US schoolchildren should learn that human activities are warming the planet, according to a new set of standards crafted by 26 states. But the guidelines have no legal force, so it remains unclear how widely they will be adopted.
Basic national standards for US elementary and high school science education were last rewritten in 1996. Realising it was time for an update, the National Academies in 2011 teamed up with educational organisations and officials from individual states to formulate a new set of guidelines.
The Next Generation Science Standards, released on 9 April, include topics on energy sustainability and mention the human causes of global warming. Leaders of the effort hope they will eventually be embraced even by states that declined to take part ? which include Texas, the second-largest state in the US.
Open door policy
"We're leaving the door open for people to join when and if they want to," says Frank Niepold, climate education coordinator with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
It is also unclear whether all of the states involved in drawing up the guidelines will adopt them. And even for those that do, implementation will be up to individual school districts.
Clashes seem likely in states such as Tennessee that have passed "academic freedom" laws, allowing teachers to teach "both sides" of controversial scientific issues including evolution and climate change.
It's unclear how such states will reconcile these laws with the new standards, says Mark McCaffrey of the National Center for Science Education in Oakland, California. The NCSE sees the laws as attempts to promote intelligent design over evolution, and undermine the teaching of climate science.
Backlash begins
The conservative Heartland Institute in Chicago ? which has produced its own educational materials designed to cast doubt on human-caused climate change ? seems to be bracing for a fight.
The institute released a statement arguing that the new standards "convey an anti-human message regarding human activities, population growth and environmental impacts that is not scientifically justified".
Ultimately, the impact of the new standards may depend upon the extent to which their content is reflected in standardised tests and college admissions procedures,says Susan Buhr, who works in education outreach with the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
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