Change happens at the edges, and in increments.

Learning happens at the edges, and in increments.

If you try to change the mind of someone who is a staunch climate change denier to get them to think like a person who completely understands the phenomenon, it's as difficult as getting someone who doesn't know basic arithmetic to solve polynomial equations. 

The leap doesn't happen from one extreme state to another. 

This is why school and university curriculums are designed to build on top of one another, and for incremental learning. The basic foundational concepts are introduced first and then more nuances are built on top of them. The generic laws are introduced first and the exceptions are introduced after that. 

If you want to learn a new thing, design your learning to take you from your current state of awareness to the desired state in digestible increments. A litmus test for any good course, or any good coach, is their ability to do this.

And if you want to persuade someone to change their mind, also do it in digestible increments.