Climate Voices

November 12, 2018
By: Jenna Totz, former Climate Change Education Manager

Provide Feedback on updated MN Science Standards

This year our Director of Programs, Kristen Poppleton, was appointed to the 36-member committee of leaders in education, business, nonprofit, and other constituencies tasked with reviewing Minnesota’s current academic science standards.

These science standards,  which includes climate change benchmarks for the first time, guide classroom learning in Minnesota and are being revised by this committee. The feedback of all Minnesotans — educators, business, parents, community members — is invited before the standards are finalized next year.

At Climate Generation, we know that quality, science-based education is critical to address climate change. Science teachers are key messengers of climate and energy literacy to students in classrooms across our state.

The last standards revision occurred in 2009 and since that time, the research on what constitutes effective science education has grown. Knowing this, the committee voted to organize the standards around the Framework for K-12 Science Education, using Next Generation Science Standards performance expectations.

The revised science standards are currently in its first draft and may change based on your feedback. The committee recently agreed that the draft needs more work, including full consideration of the following:

  • diversity and equity
  • contributions of American Indian communities
  • technology literacy, computer science
  • environmental literacy
  • alignment with Math and ELA
  • additional physics and chemistry benchmarks
  • identification of physics and chemistry for all students

The public review and comment period is from November 9-26, 2018.

Those interested in providing feedback can download your copy of the standards and share your feedback via the survey. You can attend one of the public comment town halls that will provide background on the standards and an opportunity to comment. You can also virtually comment and learn more by joining Climate Generation’s Virtual Town Hall webinar on November 14 at 3:30 PM.