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The Critic's Resource on AntiEvolution

NCSE Evolution and Climate Education Update for 2013/11/29

(by NCSE Deputy Director Glenn Branch)

Dear friends of NCSE,

Glenn Branch reviews American Genesis in Evolution: Education and
Outreach. Victory in Texas! And a new issue of Reports of the NCSE for
your reading pleasure.

NCSE'S LATEST IN EVOLUTION: EDUCATION AND OUTREACH

"Old wine in new bottles," a review of Jeffrey P. Moran's American
Genesis by NCSE's Glenn Branch, was just published in Evolution:
Education and Outreach. According to the abstract, Moran's book
"examines the Scopes trial in particular and the antievolution
movement in general through the prisms of gender, region, and race.
The diversification, of both ideology and strategy, of
antievolutionism and the current impact of antievolutionism on
scientists in academia are also discussed. Overall, despite a few
problems, American Genesis deserves a place on anyone's list of the
top 10 books on the Scopes trial and the antievolution impulse in
America."

Founded in 2008, Evolution: Education and Outreach seeks to promote
the accurate understanding and comprehensive teaching of evolutionary
theory for a wide audience. Starting with its first issue, NCSE
regularly contributed a column under the rubric "Overcoming Obstacles
to Evolution Education." In 2013, the journal became completely open
access, and NCSE plans to continue "Overcoming Obstacles to Evolution
Education" under the new system. The first five volumes of Evolution:
Education and Outreach are now freely available as well.

For Branch's review (PDF), visit:
http://www.evolution-outreach.com/content/pdf/1936-6434-6-32.pdf 

For the content of the journal from volume 6 (2013) onward, visit:
http://www.evolution-outreach.com/ 

For the content of the journal from volume 1 (2008) to volume 5 (2012), visit:
http://link.springer.com/journal/volumesAndIssues/12052 

VICTORY IN TEXAS

The integrity of science education triumphed in Texas when the state
board of education gave its final approval to all of the proposed
textbooks for high school biology and environmental science courses at
its November 22, 2013, meeting. NCSE's Joshua Rosenau, who testified
before the board on November 20, 2013, commented, "These textbooks
were recommended by the top scientists and teachers in Texas. By
adopting them, the board is helping to lay the foundation for the sort
of science education that Texas's students need in order to succeed in
the twenty-first century." But the triumph was slightly tainted by two
attacks, launched late in the board's November 21, 2013, meeting,
against one biology textbook and one environmental science textbook.

The biology textbook, by Kenneth R. Miller and Joseph Levine, was
previously criticized by creationists on a state review panel for
twenty supposed errors in its treatment of evolution. In  response,
the publisher denied that the passages contained errors and declined
to make the suggested changes to the textbook. At the November 21,
2013, meeting, the board quarreled about whether to heed the panel's
criticisms of the textbook (which Ron Wetherington already thoroughly
debunked). Eventually the board voted to adopt it contingent on the
outcome of a further review by a panel of three outside experts. The
vice chair of the board Thomas Ratliff was not happy with the idea,
quoted by the Associated Press (November 22, 2013) as saying, "I
believe this process is being hijacked, this book is being held
hostage to make political changes," and adding that the book is
already used in "over half of the classrooms in the United States."

The environmental science textbook, published by Houghton Mifflin
Harcourt, was attacked by Becky Berger, a geologist and Republican
political aspirant testifying at the November 21, 2013, meeting.
According to a report from the Texas Freedom Network, "Berger claimed
that the textbook is filled with factual errors on topics like
pollution potentially caused by hydraulic fracturing ('fracking') and
the problem of carbon emissions (which the vast majority of scientists
say is the primary cause of climate change)," although the state
review panel identified no such errors. Although there were calls for
the textbook to be rejected, the board finally voted to adopt it when
the publisher agreed to revise outdated material identified by the
state geologist; TFN reports, "Scientists who reviewed the publisher’s
(tentative) proposed revisions were satisfied that none of the
provisional changes compromised the integrity of the science in the
textbook."

