The effect of school science education on students' climate literacy: a three-level meta-analysis

Climate literacy is fundamental to addressing climate change. Science education has unique value in shaping students' climate literacy. Given the divergence among single studies, it is essential to synthesize findings from multiple empirical investigations to comprehensively explore the impact of science education on students' climate literacy, yet such research remains scarce.

This study employed a three-level meta-analysis to examine the effectiveness of school science education in fostering students' climate literacy.

We systematically searched five databases for studies published up to May 2025, ultimately including 33 experimental and quasi-experimental studies (N = 8,044) from five continents. We conducted three-level meta-analysis of overall effects and moderation effects using the metafor package in R software.

The results indicated that school science education has a significantly positive and large effect on students' climate literacy (g = 1.01, 95% CI [0.70, 1.33], p < 0.001, k = 60). Dimensional analyses showed significant positive effects on climate change cognition (g = 1.08, 95% CI [0.71, 1.45], p < 0.001, k = 46) and attitudes (g = 0.88, 95% CI [0.17, 1.60], p < 0.05, k = 11), with a larger effect for cognition. The effect on climate action was not statistically significant (g = 0.34, 95% CI [-0.63, 1.32], p > 0.05, k = 3). Discipline significantly moderated the effect of science education on climate literacy, whereas instructional strategy, educational level, and intervention duration did not.

Our research indicates that school science education is an effective pathway for enhancing students' climate literacy, though the impact varies across different science disciplines. However, given the considerable heterogeneity among the included studies and the limited number of studies and effect sizes in some groups, these findings should be interpreted with caution.