NCSE Evolution and Climate Education Update for 2013/06/28
Submitted by Peter Burns on Fri, 2013-06-28 13:54.
National Center for Science Education
(by NCSE Deputy Director Glenn Branch)
Dear friends of NCSE, A discouraging report on evolution education in Turkey. New videos on NCSE's YouTube channel. And kudos from the Society for the Study of Evolution for Judy Scotchmoor.
TEACHING EVOLUTION IN TURKEY Writing in APS News (June 2013), Zehra Sayers and Zuhal Ozcan address the state of evolution education in Turkey -- and the news is not good. "[C]overage of evolution in curricula is influenced strongly by national political trends" in the country, they explain: "as populist religious rhetoric in the political scene became stronger, evolution was relegated to science and biology curricula and at the same time instruction became unsystematic and superficial; textbooks’ treatment of evolution became ambiguous and less assertive." "It is not only high school education that is affected," Sayers and Ozcan explain. "There are no universities in Turkey offering undergraduate or graduate degrees in evolutionary biology or in related fields, and even courses in the area are hard to come by." They add, "There is plenty more to ensure that the picture is truly bleak: the circulation of glossy anti-evolution books in the country and abroad ... , the organization of anti-evolutionary symposia ... , and the banning of student-organized discussion panels on evolution in some universities." For Sayers and Ozcan's article, visit: http://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/201306/international.cfm And for NCSE's previous coverage of events abroad, visit: http://ncse.com/news/international WHAT'S NEW ON NCSE'S YOUTUBE CHANNEL NCSE is pleased to announce the addition of a further batch of videos to NCSE's YouTube channel. Especially noteworthy are Eugenie C. Scott speaking on "Deja vu all over again" at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in 2013 and on "Creationism du jour" and in a panel discussion with P. Z. Myers and Larry Moran at Eschaton 2012 in Ottawa in 2012. Also featured are Minda Berbeco speaking on "Trickle Down Science Denial, from Evolution to Climate Change" to East Bay Atheists in 2013; Mark McCaffrey speaking on "A Brief History of Climate Science" to the Climate and Energy Literacy Forum in Washington DC in 2012; Joshua Rosenau speaking on "Science Denial, Science Education, and Social Justice" at Santa Clara University in 2013; and Scott speaking on "Denialism of Climate Change and Evolution" to the New York City Skeptics in 2011. Tune in and enjoy! For NCSE's YouTube channel, visit: http://www.youtube.com/NatCen4ScienceEd JUDY SCOTCHMOOR RECEIVES GOULD AWARD NCSE congratulates Judy Scotchmoor for winning the 2013 Stephen Jay Gould Prize from the Society for the Study of Evolution. The Director of Education and Public Programs at the University of California Museum of Paleontology, Scotchmoor is a long-time member of NCSE as well as a recipient of its Friend of Darwin award. Scotchmoor received the Gould Prize and presented a public lecture on June 21, 2013, at the Evolution 2013 conference in Snowbird, Utah. Scotchmoor is famous for her work on UCMP's highly regarded evolution program, including the popular Understanding Evolution and Understanding Science websites, which clock over a million visitors per month. She was also the moving force behind the National Conference on the Teaching of Evolution in 2001, which galvanized scientists and educators to take the growing attacks on evolution education seriously. The Stephen Jay Gould Prize is awarded annually by the SSE "to recognize individuals whose sustained and exemplary efforts have advanced public understanding of evolutionary science and its importance in biology, education, and everyday life in the spirit of Stephen Jay Gould." NCSE's executive director Eugenie C. Scott was the recipient of the first Gould Prize, in 2009, followed by Sean B. Carroll and Kenneth R. Miller -- both members of NCSE's Advisory Council -- in 2010 and 2011, respectively, and David Quammen in 2012. For the SSE's announcement of the award, visit: http://www.evolutionmeeting.org/gould2013.html For Understanding Evolution and Understanding Science, visit: http://evolution.berkeley.edu/ http://undsci.berkeley.edu/ For the National Conference on the Teaching of Evolution, visit: http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/ncte/ 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 and climate education and threats to them. -- 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/join
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