Best practices in climate change communication as applied to an informal education documentary about Alaska

Abstract

The public’s understanding of climate change has been plagued by poor communication, misinformation, and disinformation. Fortunately, there is a growing body of research on effective climate change communication strategies. A popular element of science communication is documentary film. Educational films produced for museums, planetariums, and other informal science education settings are especially important because they reach a more receptive audience. In making A Place Like No Other, a fulldome documentary about climate change in Alaska, we employed best practices about climate change communication derived from the literature. Here we argue that producers of educational documentary film about climate change need to incorporate best practices established specifically for climate change to make their message more persuasive. Because of its highly politicized and controversial nature, climate change needs to be treated differently from other science topics. In this paper we review the scholarship on documentary film and its efficacy in causing attitudinal change. Existing research about educational film on climate change is limited but nonetheless shows that many fail to achieve their goal of motivating viewers. We identify strategies, such as employing incremental persuasion and connecting on values, that informed our filmmaking practice. To assess the efficacy of elements of our film, a ten-minute section that discusses ocean acidification was shown to a sample of undergraduates at the University of Alaska Anchorage. Pre- and post-surveys showed positive changes in awareness and attitudes. These results suggest that when these strategies are used, documentary films in an informal science education setting can create significant gains in educational and attitudinal goals.

Keywords:

• Climate change
• film
• misconceptions
• Alaska
• global warming