Recent natural disasters lead to a change in Nebraska science curriculum standards

With the recent hurricanes and other natural disasters happening in our world, global climate change is more prevalent than ever. New Nebraska science standards are now requiring global climate change to be taught in the science curriculum.

“Generally the biggest change on the new science standards has nothing to do with content but more with process,” science teacher Michael Fryda said. “The way the new science standards are worded is more about making sure science is doing rather than science is knowing.”

According to the Omaha World Herald, the standards “will engage and inspire students to become scientists, preparing them for the issues their world will face.”

“There is no scientific evidence that proves that forest fires, tornadoes, droughts and hurricanes are made worse by global warming,” says the only person to oppose the board, Henry Burke. “Earth’s climate is unstable and fluctuates over thousands of years. Climate change is a political agenda.”

Most people disagree with Burke. They think that if we want to change anything we need to start now and the people we need to start educating are the next generation.

“Our biggest concern as science instructors is that eventually we are all going to die but younger generations are hopefully going to live longer than we will so we want people to be making informed choices especially with how they choose to use energy,” Fryda said. “We’re seeing the consequences of climate change in real time. One way is the polar ice caps are melting quicker than we predicted from models, and the second thing is what are people going to do with extreme weather events like Hurricane Harvey and Irma.”

These new science standards are only going to continue to grow to keep up with our fast paced world. Whether you are for it or against it, they are here to stay.