Posted on 09/12/2011 7:21:16 PM PDT by grady
Returning from ball practice tonight, my 5th grader informed me that today, in science class, he learned that carbon dioxide is causing global warming, melting glaciers, etc., etc. My initial reaction was to say "that's a bunch of baloney" but I contained myself. I'm not surprised that they're teaching it, and I'm ok with him hearing about it (it's everywhere nowadays anyway), provided he learns to take in the information with a critical mindset and challenge it. He'll learn more that way anyway.
We discussed the difference between theories and facts, as well as the importance of using the scientific method to get from the former to the latter. I don't want him to simply walk into class and tell the teacher that his dad thinks she's teaching nonsense. Instead, I'd like him to be prepared to challenge the the validity of her lesson by simply asking questions that she'll be unable to answer.
Perhaps he can ask: Does ALL scientists believe that CO2 causes global warming? If not, what do the other scientists think? How do we know global warming is caused by CO2 and not something else? What might prove it's not happening (i.e. current cooling) and has anything like that happened that you know of? Can you explain how the scientific method was applied and supports the theory? Was the earth always the same temperature or has climate always varied?
I don't believe the teacher will be prepared to do anything other than read out of the book. Therefore, I think that if he asks the right questions, and sees that the teacher is unprepared to answer, he might draw his own conclusions as to whether he should believe the hype.
He's a smart kid who's not afraid to respectfully raise such a challenge to a teacher. So, fellow Freepers, this is where I could use your help. How many of you have addressed this before and what suggestions do you have to help my kid put a critical spotlight on this lesson plan? Are there any resources out there I might rely on?
Just tell him it’s hooey. My husband is a Caltech PhD in geochemistry. He said many scientists also think it is hooey. The SUN is what warms the earth, moves the air, warms the oceans, etc. Cars (and of course, evil SUVs) are WAY down the list. Last ice age was in the 1500s and it has been warming, melting very slowly ever since.
A buddy of mine with a son in the 7th grade was going through what you are now going through.
With the help of the info in the vid he wrote a killer paper that blew the entire man made global warming stance of his teacher out of the water.
Ask him to ask his teacher some questions about the solar system. Such as: how big is the sun? How hot is the sun? Does the suns temperature ever change? How far are we from the sun? Is our orbit around the sun a perfect circle? Does our orbit ever change..even a little bit? Then YOU connect the dots for your grandson. What is more likely to change our planets temperature...the sun or cow farts?
This is exactly the reason I want him to simply ask the questions, rather than challenge her with a sceptic's argument. He'll get the real info from me and mom at home.
But a 10-year old can question why he shouldn't trust the info he gets from his teacher - after all, a teacher is supposed to be teaching facts! My thought was that if he asks meaningful questions and gets no meaningful responses, he'll know to give the lesson the weight it deserves.
The whole thing has been made moot by the fact that we are now homeschooling. Now I can teach him the facts instead of learning BS.
From what we observed, teachers do not like being questioned about any subject that is politically motivated. They don't want kids bringing in any information or facts that are beyond the materials they provide to students. That always was true for social(ist) studies but now, sadly, it is true for real science, too.
Have him ask about plants using CO2 to live, and isn’t having more trees a good thing (b/c of the CO2)?
He asked these exact questions when I asked him if he thought the sun might have anything to do with the earth's temperature! I told him to ask his teacher (with the intent of researching it on our own after he doesn't get an answer with which he's satisfied).
Forget about asking a 5th Grade science teacher such questions. He or she probably has no idea and is just reading out of a class guide.
Educate him or her instead.
Have your son point out to his teacher the recent article published in August in the journal Nature, one of the most prestigious scientific journals in the world.
Also have your son point out that the hysteria in the 1970's was "Global Cooling" and some advocates of that idea were proposing all sorts of crazy ideas "such as melting the Arctic ice cap by covering it with black soot or diverting arctic rivers,..."
Throughout it all, we survive.
And we caused none of it.
oh, D’oh your self!!
“You’re worried about the wrong thing...offer a mod a years supply of Purina cat chow to put an “h” in scool.”
but but but is that now how it is spelled here in FR? Publick skool? Or Publick Scool will do. After all this is outcome based education. /sarc
This probably doesn’t work for your situation, but I’ll post it anyway for others who come up against the “vast majority of experts agree about global warming.....”
50 years ago the vast majority of physicians agreed (according to the DSM IV - Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) declared that homosexuality was a mental disorder.
Watch them roil over that tidbit!
Google two videos:
1. “The Greenhouse Conspiracy” is a one hour video first made by ITV, BBC’s competitor, and is superb. I used it in my curriculum for the Miami-Dade County, Florida students and teachers.
2. “The Greening of Planet Earth” is also data rich and easy for a student to follow.
Consider asking the local school board to add it to the curriculum. Also, suggest it to any science teacher who is not a Liberal, and such teachers DO exist, albeit only a few.
The "Maunder Minimum", and the resultant "Little Ice Age".
(Somewhat related to the above):
Earth may be headed into a mini Ice Age within a decade;
Physicists say sunspot cycle is 'going into hibernation'
Also, don't overlook the fact that he earth has been much warmer in the past. I.E. during the Pliocene, approx. 1.8 to 5.3 million years ago, the global temperature was 2-3 degrees C higher than today.
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