Worried that public schools are failing to prepare students for a complex and changing world, educators unveiled new guidelines Tuesday that call for sweeping changes in the way science is taught in the United States, emphasizing hands-on learning and critical scrutiny of scientific evidence.

Among many other changes, the guidelines call for introducing climate science into the curriculum starting in middle school, and teaching high school students in detail about the effects of human activity on climate.

The guidelines also take a firm stand that children must learn about evolution, the central organizing idea in the biological sciences for more than a century, but one that has rallied state lawmakers and some religious conservatives to insist that alternative notions like intelligent design be taught.

Though they could become a focus of political controversy, the climate and evolution standards are just two aspects of a set of guidelines containing hundreds of new ideas.

The guidelines, known as the Next Generation Science Standards, were devised to combat widespread scientific ignorance, standardize teaching among disparate states and raise the number of high school graduates who choose scientific and technical majors in college, a critical issue for the country’s economic welfare.

“This is a big step forward for giving students access to the science most relevant to them today and for our shared future,” said Sarah Shanley Hope, executive director of a group called the Alliance for Climate Education.

Drafts of the guidelines, including the recommendations for teaching climate change and evolution, have been out for months and have already drawn hostile commentary from groups critical of mainstream scientific thinking.

Though 26 states representing well over half the American population have committed to giving serious consideration to formal adoption of the guidelines, and at least a dozen more states are expected to study the guidelines closely, there is no guarantee that the standards will be adopted in any state.

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