I enjoyed reading this article. It doesn't really matter what side of the argument your opinion lands on, you should appreciate the fact that these kids were so engaged. It was simply nice to see a classroom full of kids immersed in formulating their own ideas and perceptions as opposed to just being spoon-fed someone else's opinion.

LONGMONT - Humans don't cause global warming, a jury of sixth graders at Trail Ridge Middle School concluded Thursday after hearing opposing arguments from their peers.

"They're pretty young for this kind of thinking. They did great," paleontology teacher Ken Poppe said after the 40-minute "trial" in his classroom.

With Earth's warming accepted as a tenet, pre-teen "lawyers" and "scientists" debated whether humans have caused it.

Eleven jurors listened intently as prosecutors and defendants flashed contradictory graphs tracking global temperatures, carbon dioxide levels, polar ice cap statistics, volcanic activity and sea surface temperatures - all of which were found Wednesday in the school's computer lab.

Seven of 11 jurors decided humans are not to blame, but everyone agreed classroom debates make for fun learning.

"It was a hard decision, because both sides made good points," said student Samantha Roberts.

Read the article, it was nice to see the kids argue so enthusiastically.

My own opinion? Well, personally, I'm a bit disgusted with all the fear mongering and pseudo science I see in the media, but we can absolutely be and should be better stewards of our environment. I don't understand why we can't approach the issue from that direction.

This was an interesting article that talked about how the media has been flip-flopping over global cooling and global warming now for over a hundred years.

Posted by Michael at March 24, 2007 10:38 AM