For the second time in less than five months, West Virginia has altered its standards for teaching science to introduce doubts about the scientific consensus on .
This time, the changes are less contentious than those proposed last year, when the state Board of Education quietly modified the state’s version of nationally developed science standards. The Next Generation Science Standards were developed by 26 states to help establish consistent guidelines for teaching science and reflect the overwhelming scientific consensus that is occurring and is greatly influenced by human activity.
The changes in December were proposed by L. Wade Linger Jr., a member of the board and a technology entrepreneur, who has expressed skepticism about climate change and the impartiality of scientists involved in the field.
His proposed changes included edits to a requirement that sixth graders “ask questions to clarify evidence of the factors that have caused the rise in global temperatures over the past century.” Mr. Linger wanted the words “and fall” to be added after “the rise.”
That change, and others, sparked a protest from educators, who said the board’s actions injected false information and politics into the classroom. Mr. Linger’s proposals were also seen as part of an effort to roll back or slow the adoption of the new standards.
In January, the board reinstated the standard’s original language subject to a final vote. On Thursday, the board took up the standards again and voted to adopt smaller, narrower changes. These new standards suggest that students should “develop skills” to debate scientific issues, and support their arguments, “either claims or counterclaims with evidence.”
The board also substituted the word “change” for “rise” in the original passage that read, “a rise in global temperatures.”
Mr. Linger said that the new changes were intended to set a new overall tone for scientific debate, “rather than trying to go through and tweak every little syllable that might feel like dogma or indoctrination.”
Joshua Rosenau, the programs and policy director for the National Center for Science Education, said he considered the narrower changes acceptable, since they do not introduce false information. He added: “I can’t quite motivate myself to shout ‘Victory!’ from the rooftops.”