NCSE Evolution and Climate Education Update for 2013/12/20

(by NCSE Deputy Director Glenn Branch)

Dear friends of NCSE,

Evolution is slightly up and creationism is slightly down in a new
poll. A final victory in the Texas textbook adoption process. And a
chance to help NCSE's archives.

EVOLUTION IN A NEW HARRIS POLL

A recent Harris poll addressed evolution and creationism, with
unsurprising results. Those surveyed were given a list of topics --
including God, miracles, heaven, Jesus as God or the son of God,
angels, survival of the soul after death, the resurrection of Jesus,
Hell, the virgin birth, the Devil, "Darwin's theory of evolution,"
ghosts, creationism, UFOs, astrology, witches, and reincarnation --
and asked, "Please indicate for each one if you believe in it, or
not." For evolution, 47% of respondents indicated that they believed
in it, 29% indicated that they don't believe in it, and 25% indicated
that they were not sure. For creationism, 36% of respondents indicated
that they believed in it, 31% indicated that they don't believe in it,
and 33% indicated that they were not sure.

The results varied dramatically by political affiliation: 36% of
Republicans, 52% of Democrats, and 51% of independents indicated that
they believed in "Darwin's theory of evolution," while 49% of
Republicans, 30% of Democrats, and 34% of independents indicated that
they believed in creationism. But the results varied only slightly by
generation: 49% of Echo Boomers (18-36), 48% of Gen Xers (37-48), 45%
of Baby Boomers (49-67), and 43% of Matures (68+) indicated that they
believed in "Darwin's theory of evolution," while 33% of Echo Boomers,
35% of Gen Xers, 38% of Baby Boomers, and 37% of Matures indicated
that they believed in creationism. Although in past polling reports,
Harris discussed how the results varied by religious affiliation, no
such data were provided in 2013.

According to Harris's longitudinal results, since 2005, believers in
"Darwin's theory of evolution" gained 5% and believers in creationism
lost 3% -- probably not a significant change. Harris's report explains
that the poll "was conducted online within the United States November
13 and 18, 2013 among 2,250 adults (aged 18 and over). Figures for
age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were
weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual
proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also
used to adjust for respondents' propensity to be online." "Because the
sample is based on those who agreed to participate in the Harris
Interactive panel," the report added, "no estimates of theoretical
sampling error can be calculated."

For the report from Harris, visit:
http://www.harrisinteractive.com/NewsRoom/HarrisPolls/tabid/447/mid/1508/articleId/1353/ctl/ReadCustom%20Default/Default.aspx 

And for NCSE's collection of polls and surveys, visit:
http://ncse.com/creationism/polls-surveys 

A FINAL VICTORY IN TEXAS

"[A] special expert panel has given unanimous approval to the Pearson
biology textbook whose adoption by the Texas State Board of Education
... last month had been tripped up by allegations that it contained
'factual errors,'" reports the Texas Freedom Network on its TFN
Insider blog (December 17, 2013).

As NCSE previously reported, at its November 22, 2013, meeting, the
board quarreled about whether to heed a review panel's criticisms of
Kenneth R. Miller and Joseph Levine's popular biology textbook,
published by Pearson, but decided to adopt it, contingent on the
outcome of a further review by a panel of three outside experts.
Subsequently, the names of the experts were divulged: Ronald
Wetherington, a professor of anthropology at Southern Methodist
University and a recipient of NCSE's Friend of Darwin award; Arturo De
Lozanne, a professor of molecular, cell, and developmental biology at
the University of Texas, Austin; and Vincent Cassone, a professor of
biology at the University of Kentucky (and formerly at Texas A&M
University). As NCSE's Joshua Rosenau commented at the Science League
of America blog (December 11, 2013), "it'll take about 5 minutes for
them to dismiss the claims leveled against Pearson's Biology."

According to TFN, "A Texas Education Agency (TEA) spokesperson told us
that it has forwarded the panel’s report to Pearson. TEA won't release
the report publicly until Pearson has had a chance to review it, but
our sources said all three panelists dismissed the claims of factual
errors and recommended no changes to the textbook." Assessing the
outcome, TFN contended, "The panel's approval of the Pearson textbook
essentially marks the end of efforts by anti-evolution activists to
hijack this year's science textbook adoption. Throughout the process,
they and their board allies -- including [the board's chair Barbara]
Cargill -- tried to pressure publishers into watering down and
distorting the science on evolution and climate change. They failed
completely when publishers resisted their pressure while TFN, the
National Center for Science Education and other science education
advocates rallied support for the textbooks."

NCSE's Rosenau commented, "Our goal has always been to protect
publishers from political pressure, and to keep the board from
politicizing textbooks, so that 'Texas edition' would be a mark of
quality and not a warning label. With this decision, Texas teachers
and students can finally be confident that any Texas edition science
textbook reflects good science and a thorough presentation of
evolution."

For TFN's report, visit:
http://tfninsider.org/2013/12/17/breaking-news-texas-review-panel-rejects-creationist-objections-to-pearson-biology-textbook/ 

For Rosenau's blog post, visit:
http://ncse.com/blog/2013/12/texas-creationists-beware-posse-s-comin-0015244 

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

A CHANCE TO HELP NCSE'S ARCHIVES

NCSE's archives house a unique trove of material on the
creationism/evolution controversy, and we regard it as part of our
mission to preserve it for posterity -- as well as for occasions such
as Kitzmiller v. Dover, where NCSE's archives helped to establish the
creationist antecedents of the "intelligent design" movement. And we
are beginning to amass a similar trove of material on disputes over
climate change education. We cordially invite you now to help NCSE's
archives keep up-to-date by purchasing books for NCSE through our wish
list at Amazon.com.And it's not just books -- gifts of needed
hardware, software, and office equipment are welcome, too! All of
these donations are tax-deductible. We're pleased to report that 246
items have been purchased already, and we thank the donors for their
generosity. You can view the catalogue of books in NCSE's archives at
LibraryThing.

For NCSE's wishlist at Amazon.com, visit:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/39U1UMFQ22WED/ 

For NCSE's catalogue at LibraryThing, visit:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/NCSE 

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:

* Minda Berbeco commenting on advice about requiring students to
engage in action on climate:
http://ncse.com/blog/2013/12/action-climate-education-step-too-far-0015254 

* Glenn Branch discussing the history of "The Impossible Voyage of Noah's Ark":
http://ncse.com/blog/2013/12/mysterious-mr-moore-part-1-0015240 
http://ncse.com/blog/2013/12/mysterious-mr-moore-part-2-0015242 

* Josh Rosenau interviewing Vincent Cassone about his role in the Texas victory:
http://ncse.com/blog/2013/12/texas-mystery-solved-case-vincent-cassone-0015253 

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.

--
With best wishes for the holiday season,

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 

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