LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska State Board of Education has approved new science standards that will see the state’s public schools teaching climate change for the first time.
The board voted 6-1 Friday to approve the standards. Board member Pat McPherson, of Omaha, voted against the standards after trying unsuccessfully to amend the proposal that would have encouraged teachers to take into consideration students’ views on evolution, religion and climate change.
Under the new standards, students will analyze geoscience data and the results from global climate models to make evidence-based forecasts of the current rate and scale of global or regional climate changes.
The standards, which are updated every seven years, list what students should know in science in kindergarten through high school.