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Science Teachers’ Group Comes Out Strong on Teaching Climate Change

By Stephen Sawchuk — September 18, 2018 1 min read
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The major group representing science educators is making this point crystal clear: The scientific consensus for climate change caused by human activity is overwhelming, and the topic must be taught in K-12 classrooms.

The National Science Teachers Association says in its position statement, released last week, that the science of climate change is as established as other fields, like plate tectonics and planetary astronomy.

“Given the solid scientific foundation on which climate-change science rests, any controversies regarding climate change and human-caused contributions to climate change that are based on social, economic, or political arguments—rather than scientific arguments—should not be part of a science curriculum,” it says.

Idaho, New Mexico, and West Virginia, have all faced controversies over the past two years over how they’ve revised their science standards on the topic of climate change. And just in the past weeks, Arizona released a new draft that eliminates some pieces related to climate change.

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A version of this article appeared in the September 19, 2018 edition of Education Week as Science Teachers’ Group Comes Out Strong on Teaching Climate Change

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