It used to be sex ed that got science teachers into challenging situations once in awhile. Evolution, too, of course. Increasingly, the “C” word, climate, is creating challenges for educators trying to explore the heat-trapping properties of carbon dioxide and the implications for climate as concentrations of CO2 and other greenhouse gases rise. Here’s an excerpt from a post at Real Climate that asks, “So What’s a Teacher to Do?”:
Imagine you’re a middle-school science teacher, and you get to the section of the course where you’re to talk about climate change. You mention the “C” words, and two students walk out of the class.
Or you mention global warming and a hand shoots up.
“Mrs. Brown! My dad says global warming is a hoax!”
Or you come to school one morning and the principal wants to see you because a parent of one of your students has accused you of political bias because you taught what scientists agree about: that the Earth is getting warmer, and human actions have had an important role in this warming.
Or you pick up the newspaper and see that your state legislature is considering a bill that declares that accepted sciences like global warming (and evolution, of course) are “controversial issues” that require “alternatives” to be taught.
Incidents like these have happened in one or more states, and they are likely to continue to happen. Teachers are encountering pushback from many directions as they try to teach global warming and other climate science topics.
The post (read the rest here) is by Eugenie C. Scott, the executive director of the National Center for Science Education, which was originally focused on keeping evolution in public school curricula but has added a substantial climate focus to its work.
So, to your mind, what is a teacher to do?
There’s more in this question in my recent post on “Climate in Classrooms.”