanistic concern, improve their sense of social responsibility and mission, and reserve human power for a response and solution to climate change and the cultivation of future social citizens.
(1) Have you heard about climate change? Please explain your understanding and thoughts about it.
2. The main manifestations of climate change
(1) Have you heard about global warming? Do you think it is related to climate change? If so, please elaborate on their relationship.
(2) What do you think is the root cause of global warming? Can you explain human actions that cause global warming from a chemical perspective?
(3) What are the types of acid rain? Can you explain the source and cause of acid rain? What chemical reaction occurs when it is combined with elements such as sulphur and nitrogen?
(4) What are the harmful effects of acid rain? What is the possible damage that can be caused to buildings when acid rain combines with building materials? Can you explain the harm caused by acid rain to the soil when it combines with its elements?
(5) Have you heard about the ozone layer? Can you explain the mechanism of ozone layer formation from a chemical or microscopic perspective?
(6) Ozone holes have appeared on the earth today. Can you explain the role of the ozone layer on earth from a microscopic point of view? Do you know how to measure the ozone content?
(7) At present, the ozone layer is facing a risk of continuous depletion. Can you give examples of substances that destroy the ozone layer? Can you explain the chemical mechanism causing the destruction of the ozone layer?
3. The causes of climate change
(1) Do you think the climate on earth is changing? If so, what do you think is the cause of climate change?
(2) Do you know the role of the greenhouse effect? The increase in greenhouse effect has led to many adverse effects. What do you think are the reasons behind the increase in the greenhouse effect?
(3) Have you heard of greenhouse gases? What are the greenhouse gases you know about? Which is the primary greenhouse gas on earth?
(4) Can you elaborate on how greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide exacerbate the greenhouse effect?
(5) Can you list the main sources of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide? How can we mitigate the increase in the greenhouse effect from the carbon cycle perspective?
(6) According to you, what is the relationship between the greenhouse effect and climate change?
4. The impact of climate change
Do you think climate change can affect our daily lives? Does it have an impact on earth? Please provide a few detailed examples.
5. How to deal with climate change
(1) What measures do you suggest to prevent and control the increasing greenhouse effect?
(2) Climate change has numerous adverse effects on the planet. Can you propose some methods that you think could mitigate or decelerate these effects?
This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2023 |