NCSE Evolution and Climate Education Update for 2014/03/21

(by NCSE Deputy Director Glenn Branch)

Dear friends of NCSE,

The state's largest newspaper reacts editorially to Wyoming's decision
not to adopt the NGSS. One of the antievolution bills in Missouri
advances. There's a settlement in a Louisiana case involving a
sixth-grade teacher's advocacy of creationism. And Wyoming blocks the
adoption of the NGSS partly because of their treatment of global
climate change.

REACTION TO WYOMING'S BLOCKING THE NGSS

The Casper Star-Tribune (March 20, 2014) editorially decried the state
legislature's decision to block the adoption of the Next Generation
Science Standards as "misguided and irresponsible." As NCSE previously
reported, a footnote in Wyoming's budget for 2014 precludes the use of
state funds "for any review or adoption" of the NGSS. One of the
footnote's authors acknowledged that the NGSS's treatment of climate
change is a reason for the prohibition. Matt Teeters (R-District 5)
told the Star-Tribune (March 14, 2014) that the NGSS "handle global
warming as settled science," adding, "There's all kind of social
implications involved in that that I don't think would be good for
Wyoming."

In its editorial, the Star-Tribune commented, "It's not the standards
that aren't good for Wyoming. It's lawmakers' decision to shortchange
our students. Ignoring the facts will do nothing to change them.
Lawmakers' shortsighted strategy will do nothing but ensure Wyoming
children have to pursue higher education to learn about the effects of
climate change." The editorial added, "It's irresponsible for state
legislators to let their own unwillingness to face reality shape the
minds and career prospects of Wyoming's students. It's also unfair to
our environment, which won't get the attention it needs if legislators
continue to pretend our world isn't changing and humans aren't
contributing to it."

NCSE's Mark McCaffrey told Climate Wire (March 18, 2014) that
Wyoming's economic dependence on fossil fuels was likely to have
played a role in the legislature's decision: "The fact of the matter
is that they just have a lot of natural resources, particularly in
terms of coal, oil and natural gas," he said. "I guess some within the
state view that as conflicting with what science tells us about the
human contribution to climate change." Pete Gosar, a member of the
state board of education who opposed the decision, urged, "Science
education should be left to the scientists," adding. "I think politics
and politicians should, for the most part, stay out of it."

McCaffrey also discussed the significance of Wyoming's decision with
High Country News's blog (March 19, 2014): "Until now, McCaffrey says,
climate change has been taught inconsistently around the country, if
at all. 'Teachers avoided it altogether, or they would teach it as
controversy or debate,' he says. That's problematic because while the
fact that climate change is happening and that people have a role in
it is the subject of debate in the political sphere, it isn't in the
scientific world. Not only that, but climate change is one of the
biggest scientific and environmental challenges of our time -- not
exactly the kind of thing it makes sense to ignore until college."

For the editorial in the Casper Star-Tribune, visit:
http://trib.com/opinion/editorial/editorial-board-suppressing-science-education-standards-is-irresponsible/article_9ab88089-1b9d-5275-b462-e4986cdec711.html 

For the Climate Wire story, visit:
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/stories/1059996286 

For the High Country News blog post, visit:
https://www.hcn.org/blogs/goat/scientific-controversy-in-public-schools-climate-change-is-the-new-evolution/view

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

MISSOURI ANTIEVOLUTION BILL ADVANCES

Missouri's House Bill 1472, which would require school districts to
allow parents to have their children excused from learning about
evolution, was passed by the House Committee on Elementary and
Secondary Education on March 12, 2014, after having a public hearing
on February 13, 2014. The bill is not yet on the House calendar.

As NCSE previously reported, the bill's sponsor Rick Brattin
(R-District 55) told the Kansas City Star (February 6, 2014) that
requiring students to study evolution is "an absolute infringement on
people's rights" and that evolution is "just as much faith and, you
know, just as much pulled out of the air as, say, any religion."

Writing in the Columbia Tribune (March 18, 2014), Frank Schmidt, a
professor of biochemistry at the University of Missouri and president
of the grassroots organization Missouri Citizens for Science,
expressed dismay with the recurrent legislative attempts to undermine
the teaching of evolution in his state.

"Our colleagues call us up or seek us out at conferences to
commiserate about the sorry state of science in Missouri," Schmidt
wrote. "They look behind our backs to see whether they can move one of
our bio-based businesses across the border, into Iowa or Illinois.
Even worse, they cluck their tongues semi-sympathetically, telling us
to be glad we're not in Kansas."

Schmidt also offered a sarcastic comparison of HB 1472 with a parallel
provision of state law allowing parents to have their children excused
from sex education, suggesting, "So maybe if the General Assembly puts
evolution on a par with sex, the young ones will decide it's worth
learning about. Otherwise, why take them out of class?"

A separate antievolution bill in Missouri, House Bill 1587, which
would deprive administrators of the ability to prevent teachers from
miseducating students about "scientific controversies" around
evolution, is still with the House Committee on Elementary and
Secondary Education, where no hearing for it is yet scheduled.

