K C Busch
Biographic Data
| ID | 4627947 |
|---|---|
| NAME | K C Busch |
| GIVEN NAMES | K C |
| FAMILY NAME | Busch |
| SIGNATURE | BUSCH K C |
| AFFILIATIONS | North Carolina State University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-4549-5401 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 18 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 43 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 18 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2015 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Facilitated Citizen Science in Public Libraries as a Context for Science Socialization
Citizen science projects are widely recognized as contexts for a variety of informal science education outcomes. Much previous research on learning in citizen science has taken place in single-project contexts. However, learning is a highly individualized and contextual process that includes experiences beyond a project. We take a holistic, life-course view of learning to investigate the role facilitated citizen science experiences in public libr…
Social capital as a predictor of collective environmental action in high school students
As youth are increasingly engaged in collective environmental action, more research is needed on how to best support their efforts. Commonly used existing environmental behavior models such as the theory of planned behavior and environmental literacy models are inadequate predictors of collective action. However, emerging research suggests factors such as social capital may be promising additions. This paper compares the utility of three competin…
Educating for psychological, community, and ecological resilience
Effective Strategies for Learning and Teaching in Times of Science Denial and Disinformation
The modern information landscape offers an abundance of options to learn about science topics, but it is also ripe for the spread of mis‐ and disinformation and science denial. Science education can play a pivotal role in mitigating harm from untruthful information, strengthening trust in science, and fostering a more informed and critically engaged public. Across the articles in this special issue, 10 pedagogical strategies to address mis‐ and d…
Pushing toward systemic change in the Capitalocene
Environmental education often advocates for individual pro-environmental behavior—which, while beneficial to a degree, fails to match the large scale of today’s capitalism-fueled socio-ecological challenges. Rather, collective action holds promise as a means for the large-scale changes required in the Capitalocene. These actions can take the shape of encouraging group uptake of behaviors (collective non-activist behaviors) or through fostering sy…
Conceptualizing community scientific literacy
The predominant conceptualization of scientific literacy occurs on the micro scale of an individual person. However, scientific literacy can also be exhibited at the meso scale by groups of people in communities of place, practice, or interest. What comprises this community level scientific literacy (CSL) is both understudied and undertheorized. In this paper, we utilized a systematic literature review to describe how CSL is characterized in the …
Becoming the change we want to see
This study focuses on the diversity, equity, access, and inclusion (DEAI) practices of informal science institutions (ISI) that are part of a statewide grants program. Data were collected to understand how ISIs interpret and implement DEAI in thought and action in their efforts to create more welcoming spaces for members of communities that are often underrepresented or marginalized in informal learning spaces. Modeled after the Cultural Competen…
How mixed messages may be better than avoidance in climate change education
Using social network analysis to assess connections within climate and energy education organizations
Conceptualizing community-level environmental literacy using the Delphi method
Facilitator organizations enhance learning and action through citizen science
Engagement in citizen science can result in participant outcomes including increased science and environmental literacy and civic action. One factor which may increase the likelihood of these outcomes is facilitation by groups such as employers, schools, or other organizations. We examined how a partnership between SciStarter and Girl Scouts of the USA facilitated participation in citizen science to shape participants’ learning and civic engageme…
What effective design strategies do rural, underserved students in STEM clubs value while learning about climate change
This study investigated the experiences of rural, underserved middle school students in afterschool clubs. Culturally relevant climate change education strategies were used to enhance students’ climate change literacy. We investigated changes in students’ climate change literacy, perceptions of strategies used, and what they valued about the clubs by analyzing a pre-post survey (N = 97) and structured written reflections (N = 113). A new integrat…
What is community-level environmental literacy, and how can we measure it? A report of a convening to conceptualize and operationalize CLEL
Environmental education research often emphasizes the importance of community context, but conceptualization and measurement of environmental literacy has mostly occurred at the individual level, often focusing on individual behaviors. The environmental problems facing the world today require collective action—communities coming together to address large-scale problems. Accordingly, understanding and encouraging collective action requires a shift…
Complex influences of mechanistic knowledge, worldview, and quantitative reasoning on climate change discourse
Anthropogenic climate change remains divisive in the United States, where skepticism of the scientific consensus is associated with conservative worldviews, resulting in political polarization. This study considers three hypotheses regarding U.S. polarization over climate change that have emerged from social psychology research and applies them to science education by showing how these hypotheses could relate to adolescents' science learning. We …
Textbooks of doubt, tested
In US school settings and materials, climate change is often framed as an uncertain phenomenon. However, the effect of such denialist representations on youth’s perceptions of climate change has not been empirically tested. To address this gap in the literature, this article reports on a survey-based experiment testing two framings of uncertainty about the causes and effects of climate change—one with a high level of uncertainty and one with a lo…
