NCSE Evolution and Climate Education Update for 2014/03/07
Submitted by Peter Burns on Fri, 2014-03-07 15:42.
National Center for Science Education
(by NCSE Deputy Director Glenn Branch)
Dear friends of NCSE, A step forward for the remaining antiscience bill in Oklahoma. And sad news of the death of Bernard Winograd.
ANTISCIENCE BILL PASSES THE OKLAHOMA HOUSE Oklahoma's House Bill 1674, which would, if enacted, deprive administrators of the ability to prevent teachers from miseducating students about "scientific controversies," passed the Oklahoma House of Representatives on a 79-6 vote on March 3, 2014. HB 1674 would, if enacted, require state and local educational authorities to "assist teachers to find more effective ways to present the science curriculum where it addresses scientific controversies" and permit teachers to "help students understand, analyze, critique, and review in an objective manner the scientific strengths and scientific weaknesses of existing scientific theories pertinent to the course being taught," prohibiting administrators from interfering. As introduced in February 2013, the bill specifically mentioned "biological evolution, the chemical origins of life, global warming, and human cloning" as subjects which "some teachers may be unsure" about how to teach. Later, in February 2014, Gus Blackwell (R-District 61), a sponsor of HB 1674 along with Sally Kern (R-District 81), Arthur Hulbert (R-District 14), and Josh Brecheen in the Senate (R-District 61), amended the bill to omit the specific details. Responding to a previous incarnation of the bill, House Bill 1551 in 2011, the American Association for the Advancement of Science's chief executive officer Alan I. Leshner wrote, "There is virtually no scientific controversy among the overwhelming majority of researchers on the core facts of global warming and evolution," adding, "asserting that there are significant scientific controversies about the overall nature of these concepts when there are none will only confuse students, not enlighten them." HB 1674 is now presumably bound for the Senate Education Committee, which allowed a similar antiscience bill, Senate Bill 1765, to die without a hearing in February 2014. The Senate would have to approve the bill by April 24, 2014, for it to become law. For Oklahoma's House Bill 1674 as passed by the House (PDF), visit: http://webserver1.lsb.state.ok.us/cf_pdf/2013-14%20ENGR/hB/HB1674%20ENGR.PDF For Oklahoma's House Bill 1674 as introduced (PDF), visit: http://webserver1.lsb.state.ok.us/cf_pdf/2013-14%20INT/hB/HB1674%20INT.PDF And for NCSE's previous coverage of events in Oklahoma, visit: http://ncse.com/news/oklahoma BERNARD WINOGRAD DIES Bernard Winograd, a member of NCSE's board of directors, died on March 1, 2014, at the age of 63. A successful business executive, who toward the end of his career was managing about half a trillion dollars of assets, Winograd was fervently interested in evolution and concerned with the integrity of science education. He joined NCSE's board of directors in 2010, serving as vice president and treasurer during his tenure on the board. "It wasn't just his financial acumen that was invaluable to NCSE," commented Eugenie C. Scott, then NCSE's executive director, "but his intelligence, his curiosity, his broad knowledge of so many subjects, and his passion." In The Neighborhood Project: Using Evolution to Improve My City, One Block at a Time (Little, Brown 2011), David Sloan Wilson recounts his encounter with Winograd, to whom he was introduced by NCSE's Scott: "His evolution began when he was forced to take a biology course and he became fascinated with the part that dealt with evolution and biological anthropology. Ever since, he maintained an amateur's interest in evolution and saw parallels with the ways that companies compete and financial markets evolve over time." Wilson adds, "He was attracted to my work after reading Evolution for Everyone. The NCSE was defending the teaching of biological evolution in public-school education. I was gazing at humanity through the crystal ball of evolution. Bernard was interested in helping out with both endeavors." Winograd subsequently joined the executive advisory board of the Evolution Institute, cofounded by Wilson. Winograd was born on December 31, 1950, in Detroit, Michigan. He attended the University of Chicago, graduating in 1970 with a B.A. in social sciences. During his career, he worked for the Bendix Corporation, the United States Treasury Department (where he was executive assistant to the Secretary of the Treasury, W. Michael Blumenthal), and Taubman Centers. In 1996, he joined Prudential to lead its real estate investment operations. In 2002, he started at Prudential Financial, where he was senior vice president and then executive vice president and chief operating officer, and also at Prudential Investment Management, where he was president and chief executive officer. He retired in 2011. For the passage about Winograd from The Neighborhood Project, visit: http://evolution-institute.org/bernard 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: * Glenn Branch searching for someone who lost his job over evolution in 1922: http://ncse.com/blog/2014/02/searching-f-e-dean-part-1-0015359 http://ncse.com/blog/2014/02/searching-f-e-dean-part-2-0015360 http://ncse.com/blog/2014/02/searching-f-e-dean-part-3-0015361 http://ncse.com/blog/2014/02/searching-f-e-dean-part-4-0015362 http://ncse.com/blog/2014/03/searching-f-e-dean-part-5-0015363 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 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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