7th Grade Science Should Not Include Climate Indoctrination

Published May 9, 2022

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).