Climate change skepticism seeps into science classrooms [View all]

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http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-climate-change-school-20120116,0,2808837.story

[font face=Times,Times New Roman,Serif][font size=5]Climate change skepticism seeps into science classrooms[/font]
[font size=4]Some states have introduced education standards requiring teachers to defend the denial of man-made global warming. A national watchdog group says it will start monitoring classrooms.[/font]

By Neela Banerjee, Washington Bureau
January 16, 2012

[font size=3]Reporting from Washington—
A flash point has emerged in American science education that echoes the battle over evolution, as scientists and educators report mounting resistance to the study of man-made climate change in middle and high schools.

Although scientific evidence increasingly shows that fossil fuel consumption has caused the climate to change rapidly, the issue has grown so politicized that skepticism of the broad scientific consensus has seeped into classrooms.

Texas and Louisiana have introduced education standards that require educators to teach climate change denial as a valid scientific position. South Dakota and Utah passed resolutions denying climate change. Tennessee and Oklahoma also have introduced legislation to give climate change skeptics a place in the classroom.

In May, a school board in Los Alamitos, Calif., passed a measure, later rescinded, identifying climate science as a controversial topic that required special instructional oversight.

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