Secondary school and undergraduate environmental education methods that rely on inquiry research, peer collaboration and group projects can help to build local community engagement with and understanding of environmental problems such as anthropogenic global climate change (AGCC). This study with 79 students in Montreal, Quebec aimed to show how differing climate education tools succeeded and failed at getting students to engage with and evolve in their understanding of AGCC. The treatment group used an educational scientific instrument, a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) global climate model (GCM), while the control worked with science education tools with simpler interfaces and processes. Instruction with each type of technology held distinct goals: To convey specific AGCC science concepts or the processes of global climate modeling. Each also affected how student groups conducted research in two independent, identical seven-week courses and engaged with software, course topics and each other. To gain a view of how technology shaped learning, we first analyzed student and instructor opinions of each science education technology in questionnaires and exit interviews; second, we compared this to what engagement and peer interaction looked like in over 536 minutes of classroom video footage; finally, we tracked student learning trajectories in each course through practice quizzes, diagnostic exams and 253 student written reflections. We found a GCM-based course posed unique technological and scientific challenges for both instructors and students but resulted in more engagement, authentic research and clearer conceptions of AGCC. Students using simpler science education technologies never fully understood climate research and demonstrated learning trajectories with smaller gains. Environmental scientists must determine what interdisciplinary educational approaches best enable the public to understand socio-scientific environmental problems to aid in decision-making that helps solve them while preserving community well being.