Science teacher Matthew Fox approached the climate change materials he had received in his school mailbox in the same way he had taught his students to think like scientists — with an objective frame of mind.

Fox was part of the first wave of 25,000 science teachers in March who received an unsolicited package from the Heartland Institute, a libertarian think tank, which casts doubt on the role humans play in climate change. The package contains a booklet, ‘Why Scientists Disagree About Global Warming,’ a DVD, and a cover letter, which encourages educators to teach their students that a lively debate over climate change continues to take place among scientists.

“None of my colleagues were fooled. I think we are all very aware of the limitations of what we know now, because it obviously is a relatively new subject,” said Fox, an oceanography and earth science teacher at Troy High School in Fullerton, California. “But what they are proposing in this is just ludicrous.”

The booklet states that a scientific consensus–the often cited 97 percent of climate scientists who say humans are the primary cause of climate change–does not exist. It also cites multiple climate change studies pointing out their flaws.

“When someone says there’s no debate and there shouldn’t be a debate, they’re actually denying the scientific method,” said Lennie Jarratt, Heartland’s manager of the Center for Transforming Education. Scientists constantly review and revise their research, he added.

Reactions to the mailings have been mixed, Jarratt said. “A ton of vitriol of people calling us crazy, and teachers requesting more books so they can give them to other teachers.” The materials continue to be sent out with the goal of reaching 300,000 public and private school science teachers as well as college professors across the country, according to Jarratt.

Heartland’s efforts to discredit human-made climate change have caught national attention before, including a 2012 billboard featuring ‘Unabomber’ Ted Kaczynkski, with the words “I still believe in global warming, do you?”

In what he sees as an increasingly “anti-science society,” Evans has one key piece of advice for teachers: “Stay focused on the science.”

As Fox read through the Heartland booklet, he said it became evident that it contained too much conjecture and that the references were weak.

Many of the citations link to blogs and Heartland’s own website, according to the National Center of Science Education, a nonprofit organization that monitors political interference in science education. The National Center of Science Education and other science education groups have been vocal about the Heartland packet, saying it is inappropriate for the science classroom, since the information is not backed by scientific evidence.

“It’s a nefarious act to try to slip this kind of politically motivated attack on science into the science classroom,” said Ann Reid, National Center of Science Education’s executive director. “It is the same old tired arguments suggesting that the climate science is unsettled that they’ve been pushing for a long time.”

Battle of the states

Understanding science is fundamentally an education issue, said David Evans, executive director of the National Science Teachers Association, who spent 40 years as a scientist before moving into science education.

With growing political pressure on science teachers, including challenges by state school boards and legislatures to remove science standards on human-made climate change and a presidential administration that has proposed aggressive cuts to environmental protections, teachers — the ones on the front lines — need to know they are supported, Evans said.

In what he sees as an increasingly “anti-science society,” Evans has one key piece of advice for teachers: “Stay focused on the science.”