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Earth's climate is rapidly changing, and citizens of the 21st century will need to act based on informed decisions about climate change. A liberal education should contribute to an informed and responsible citizenry who can think independently, reason analytically, and communicate effectively. Following college graduation, typical Americans will gain most of their science information through the media. How well are students prepared to be effective, critical consumers of media‐reported science? We broach this subject by comparing the climate change vocabulary of undergraduate science courses for non‐science majors with multiple popular media sources. Using PASW Text Analytics for Surveys, we objectively identified key terms from both classroom and media sources, and grouped these terms into major reservoirs and fluxes of the carbon cycle. Our classroom data include exams and quizzes from biology and …