A Queensland Museum has been accused of misleading teachers and children about the root cause of the climate crisis through a multimillion-dollar education partnership with one of the world's largest oil and gas companies.
Gas company Shell Queensland sponsors the museum. Future Makers training program since 2015. and produces educational materials, as well as conducts free professional development courses for teachers.
But a review of climate change program materials by climate advocacy group Comms Declare found they ignore the root cause of the climate crisis: the burning of fossil fuels, including gas.
Belinda Noble, founder of Comms Declare, said: “This is climate change masquerading as education. We won't let big tobacco companies sponsor educational materials – fossil fuel companies shouldn't be shaping how children learn about the climate.”
Tomorrow Makers Worksheets and Teaching Resources on Global Warming, designed for children in grades 7 through 10, explain how greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are rising and causing rapid warming, but the cause of this rise—mostly the burning of fossil fuels—is not explained.
In covering ocean acidification for grades 9 and 10, Future Makers “never identifies fossil fuel combustion as the dominant source” of changes in ocean chemistry, according to CommsDeclare.
Students are asked to design a carbon capture and storage (CCS) system, which the course materials claim is being developed by “many scientists” to “remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and oceans.”
Climate scientists agree that the best way to tackle the climate crisis is to stop burning fossil fuels, which release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in the first place.
Comms Declare said the museum said that since the program's launch, Shell has contributed $10.25 million in sponsorships to various museum programs, including Future Makers.
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According to the museum, Future Makers materials have been downloaded 400,000 times, and Shell's support has helped provide free professional development in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (Stem) teaching to 1,700 teachers.
Lesley Hughes, a climate change scientist, emeritus professor at Macquarie University and a council member of the Climate Council, said she was “appalled” that a fossil fuel company would focus on science education for young people “who will suffer the most from its climate-destructive activities”.
Shell has previously been criticized for its long-term sponsorship of children's science shows and teacher development at the national science and technology center Questacon in Canberra. What sponsorship ends in 2022 after 37 years.
Dr Eva Mayes, a research fellow at Deakin University, studies what she calls “petropedagogy” – impact of fossil fuel philanthropy on teaching.
She said the Future Makers program is one of many examples of fossil fuel companies hiring teachers and children.
“There is a conflict of interest here and it should be questioned,” she said. “Teachers often have difficulty finding resources. To what extent does this impact climate change learning?”
The Comms Declare report said: “By excluding fossil fuels from climate change lessons, these materials undermine students' understanding of cause and effect.
“Students may know what CO₂ is, but not where it comes from or why reducing fossil fuel use is critical to addressing climate change. This undermines climate literacy at a basic level.”
The group wants Queensland The museum must review the materials and either withdraw them or rewrite them, and terminate its relationship with Shell upon the expiration of any contract.
Shell Australia declined to comment.
Guardian Australia asked the Queensland Museum if it would consider the program and whether it would be appropriate for a fossil fuel company to sponsor educational materials for children about climate change.
The museum defended the program, saying it “offered hands-on science and technology programs and activities to inspire the next generation of scientists and innovators” and “delivered real results for Queensland teachers and students… providing young people and educators with the opportunity to develop essential STEM skills for Queensland's future.”
The statement added that all museum learning resources are consistent with federal and state educational programs and will be reviewed as new versions are released.