Impacts of a Practice-Based Professional Development Program on Elementary Teachers’ Facilitation of and Student Engagement With Scientific Argumentation
This article reports an investigation of a professional development program to enhance elementary teachers’ ability to engage their students in argument from evidence in science. Using a quasi-experimental approach, three versions were compared: Version A—a 1-week summer institute with a 2-week summer practicum experience and 8 follow-up days (four per year), Version B without the practicum experience, and Version C—a revision of Version A in Yea…
Broadening epistemologies and methodologies in climate change education research
In this commentary, we reflect on the articles in this special collection from our lens as scholars who have chosen to conduct research with a focus on climate change education. We start with statements of positionality, as certainly our own experiences and philosophical stances shape our work and reflections included here. Afterwards, we present a typology of climate change education research, utilizing a framework developed from research paradi…
Textbooks of doubt
Middle school students are learning about climate change in large part through textbooks used in their classes. Therefore, it is crucial to understand how the language employed in these materials frames this topic. To this end, we used systemic functional analysis to study the language of the chapters related to climate change in four sixth grade science textbooks adopted in the state of California. The linguistic variables investigated were: typ…
Textbooks of doubt
Middle school students are learning about climate change in large part through textbooks used in their classes. Therefore, it is crucial to understand how the language employed in these materials frames this topic. To this end, we used systemic functional analysis to study the language of the chapters related to climate change in four sixth grade science textbooks adopted in the state of California. The linguistic variables investigated were: typ…
Broadening epistemologies and methodologies in climate change education research
In this commentary, we reflect on the articles in this special collection from our lens as scholars who have chosen to conduct research with a focus on climate change education. We start with statements of positionality, as certainly our own experiences and philosophical stances shape our work and reflections included here. Afterwards, we present a typology of climate change education research, utilizing a framework developed from research paradi…
Impacts of a Practice-Based Professional Development Program on Elementary Teachers’ Facilitation of and Student Engagement With Scientific Argumentation
This article reports an investigation of a professional development program to enhance elementary teachers’ ability to engage their students in argument from evidence in science. Using a quasi-experimental approach, three versions were compared: Version A—a 1-week summer institute with a 2-week summer practicum experience and 8 follow-up days (four per year), Version B without the practicum experience, and Version C—a revision of Version A in Yea…
Textbooks of doubt, tested
In US school settings and materials, climate change is often framed as an uncertain phenomenon. However, the effect of such denialist representations on youth’s perceptions of climate change has not been empirically tested. To address this gap in the literature, this article reports on a survey-based experiment testing two framings of uncertainty about the causes and effects of climate change—one with a high level of uncertainty and one with a lo…
What is community-level environmental literacy, and how can we measure it? A report of a convening to conceptualize and operationalize CLEL
Environmental education research often emphasizes the importance of community context, but conceptualization and measurement of environmental literacy has mostly occurred at the individual level, often focusing on individual behaviors. The environmental problems facing the world today require collective action—communities coming together to address large-scale problems. Accordingly, understanding and encouraging collective action requires a shift…
What effective design strategies do rural, underserved students in STEM clubs value while learning about climate change
This study investigated the experiences of rural, underserved middle school students in afterschool clubs. Culturally relevant climate change education strategies were used to enhance students’ climate change literacy. We investigated changes in students’ climate change literacy, perceptions of strategies used, and what they valued about the clubs by analyzing a pre-post survey (N = 97) and structured written reflections (N = 113). A new integrat…
Effective Strategies for Learning and Teaching in Times of Science Denial and Disinformation
The modern information landscape offers an abundance of options to learn about science topics, but it is also ripe for the spread of mis‐ and disinformation and science denial. Science education can play a pivotal role in mitigating harm from untruthful information, strengthening trust in science, and fostering a more informed and critically engaged public. Across the articles in this special issue, 10 pedagogical strategies to address mis‐ and d…
Conceptualizing community-level environmental literacy using the Delphi method
Textbooks of doubt
Middle school students are learning about climate change in large part through textbooks used in their classes. Therefore, it is crucial to understand how the language employed in these materials frames this topic. To this end, we used systemic functional analysis to study the language of the chapters related to climate change in four sixth grade science textbooks adopted in the state of California. The linguistic variables investigated were: typ…
Broadening epistemologies and methodologies in climate change education research
In this commentary, we reflect on the articles in this special collection from our lens as scholars who have chosen to conduct research with a focus on climate change education. We start with statements of positionality, as certainly our own experiences and philosophical stances shape our work and reflections included here. Afterwards, we present a typology of climate change education research, utilizing a framework developed from research paradi…
Impacts of a Practice-Based Professional Development Program on Elementary Teachers’ Facilitation of and Student Engagement With Scientific Argumentation
