Investigating teachers’ use of information about cutting edge research

In this small-scale scoping study, the questions around whether and how teachers of STEM subjects access information about cutting edge research to inform their classroom practice, and how this impacts on the students they teach, was explored.

This study supports STEM Learning’s aims to explore the effective teaching of STEM research skills by identifying:

• What approaches do teachers of STEM subjects use to teach research knowledge and skills in their lessons?
• What examples and case studies of research do they draw on?
• How confident are they in their expertise in this area?

The report focusses on a particular area of cutting-edge research: climate change and sustainability. This is a cross-cutting topic for teachers of STEM subjects, with relevance to multiple areas of the curriculum and student age groups. Research in this area is highly relevant to young people, in terms of tackling the climate crisis as well as future ‘green careers’.

There is increasing evidence that teachers lack confidence and knowledge in delivering climate education with issues ranging from dealing with eco-anxiety and political neutrality, to ensuring they are delivering a solution focussed approach (for example, King et al., 2021). Meanwhile, the Department for Education’s Climate Change and Sustainability Strategy (launched in April 2022) gives direction to this area of work within schools.

Further, the report hoped to generate important knowledge about the impacts of using cutting edge research relating to climate change, with the beneficial outcomes of this work including:

• support for teachers in the use of research in their practice, thereby potentially reducing their and students’ anxiety as they develop an understanding of how climate scientists are exploring and developing solutions to address the climate crisis
• understanding climate researchers' approaches and how they can be adapted and used by young people to explore their own questions about climate change and sustainability.

The report was published in October 2024.