Examining the mental models of preservice teachers on a climate change based case scenario with the systems thinking approach

Climate change is one of the complex problems due to its dynamic nature and interactions. However, people tend to have simple and linear mental models. Thus, it is necessary to approach climate as a system and go beyond simple mental models to address climate change. Given the role of education, it becomes essential for teachers and pre-service teachers to be competent in systems thinking. This study examines pre-service teachers' mental models of a case scenario based on climate change using a systems thinking approach. Data were collected from pre-service teachers enrolled in a climate change education course at a state university through Lake Urmia Vignette developed by Davis et al. (2020). Participants answered the questions in the scenario by writing explanations and drawing causal loop diagrams. The researcher transformed the written responses into causal loop diagrams following the method developed by Kim and Andersen (2012) and analyzed the causal loop diagrams that the participants had already drawn. The results show that participants' mental model representations derived from their explanations focused on linear relationships and ignored feedback. When participants were asked to draw causal loops, most were able to incorporate feedback loops into their mental model representations, which made a more complex structure. This study suggests that causal loop diagrams need to be integrated into instructional practices to initiate the development of complex mental models.