ABSTRACT
The climate of any given region is determined by the climate system, which consists of five components: atmosphere, oceans, land, life, and ice. From this perspective, climate change is the result of a modification in the components of the system and their relationships to each other, such that there is a change in the meteorological elements of a region and over time its climate. In this chapter, the authors provide a brief overview on the need for system think and the research on students' system thinking. The authors overview their study and present their model of students' conceptualization of the climate system. They compare their students' conceptions to that of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) findings and to their conceptual model for teaching about the climate system. Finally, the authors describe the implications for teaching and learning.
