New national science standards that make the teaching of global
warming part of the public school curriculum are slated to be
released this month, potentially ending an era in which climate
skepticism has been allowed to seep into the nation's
classrooms. The Next Generation Science Standards were developed
by the National Research Council, the National Science Teachers
Association, the American Association for the Advancement of
Science, the nonprofit Achieve and more than two dozen states.
The latest draft recommends that educators teach the evidence
for man-made climate change starting as early as elementary
school and incorporate it into all science classes, ranging from
earth science to chemistry. By eighth grade, students should
understand that "human activities, such as the release of
greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels, are major factors in
the current rise in Earth’s mean surface temperature (global
warming)," the standards say. They're "revolutionary," said Mark
McCaffrey, programs and policy