"Despite the last-minute controversies manufactured by creationists
and climate change deniers," Rosenau remarked, "it's clear that this
is a victory for science education in Texas." He credited the victory
to the Texas Freedom Network, Texas Citizens for Science, NCSE members
and allies in Texas, and the various scientific, scholarly, and
education societies that urged the board to adopt the textbooks.
Rosenau added that special credit was due to the publishers who
refused to compromise their integrity of their textbooks to satisfy
unscientifically warranted demands. "What happens in Texas doesn't
stay in Texas," he observed. "Bad textbooks in Texas mean bad
textbooks across the country. So this is really a victory for science
education in the whole United States."

For Rosenau's testimony, visit:
http://ncse.com/blog/2013/11/my-testimony-before-texas-board-education-0015198 

For Wetherington's debunking of the creationist criticisms, visit:
http://tfninsider.org/2013/09/24/smu-prof-tears-apart-official-texas-review-of-leading-biology-textbook/ 

For the Associated Press's story (via US News & World Report), visit:
http://www.usnews.com/science/news/articles/2013/11/22/evolution-debate-again-engulfs-texas-board-of-ed 

For TFN's reports on the criticism of the environmental science textbook, visit:
http://tfninsider.org/2013/11/21/oil-and-gas-industry-advocates-launch-surprise-attack-on-texas-environmental-science-textbook/ 
http://tfninsider.org/2013/11/22/big-news-science-education-advocates-thwart-late-night-hijacking-of-texas-science-textbook-adoption/ 

For NCSE's report on societies urging the adoption of the textbooks, visit:
http://ncse.com/news/2013/11/groundswell-support-texas-0015197 

And for NCSE's previous coverage of events in Texas, visit:
http://ncse.com/news/texas 

RNCSE 33:6 NOW ON-LINE

NCSE is pleased to announce that the latest issue of Reports of the
National Center for Science Education is now available on-line. The
issue -- volume 33, number 6 -- features Adam Laats's "The Missionary
Supposition: Evolution Education and Creationist Culture" and Michael
D. Barton's "Bite-Sized Darwiniana," reviewing James Randerson's
collection The Origin of Darwinism. And for his regular People and
Places column, Randy Moore discusses the teacher Ken Hubert.

Plus a host of reviews of books (and a film) on science and religion:
David L. Gosling reviews C. Mackenzie Brown's Hindu Perspectives on
Evolution, Timothy H. Heaton reviews Gerald Rau's Mapping the Origins
Debate, Joel W. Martin reviews Kenneth H. Olson's Lens to the Natural
World, James F. McGrath reviews Peter Enns's The Evolution of Adam,
Keith B. Miller reviews From the Dust: Conversations in Creation, and
Justin D. Topp reviews Richard F. Carlson and Tremper Longman III's
Science, Creation, and the Bible.

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 33:6, which, in
addition to summaries of the on-line material, contains news from the
membership, a regular column in which NCSE staffers offer personal
reports on what they've been doing to defend the teaching of
evolution, a regular column interviewing NCSE's favorite people, and
more besides. (Not a member? Join today!)

For the table of contents for RNCSE 33:6, visit:
http://reports.ncse.com/index.php/rncse/issue/current/showToc 

For information about joining NCSE, visit:
http://ncse.com/join 

WHAT'S NEW FROM THE SCIENCE LEAGUE OF AMERICA

Have you been visiting NCSE's blog, The Science League of America,
recently? If not, then you've missed:

* Josh Rosenau reporting from Texas on the science textbook adoption process:
http://ncse.com/blog/2013/11/disco-tute-as-brave-sir-robin-0015196 
http://ncse.com/blog/2013/11/my-testimony-before-texas-board-education-0015198 
http://ncse.com/blog/2013/11/texas-textbook-showdown-0015203 

And much more besides!

For The Science League of America, visit:
http://ncse.com/blog 

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 

Check out NCSE's new blog, Science League of America:
http://ncse.com/blog 

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 

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http://www.facebook.com/evolution.ncse 
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http://ncse.com/join