Difficulties in reasoning about causality hinder comprehensive discussion about climate change

Systems thinking skills are essential in creating solutions that mitigate the devastating effects of global climate change. Science and sustainability education have acknowledged this. Biology is one the major key disciplines involved in climate change research. Yet, the learning progression of systems thinking skills among biology students is unresearched. This study used a single cohort descriptive approach to investigate how undergraduate biology students (N = 42) employ systems thinking skills when tasked to contemplate consequences of global climate change. We designed a case task that included scientific research material which the students read in an experimental setting and answered to three open-ended questions related to the presented material. Qualitative content analysis was performed to both categorize challenges identified by the students and the systems thinking skill levels exhibited in the students’ reasoning. The internal characteristics of students’ reasoning was also categorized. Students identified challenges rather uniformly and few students discussed multiple challenges simultaneously. This was then reflected in the levels of systems thinking skills. Most students remained on the lower skill levels exhibiting an ability to identify system structures and relationships within. Higher levels, where students would indicate an analysis of feedback loops and interactions both within and between systems, were demonstrated by few students. A crucial finding was that flawed causal relationships and internal conflicts were exhibited by the same students with lower systems thinking skills. Further research into this descriptive connection is warranted in educational research.