This article reports an investigation of a professional development program to enhance elementary teachers’ ability to engage their students in argument from evidence in science. Using a quasi-experimental approach, three versions were compared: Version A—a 1-week summer institute with a 2-week summer practicum experience and 8 follow-up days (four per year), Version B without the practicum experience, and Version C—a revision of Version A in Yea…
Complex influences of mechanistic knowledge, worldview, and quantitative reasoning on climate change discourse
Anthropogenic climate change remains divisive in the United States, where skepticism of the scientific consensus is associated with conservative worldviews, resulting in political polarization. This study considers three hypotheses regarding U.S. polarization over climate change that have emerged from social psychology research and applies them to science education by showing how these hypotheses could relate to adolescents' science learning. We …
Textbooks of doubt, tested
In US school settings and materials, climate change is often framed as an uncertain phenomenon. However, the effect of such denialist representations on youth’s perceptions of climate change has not been empirically tested. To address this gap in the literature, this article reports on a survey-based experiment testing two framings of uncertainty about the causes and effects of climate change—one with a high level of uncertainty and one with a lo…
What effective design strategies do rural, underserved students in STEM clubs value while learning about climate change
This study investigated the experiences of rural, underserved middle school students in afterschool clubs. Culturally relevant climate change education strategies were used to enhance students’ climate change literacy. We investigated changes in students’ climate change literacy, perceptions of strategies used, and what they valued about the clubs by analyzing a pre-post survey (N = 97) and structured written reflections (N = 113). A new integrat…
What is community-level environmental literacy, and how can we measure it? A report of a convening to conceptualize and operationalize CLEL
Environmental education research often emphasizes the importance of community context, but conceptualization and measurement of environmental literacy has mostly occurred at the individual level, often focusing on individual behaviors. The environmental problems facing the world today require collective action—communities coming together to address large-scale problems. Accordingly, understanding and encouraging collective action requires a shift…
Facilitator organizations enhance learning and action through citizen science
Engagement in citizen science can result in participant outcomes including increased science and environmental literacy and civic action. One factor which may increase the likelihood of these outcomes is facilitation by groups such as employers, schools, or other organizations. We examined how a partnership between SciStarter and Girl Scouts of the USA facilitated participation in citizen science to shape participants’ learning and civic engageme…
Pushing toward systemic change in the Capitalocene
Environmental education often advocates for individual pro-environmental behavior—which, while beneficial to a degree, fails to match the large scale of today’s capitalism-fueled socio-ecological challenges. Rather, collective action holds promise as a means for the large-scale changes required in the Capitalocene. These actions can take the shape of encouraging group uptake of behaviors (collective non-activist behaviors) or through fostering sy…
Conceptualizing community scientific literacy
The predominant conceptualization of scientific literacy occurs on the micro scale of an individual person. However, scientific literacy can also be exhibited at the meso scale by groups of people in communities of place, practice, or interest. What comprises this community level scientific literacy (CSL) is both understudied and undertheorized. In this paper, we utilized a systematic literature review to describe how CSL is characterized in the …
Becoming the change we want to see
This study focuses on the diversity, equity, access, and inclusion (DEAI) practices of informal science institutions (ISI) that are part of a statewide grants program. Data were collected to understand how ISIs interpret and implement DEAI in thought and action in their efforts to create more welcoming spaces for members of communities that are often underrepresented or marginalized in informal learning spaces. Modeled after the Cultural Competen…
How mixed messages may be better than avoidance in climate change education
Using social network analysis to assess connections within climate and energy education organizations
Conceptualizing community-level environmental literacy using the Delphi method
Educating for psychological, community, and ecological resilience
Effective Strategies for Learning and Teaching in Times of Science Denial and Disinformation
The modern information landscape offers an abundance of options to learn about science topics, but it is also ripe for the spread of mis‐ and disinformation and science denial. Science education can play a pivotal role in mitigating harm from untruthful information, strengthening trust in science, and fostering a more informed and critically engaged public. Across the articles in this special issue, 10 pedagogical strategies to address mis‐ and d…
Facilitated Citizen Science in Public Libraries as a Context for Science Socialization
Citizen science projects are widely recognized as contexts for a variety of informal science education outcomes. Much previous research on learning in citizen science has taken place in single-project contexts. However, learning is a highly individualized and contextual process that includes experiences beyond a project. We take a holistic, life-course view of learning to investigate the role facilitated citizen science experiences in public libr…
Social capital as a predictor of collective environmental action in high school students
As youth are increasingly engaged in collective environmental action, more research is needed on how to best support their efforts. Commonly used existing environmental behavior models such as the theory of planned behavior and environmental literacy models are inadequate predictors of collective action. However, emerging research suggests factors such as social capital may be promising additions. This paper compares the utility of three competin…
Psychology (14 works) · Environmental Education and Sustainability (12 works) · Pedagogy (12 works) · Climate Change Communication and Perception (9 works) · Political science (9 works) · Sociology (9 works) · Social Psychology (8 works) · Environmental education (7 works) · Climate change (6 works) · Literacy (6 works)