NCSE Evolution Education Update for 2011/05/13
Submitted by Peter Burns on Fri, 2011-05-13 14:23.
National Center for Science Education
(by NCSE Deputy Director Glenn Branch)
Dear Friends of NCSE, A new issue of Reports of the NCSE is now available. Plus Florida's antievolution bill is dead, while support to repeal Louisiana's antievolution bill continues to mount.
RNCSE 31:2 NOW ON-LINE NCSE is pleased to announce the second issue of Reports of the National Center for Science Education in its new on-line format. The issue -- volume 31, number 2 -- includes Matt Cartmill's "Turtles All the Way Down: The Atlas of Creation"; Alice Beck Kehoe's "The Lost Civilizations of North America Found … Again!"; and, in his regular People and Places column, Randy Moore's "Billy Sunday: 1862-1935," discussing the creationism of the ballplayer-turned-evangelist. Plus a flurry of Darwinalia: Michael D. Barton reviews John van Wyhe's The Darwin Experience; Steven Conn reviews James Lander's Lincoln & Darwin; Piers J. Hale reviews David N. Reznick's The Origin Then and Now; Allen D. MacNeill reviews James T. Costa's The Annotated Origin; Michael Ruse reviews Phillip Prodger's Darwin's Camera and Barbara Larson and Fae Brauer's The Art of Evolution, and Keith Thomson reviews Julia Voss's Darwin's Pictures. All of these articles, features, and reviews are freely available in PDF form from http://reports.ncse.com. Members of NCSE will shortly be receiving in the mail the print supplement to Reports 31:2, which contains, in addition to summaries of the on-line material, news from the membership, a new column in which NCSE staffers offer personal reports on what they've been doing to defend the teaching of evolution, and more besides. (Not a member? Join today!) For the table of contents for RNCSE 31:2, visit: http://reports.ncse.com/index.php/rncse/issue/current/showToc For information about joining NCSE, visit: http://ncse.com/membership FLORIDA ANTIEVOLUTION BILL DIES When the Florida legislature adjourned sine die on May 7, 2011, Senate Bill 1854 died in committee. If enacted, SB 1854 would have amended a section of Florida law to require "[a] thorough presentation and critical analysis of the scientific theory of evolution" in the state's public schools. In 2009, before introducing a similar bill, SB 1854's sponsor, Stephen R. Wise (R-District 5), announced his intention to introduce a bill requiring "intelligent design" to be taught in Florida's public schools. In 2011, discussing SB 1854 with a reporter for the Tampa Tribune (March 13, 2011), he asked, "Why would you not teach both theories at the same time?" According to the Tribune, he was referring to evolution and what he called "non-evolution." Wise further explained, "I think it's a way in which people can have critical thinking ... what we're saying is here's a theory, a theory of evolution, a theory of whatever, and you decide." SB 1854 was vigorously opposed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, Florida Citizens for Science, the Florida Academy of Sciences, and newspapers across the state, including Florida Today and the Orlando Sentinel. For the text of Florida's SB 1854, visit: http://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2011/1854/BillText/Filed/HTML For the story in the Tampa Tribune, visit: http://www2.tbo.com/content/2011/mar/13/PMENEWSO1-legislators-challenge-to-evolution-has-s/ And for NCSE's previous coverage of events in Florida, visit: http://ncse.com/news/florida CONTINUING SUPPORT FOR LOUISIANA REPEAL EFFORT Adding their support for the effort to repeal Louisiana's antievolution law are the New Orleans City Council and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Senate Bill 70, would, if enacted, repeal Louisiana Revised Statutes 17:285.1, which implemented the so-called Louisiana Science Education Act, passed and enacted in 2008. The American Institute for Biological Sciences, the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, the American Society for Cell Biology, the Louisiana Association of Biology Educators, the Louisiana Science Teachers Association, the National Association of Biology Teachers, and the Society for the Study of Evolution together with the Society of Systematic Biologists and the American Society of Naturalists, as well as forty-three Nobel laureates, have already endorsed SB 70. At its May 5, 2011, meeting, the New Orleans City Council unanimously passed Resolution R-11-207, supporting SB 70. According to the summary of the council's meeting, "This act [the LSEA] undermines the teaching of the scientific theory of evolution in the Louisiana public school science curriculum. This theory of evolution is a widely and commonly accepted scientific study and the basis for biology, medicine, biochemistry, agriculture, ecology and other scientific studies." Council member Gisleson Palmer was quoted as saying, "The Louisiana Science Education Act inhibits science focused students of all ages and inadequately prepares them for jobs in the science field. With the New Orleans Medical Corridor poised for tremendous growth, this law also profoundly impacts our ability to fill jobs in the cutting-edge science fields with students educated in our state's public schools." In a letter to the sponsor of SB 70, Karen Carter Peterson (D-District 5), dated April 19, 2011, the American Association for the Advancement of Science's chief executive officer Alan I. Leshner wrote, "I write in support of your effort to repeal the Louisiana Science Education Act (LSEA). The LSEA features language that could be used for the insertion of religious or unscientific views in science classrooms. The bill disingenuously implies that particular theories, including evolution, are controversial among scientists. In reality, the science of evolution underpines all of modern biology. The principles behind it have been tested and retested for decades, and it is supported by tens of thousands of scientific studies. Evolution informs scientific research in a broad range of fields such as agriculture and medicine, work that has an important impact on our everyday lives." For the summary of the New Orleans City Council's meeting, visit: http://www.nolacitycouncil.com/news/meetingsummary.asp?id={D5BF04A0-905F-4FAA-B525-9142A973504F}#story7 For the letter from the AAAS's Alan I. Leshner (PDF), visit: http://lasciencecoalition.org/docs/AAAS_LSEA_Repeal_4.19.11.pdf And for NCSE's previous coverage of events in Louisiana, visit: http://ncse.com/news/louisiana Thanks for reading! And don't forget to visit NCSE's website -- http://ncse.com -- where you can always find the latest news on evolution education and threats to it. -- Sincerely, Glenn Branch Deputy Director National Center for Science Education, Inc. 420 40th Street, Suite 2 Oakland, CA 94609-2509 510-601-7203 x305 fax: 510-601-7204 800-290-6006 branch@ncse.com http://ncse.com Read Reports of the NCSE on-line: http://reports.ncse.com Subscribe to NCSE's free weekly e-newsletter: http://groups.google.com/group/ncse-news NCSE is on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter: http://www.facebook.com/evolution.ncse http://www.youtube.com/NatCen4ScienceEd http://twitter.com/ncse NCSE's work is supported by its members. Join today! http://ncse.com/membership
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