Science textbook questioned
By Bob Williams
Staff Writer
bwilliams@thealmanac.netAt the recent Mt. Lebanon school board meeting, at least two directors were also curious about an item near the bottom of the agenda--a student textbook on the 2009-2010 recommended book list.
"Dire predictions: Understanding Global Warming--The Illustrated Guide to the Findings of the IPCC" by Michael E. Mann and Lee R. Kump was recommended for a high school environmental geoscience class. The IPCC is the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
By law, the school board is required to approve all student texts. There are seven books on the list. Board members Mark Hart and James Fraasch, however, questioned this book selection.
"Why is this on the list?" Hart asked. "And is there another book used in the class which shows the other side-that science is not in complete agreement about global warming?"
"I'd like to see what other materials are used in this class," Fraasch said. "If you research Michael Mann, you will find there is not complete agreement about his theories."
Superintendent John Allison said this text is one of three used as supplemental material in the class. The others are "Keeping Things Whole" by Chrispin Tickell, and "Environmental Science" by Kaufmann & Cleveland, Allison said.
"The students source different points of view, including some from the Internet, with a goal of formulating their own concepts," Allison said. "These books are not the entire curriculum.
The district utilizes a book selection process, Allison said. Books are requested by teachers. The submissions are evaluated by a review committee made up of teachers. The recommendations are then submitted to the administration, which reviews them and passes the list on to the school board for approval. Once the list is presented to the board, it is open to public inspection for 30 days before final approval by the board.
In1999, Mann, a University of Virginia Climatology Professor wrote a paper which featured a 1,000-year study of temperature change. The scientific community dubbed it a "hockey stick graph," because Mann's diagram showed a sharp increase in temperatures from 1900 to 2000. Vice-President Al Gore referenced Mann's work in his movie "An Inconvenient Truth."
Since that time, however, other scientists have disputed Mann's initial findings on global warming.
Hart said that science is not in agreement about global warming, and he supports balance texts from authors who challenge global warming theories.
I was quoted correctly here. I simply want to ensure that we are doing our best to turn our quality critical thinkers. I would not be doing my job as a school board member if I did not question whether both sides to this argument are being presented to our students.
I would never ask that we NOT allow our students to read the IPCC report, quite the contrary. Its simply that if they read this report it ought to be balanced with research that would show that man-made global warming theories are the topic of intense scientific debate at the moment. If we only present one side of this argument then it becomes a politically charged issue.
I am not going to debate the topic of global warming with anyone. Someone who is a believer can send me a thousand links to articles that proves the existence of man-made global warming. Others who do not believe can link up to a thousand articles that show that global warming is a natural occurrence. Nobody wins those arguments. The fact is, there is debate about the causes and effects of climate change and our students ought to be learning about this topic from more than one angle. That is all I am trying to do.
Thanks for reading.
James
