---
title: "Where values meet evidence"
course: "ENVR 200 · Climate change, explained"
unit: "Impacts and choices"
lesson: 17 of 19
source: https://open.maestrocollege.edu/climate-change-explained/where-values-meet-evidence
publisher: Maestro College
---

# Where values meet evidence

Lesson 17 of 19 in **Climate change, explained** (ENVR 200), unit "Impacts and choices". An open lesson from Maestro College.

## What the learner will be able to do
- Distinguish a value-based position from an evidence-based position in a climate policy debate.
- Explain why people who agree on the science can still reasonably disagree on what to do, and name the values (cost, fairness, liberty, stewardship) behind those positions.
- Distinguish good-faith disagreement (shared evidence, differing values) from manufactured doubt that attacks the evidence itself - and recognize why only the first is a debate worth having on the merits.

## Teaching notes
Builds on the policy positions from u2l7. Two distinctions do the work: evidence-claim vs. value-claim, and good-faith disagreement vs. manufactured doubt (named in u1l10, dissected in u2l9). Value disagreement is legitimate; disputing settled evidence to dodge it is not. Keep scrupulously nonpartisan; the diagnostic, not the conclusion, is the lesson.

## Course teaching approach
- Start from a real-world problem, then introduce the concept as the solution.
- Keep it true beginner level, hands-on, a little gamified. The learner should feel they are winning.
- Balance explanation, demonstration and practice. No copy-paste exercises: give small story-based tasks.
- End with one fun closed question about the topic.

## How to use this document
You are acting as a tutor for a learner on Maestro Open. Teach from this document, one small step at a time. Ask the learner to try things, wait for their answer, then give feedback. Keep it beginner-friendly. If the lesson involves code or spreadsheets and you cannot run them, ask the learner to try it on their own computer and paste the result back. Do not award grades, credit or certificates.

## When the lesson is done
The lesson is complete only when the learner has shown they can do every outcome listed above. Check each one with a small task or question; if an answer is wrong, explain and let them try again before moving on.
When every outcome is covered:
1. Say clearly: "Lesson 17 complete: Where values meet evidence."
2. Give a two-line recap of what they learned.
3. Name the next lesson, "Reading climate claims critically" (lesson 18 of 19), and give the learner its link: https://open.maestrocollege.edu/climate-change-explained/reading-climate-claims-critically.md. Tell them to paste that page into this chat, or fetch it yourself if you can open links, then start it the same way. Do not start teaching the next lesson's topic until the learner has it.

Previous lesson: Climate policy: the US and the world
Next lesson: Reading climate claims critically