To read the full report, visit nextgenscience.org/next-generation-science-standards.
A national multi-state effort to create new standards in science education on Tuesday announced it is calling for the first time to identify climate change as a core curricular concept and emphasize the role that human activity has on climate systems.
Although the Next Generation Science Standards were established with the participation of 26 states, Colorado is not a partner in the project. Also, the Boulder Valley School District and other state school districts are not committed or obligated to adapt the new standards for teaching climate change.
In a teleconference, scientists supportive of the Next Generation Science Standards' recommendations spoke on the importance they see in a multi-disciplinary grounding in the issues surrounding climate change, emphasizing the role that human activity has on climate systems.
"We believe that there is no more important lesson that students should be learning right now than climate science, and the impact it will have and the climate solutions that they can be part of," said Mario Molina, deputy director at the Alliance for Climate Education.
Molina said education around climate change is a "gap we must be working to fill," adding that climate change "is very much a scientific reality, and students have the right to know what that reality is."
Frank Niepold, climate education coordinator at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Climate Program Office, said successful education around weather and climate issues starts at the kindergarten level.
"This is a long careful progress across many grades, and not something that is done as a unit in high school. That is not what we're talking about here," said Niepold, who also is co-chair of the Climate Education Interagency Working Group at the U.S. Global Change Research Program.
"We're going to build learning progressions, and build that across many grades, and reinforce and build... That's how this is going to work. It's high time we reform how we do this, in a careful and intentional way.
The Next Generation Science Standards is a joint effort of the National Research Council, the National Science Teachers Association, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the nonprofit group Achieve.
Although 26 states are listed as partners on the standards, each state's decision to adopt it is voluntary.
Melissa Colsman, executive director of Teaching and Learning at the Colorado Department of Education, confirmed that the state's science teaching standards around climate change will not be guided or altered based on Next Generation's newly announced initiative.
"The way that the Next Generation Science Standards process was indicated is, that the states who participated needed to sign on, that they would consider adopting all of the standards," Colsman said. "We found that a little challenging for us to do, in signing on to standards that weren't even developed yet."
Colsman said that was at odds with the "very thoughtful approach" CDE prefers to follow in curriculum development, and that, "it didn't really fit in with our process."
Joanna Bruno, science content specialist for CDE, said the state revised grade level expectations in every discipline in the wake of Senate Bill 212 in 2008 -- better known as the Colorado Achievement Plan for Kids (CAP4K), which will be fully implemented by 2013-14.
The state's plan calls for eighth grade Earth systems science to cover "inquiry questions" including "what evidence supports and/or contradicts human influence on climate change," and, "how has Earth's climate changed over time"?
BVSD's standards for Earth systems science at the eighth-grade level adopts those same parameters -- but adds climate-change language to those state standards, doing so in italics. For example, BVSD states, "Changes in climate conditions can affect the health and function of ecosystems and the survival of entire species."
And BVSD's curriculum sees eighth graders learning to "identify natural and human processes that cycle carbon through the Earth system, the relative speed of these processes and the impacts of changes to these processes."
Sam Messier, science director for BVSD, said she believes Colorado's state standards already embrace many of the principles outlined by the Next Generation Science Standards.
And, Messier, added, "We are trying to stay abreast of the changes that are happening nationally and position ourselves at a place that, if and when Colorado decides to adopt those standards, we'll be able to move in that direction."
Contact Camera Staff Writer Charlie Brennan at 303-473-1327 or email@example.com.