In my last article I exposed the outrageously alarmist 7th grade lessons on climate change just published under the so-called Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).
There are now two fundamentally different systems of science education in American schools. The radical NGSS have been adopted by 20 States and so govern what about a third of our children learn in public schools. The other two thirds of America’s public school students are still under the regular standards, which have been developed over many years of practice.
To understand this strange situation it is useful to know what is taught to 7th graders under the regular standards. Several years ago I led a project that cataloged the average content of these standards for all grades. My sponsor was the US Energy Department’s Office of Science, the world’s biggest funder of research in the physical sciences.
Below are the topics that middle school students (grades 7, 8 & 9) typically cover. There is some variation from State to State but this list is a good indicator, especially because it is very different from what NGSS teaches. There is nothing at all about climate, much less scary made-up climate change.
A lot of important topics are covered, from a wide range of sciences. This is typical of every grade. There is a lot of real science to learn, without wasting time on climate alarmism.
Note that there is some redundancy because this list is used for a computer search algorithm that estimates the grade level of a science education document based on the terms used. Stemming is not used because in some cases the singular and plural occur at different grade levels. For example, moon versus moons. In many cases the singular and plural actually refer to slightly different things, so both occur frequently in the list.
Middle school topics typically taught in science education
CELLULAR
CELLULAR STRUCTURE
CELLULAR STRUCTURES
CELL FUNCTION
CELL FUNCTIONS
CELLULAR FUNCTION
CELLULAR FUNCTIONS
CELL SIGNALING
CELL COMPOSITION
CELLULAR COMPOSITION
CELL ORGANIZATION
CELLULAR ORGANIZATION
ORGANELLES
CELL ORGANELLES
CELL MEMBRANE
CELL MEMBRANES
CELLULAR MEMBRANE
CELLULAR MEMBRANES
CELL WALL
CELL WALLS
CYTOPLASM
VACUOLE
VACUOLES
VACUOLAR
MITOCHONDRION
MITOCHONDRIAL
ENDOPLASMIC
RETICULUM
CHLOROPLAST
CHLOROPLASTS
CHLOROPLASTY
PLANT CELL
PLANT CELLS
ANIMAL CELL
ANIMAL CELLS
CELL THEORY
CELL THEORIES
CELL DIVISION
MITOSIS
MEIOSIS
HUMAN IMPACT
ENVIRONMENT
ENVIRONMENTS
ENVIRONMENTAL
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENTIST
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENTISTS
EARTH SCIENCE
EARTH SCIENCES
EARTH SCIENTIST
EARTH SCIENTISTS
TOXIC
TOXICITY
HAZARDOUS WASTE
TOPO MAP
TOPO MAPS
TOPOGRAPHIC MAP
TOPOGRAPHIC MAPS
TOPOGRAPHY
NUCLEUS
NUCLEAR REACTIONS
NUCLEAR REACTION
NUCLEAR REACTOR
NUCLEAR REACTORS
NUCLEAR FUEL
NUCLEAR FUELS
NUCLEAR WASTE
NUCLEAR PHYSICS
NUCLEAR PHYSICIST
RADIOACTIVE
RADIOACTIVITY
RADIATION
PROTONS
PROTON
NEUTRONS
NEUTRON
FUSION
FISSION
URANIUM
ALPHA PARTICLE
ALPHA PARTICLES
POWER
EFFICIENCY
EFFICIENT
MAGNETIC FIELDS
MAGNETIC FIELD
MAGNETIC FORCE
MAGNETIC FORCES
MAGNETIC INDUCTION
MAGNETIC STORM
MAGNETO
MOTORS
MOTOR
ELECTROMOTIVE
ELECTROMOTIVE FORCE
GENERATORS
GENERATOR
TURBINE
TURBINES
DENSITY
DENSITIES
MASS
MELTING POINT
BOILING POINT
FREEZING POINT
PHASE CHANGE
CHANGING PHASE
VAPOR
VAPORS
VAPORIZE
VAPORIZED
VAPORIZING
VAPORIZATION
TEMPERATURE SCALE
TEMPERATURE SCALES
KELVIN
CELSIUS
ABSOLUTE ZERO
ACID
ACIDS
ACIDIC
ACIDIFY
ACIDIFICATION
BASICITY
REACTIVE
REACTIVITY
PERIODIC TABLE
PERIODICITY
MENDELEEV
ATOMIC NUMBER
ATOMIC MASS
CHEMICAL FAMILY
CHEMICAL FAMILIES
CHEMICAL GROUP
CHEMICAL GROUPS
METALLOID
METALLOIDS
CHEMICAL BOND
CHEMICAL BONDS
RESONANCE
RESONANT
RESONATE
RESONATED
RESONATOR
AMPLITUDE
AMPLITUDES
INTERFERENCE
SPECTRUM
SPECTRA
NEWTON’S LAWS
F=MA
ROCKET
ROCKETS
GALAXY
GALAXIES
ELLIPTICAL GALAXIES
SPIRAL GALAXIES
ELLIPTICAL GALAXY
SPIRAL GALAXY
SPIRAL ARMS
IRREGULAR GALAXY
MILKY WAY GALAXY
LIGHT YEARS
LIGHT YEAR
UNIVERSE
NEBULA
NEBULAE
SOLAR NEBULA
SOLAR SYSTEM FORMATION
SOLAR NEBULAR THEORY
NEBULAR HYPOTHESIS
SOLAR SYSTEM FORMED
SOLAR SYSTEM FORMS
PLANETS FORMED
PLANETS FORM
PLANETS FORMATION
FORMATION OF PLANETS
CONDENSING GAS
PLANETARY NEBULA
THEORY OF GRAVITY
GRAVITATIONAL
GRAVITATIONAL PULL
GRAVITATIONAL FORCE
PULL OF GRAVITY
FORCE OF GRAVITY
MOON’S ATTRACTION
PULL OF THE MOON
MOON’S PULL
TIDAL FORCE
TIDAL FORCES
TIDAL PULL
HIGH TIDES
SPRING TIDE
NEAP TIDE
ASTROPHYSICS
ASTROPHYSICIST
ASTROPHYSICISTS
HUBBLE TELESCOPE
SPACE TELESCOPE
RADIO ASTRONOMER
RADIO TELESCOPE
RADIO ASTRONOMY
There is nothing about climate, much less alarming human caused climate change. The topic of climate is taught in high school, plus I know of no regular State standards that include alarmism when climate is taught. The NGSS are truly radical in this regard.
In addition, given that class time is very limited the NGSS must have dropped a lot of the real science that this regular standards list includes, to make room for the 18 extensive new alarmist lessons. I do not know what has been dropped but my impression is that the NGSS teach a lot less science in every grade.
The newly published alarmist lessons have yet to go into effect. We must try to stop them wherever possible.
First published at CFACT.
Photo by Heather Temske, Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0).
David Wojick is a former consultant with the Office of Scientific and Technical Information at the U.S. Department of Energy in the area of information and communication science.