For information about Missouri's House Bill 1472, visit:
http://www.house.mo.gov/billsummary.aspx?bill=HB1472&year=2014&code=R 

For the story in the Kansas City Star, visit:
http://www.kansascity.com/2014/02/06/4803445/missouri-bill-would-let-parents.html 

For Schmidt's op-ed in the Columbia Tribune, visit:
http://www.columbiatribune.com/opinion/oped/maybe-creationists-are-on-to-something/article_d362d486-aec6-11e3-b856-10604b9f6eda.html 

For information about Missouri's House Bill 1587, visit:
http://www.house.mo.gov/billsummary.aspx?bill=HB1587&year=2014&code=R 

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

SETTLEMENT IN LOUISIANA LAWSUIT

There is a settlement in a Louisiana case centering on a sixth-grade
teacher's advocacy of creationism. According to a March 14, 2014,
press release from the American Civil Liberties Union, "[u]nder the
consent decree, the school board must end official prayers during
class and school events, refrain from disparaging any particular
faith, and prohibit staff from teaching creationism and other biblical
doctrine as fact." Marjorie Esman, executive director of the ACLU of
Louisiana, was quoted as saying, "No child should feel that a teacher
is trying to impose religious beliefs, and this agreement ensures that
this will no longer be the case at Sabine Parish schools. We're glad
the school board worked with us to bring this matter to a quick and
amicable resolution." The case,Lane et al. v. Sabine Parish School
Board et al., was filed in January 2014; documents from the case are
available from the ACLU's website.

As NCSE previously reported, the complaint in the case alleged that
the teacher "treats the Bible as scientific fact, telling students
that the Big Bang never happened and that evolution is a 'stupid'
theory that 'stupid people made up because they don't want to believe
in God,'" tells her students, "if evolution were real, it would still
be happening: Apes would still be turning into humans today,"
"repeatedly instructed students that evolution is not valid as a
scientific theory and that God made the world 6,000 years ago," and
awarded extra credit for writing "Isn't it amazing what the Lord has
made" on assignments and examinations. After the administration was
not responsive to complaints, the Lanes filed suit, citing a pattern
of "official promotion and inculcation of religion generally, and
Christianity, specifically" on the part of the district in asking for
a judgment against the district.

For the press release, visit:
https://www.aclu.org/religion-belief/louisiana-school-agrees-court-order-ending-discriminatory-religious-practices

For documents from the case, visit:
http://ncse.com/news/2014/01/creationism-louisiana-lawsuit-0015347 

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

WYOMING BLOCKS NGSS OVER CLIMATE

A footnote in Wyoming's budget for 2014 precludes the use of state
funds "for any review or adoption" of the Next Generation Science
Standards, and one of its authors acknowledges that the NGSS's
treatment of climate change is a reason for the prohibition.

In allocating funds to the state department of education, House Bill 1
provides, "neither the state board of education nor the department
shall expend any amount appropriated under this section for any review
or adoption of the next generation science standards as developed by
the national science teachers association, the American association
for the advancement of science, the national research council, and
'Achieve'" (capitalization as in original). The bill was signed into
law on March 5, 2014.

The exact requirements of the provision are unclear, the Casper
Star-Tribune (March 14, 2014) observes: "Some say the provision, which
came through a last-minute footnote, blocks the state from considering
any part" of the NGSS. "Others, including the provision's author, say
it prevents the wholesale adoption of the standards as they are
written." As a result, legal staff at the state board of education,
the state department of education, and the legislature are attempting
to clarify its meaning.

What is clear, however, is that the NGSS were targeted in part because
of their treatment of global climate change (which is one of four
sub-ideas in the core idea of Earth and Human Activity at both the
middle school and high school level). Matt Teeters (R-District 5), who
coauthored the provision, told the Star-Tribune that the NGSS "handle
global warming as settled science," adding, "There's all kind of
social implications involved in that that I don't think would be good
for Wyoming."

Pete Gosar, a member of the state board of education, disagreed,
commenting, "Over the last few years in Wyoming, we've injected
politics into education time and again and it has been less than
successful. .. And so here we go again. " Lisa Hoyos of Climate
Parents defended the NGSS's treatment of global climate change,
commenting, "It's not ideological. ... It's peer-vetted science. ...
As a parent, it's very important for me to ensure that my kids are
taught vetted, peer-tested scientific content."

There was resistance in the state to the treatment of global climate
change in the NGSS before the provision was passed. The Star-Tribune
reports that, despite the unanimous recommendation of a committee of
science specialists to adopt the NGSS, the state board of education
"asked the committee to revise the standards to present climate change
as a theory, instead of a fact, and to present the benefits mineral
extraction has brought Wyoming."

So far, the NGSS have been adopted in ten states -- California,
Delaware, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island,
Vermont, and Washington -- as well as the District of Columbia,
collectively containing a fifth of public school students in the
country.

For the relevant provision of the state budget (PDF, p. 55), visit:
http://legisweb.state.wy.us/2014/Enroll/HB0001.pdf 

For the story in the Casper Star-Tribune, visit:
http://trib.com/news/local/education/wyoming-first-state-to-block-new-science-standards/article_5d0ec624-6b50-5354-b015-ca2f5f7d7efe.html 

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

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:

* Steve Newton reviewing the second episode of the Cosmos reboot:
http://ncse.com/blog/2014/03/cosmos-wars-episode-ii-attack-facts-0015458 

* Josh Rosenau discussing the controversy over Cosmos's use of Giordano Bruno:
http://ncse.com/blog/2014/03/why-did-cosmos-focus-giordano-bruno-0015457 

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 

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