After complaints from parents about new science education standards, Utah officials edited the standards to push back classroom discussion of climate change from sixth to eighth grade, the Salt Lake Tribune reported on Tuesday.
Students in sixth grade will learn that the greenhouse gas effect “maintains Earth’s energy balance and a relatively constant temperature,” according to the Salt Lake Tribune.
April Mitchell, a science specialist in the Ogden School District, told the Tribune that she was disappointed in the changes to the sixth grade curriculum.
“My concern was that it would create a misconception that our temperature currently is constant,” she said. “I think taking that out is withholding evidence from students.”
The state had put the new science standards on hold in February after parents and state education board officials voiced concern that students would be learning about climate change and evolution. The standards released in February had been based on the Next Generation Science Standards, which address climate change and have been adopted by numerous states.
David Crandall, the chair of the state education board, told the Tribune that the state did not edit the science standards for political reasons.
“We’re not going to make any irrational moves just based on political opinions one way or the other,” he said.
If the latest draft of the standards is approved by the school board in December, they will go into effect for the 2017-2018 school year.
