NCSE Evolution and Climate Education Update for 2014/04/18
Submitted by Peter Burns on Fri, 2014-04-18 15:13.
National Center for Science Education
(by NCSE Deputy Director Glenn Branch)
Dear friends of NCSE, The Association for Science Teacher Education adds its voice for evolution. Plus the situation with Wyoming's state science standards is still in flux. And a reminder about NCSE's YouTube channel.
ASTE ADDS ITS VOICE FOR EVOLUTION The Association for Science Teacher Education, which promotes leadership and support for professionals involved in the education and development of teachers of science at all levels, recently added its voice for evolution. In its position statement on teaching biological evolution, ASTE expresses its support for "the effective teaching of evolution in primary, secondary, and post- secondary science classrooms, and informal science learning environments, on the grounds that the science of biological evolution provides the foundation for all modern biology," and its opposition to "any effort to undermine the teaching of evolution at the local, state, or federal level, as these efforts seek to confuse teachers, students, and members of the community at large about the validity of key scientific theories, the nature of science, and the integrity of scientists." ASTE's statement is now reproduced, by permission, on NCSE's website, and will also be contained in the fourth edition of Voices for Evolution, NCSE's collection of organizational statements supporting the teaching of evolution. For ASTE's position statement, visit: http://theaste.org/about/aste-position-statement-on-teaching-biological-evolution/ And for Voices for Evolution, visit: http://ncse.com/voices CONTINUED UNCERTAINTY IN WYOMING At its April 11, 2014, meeting, the Wyoming state board of education decided not to implement the Next Generation Science Standards, instead turning to a state department of education committee for further guidance. As NCSE previously reported, a footnote in Wyoming's budget for 2014-2016 precludes the use of state funds "for any review or adoption" of the Next Generation Science Standards, and one of its authors acknowledged that the NGSS's treatment of climate change is a reason for the prohibition. The provision was editorially condemned by the Casper Star-Tribune (March 20, 2014) and the Wyoming Tribune Eagle (April 11, 2014). Before the board's meeting, the National Science Teachers Association urged the board to adopt the NGSS. A similar recommendation was offered by a coalition assembled by Climate Parents including the Wyoming Science Teachers Association, the American Meteorological Society, the Wyoming Education Association, Interfaith Power and Light, and NCSE. Instead of adopting the NGSS with the funds available to it before the new budget period begins, the board decided to turn the standards over to a state department of education committee -- the same committee which previously unanimously recommended the adoption of the NGSS. WyoFile (April 12, 2014) notes, "the board didn't give the committee it asked to review the standards any direction, other than to say the panel of educators couldn't come back with the NGSS or similar standards." According to K2 radio in Casper (April 11, 2014), "A motion to allow individual school districts to adopt their own science standards failed 6-3. Another motion to stop all further action on the NGSS died after not being seconded. Additionally, a motion to adopt the NGSS fell 6-3." A first motion to refer the standards back to the state department of education failed on a 5-4 vote, since a supermajority of six votes was necessary; the second motion for referral passed on a 7-2 vote. The board was warned that adopting NGSS was not a choice. Two legislators attending the meeting claimed that the budget footnote was effectively immediately, K2 radio reported, and Governor Mead's education policy advisor said that she would advise the governor to reject the NGSS if the board voted to adopt it. Mead was quoted by Wyoming Public Media (April 10, 2014) as saying that climate change should "be presented [in public schools] in a way that there's fair treatment of it and both perspectives are provided." Public comments offered during the lengthy meeting focused on the NGSS's treatment of climate change, with educators and scientists defending the NGSS. According to WyoFile, "The common theme of those who testified against the NGSS was climate change and evolution are only theories, not facts." One such testifier cited the pending federal case of COPE v. Kansas State Board of Education, in which a creationist organization is claiming that the NGSS endorse a non-theistic religious worldview. Wyoming is so far the only state in which opposition to the teaching of evolution and/or climate change succeeded in derailing adoption of the NGSS, with strong but unsuccessful opposition registered in Kansas and Kentucky. To date, the standards have been adopted in eleven -- California, Delaware, Kansas, Kentucky, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington -- as well as the District of Columbia, which together contain more than a fifth of public school students in the country. For the editorials in the Casper Star-Tribune and Wyoming Tribune Eagle, visit: http://trib.com/opinion/editorial/editorial-board-suppressing-science-education-standards-is-irresponsible/article_9ab88089-1b9d-5275-b462-e4986cdec711.html http://www.wyomingnews.com/articles/2014/04/11/opinion/staff_editorials/column155.txt For the letters from NSTA (PDF) and Climate Parents et alia, visit: http://www.nsta.org/docs/ngss/LetterToWyoming.pdf http://www.climateparents.org/ngss-letter/ For the WyoFile and K2 stories, visit: http://wyofile.com/kerrydrake/education-board-punts-science-standards-back-panel/ http://k2radio.com/new-wyoming-science-standards-placed-under-further-doe-review For the Wyoming Public Media story, visit: http://wyomingpublicmedia.org/post/governor-mead-does-not-want-canned-science-standards For NCSE's collection of documents from COPE v. Kansas State Board of Education, visit: http://ncse.com/legal/cope-v-kansas-state-boe And for NCSE's previous coverage of events in Wyoming, visit: http://ncse.com/news/wyoming THE LATEST ON NCSE'S YOUTUBE CHANNEL NCSE is pleased to announce the addition of a further batch of videos to NCSE's YouTube channel. Featured are a discussion between NCSE's new executive director Ann Reid and founding executive director Eugenie C. Scott, and a series of archived webinars aimed at broadening and deepening the networks of activists that make NCSE's work possible. Tune in and enjoy! For NCSE's YouTube channel, visit: http://www.youtube.com/NatCen4ScienceEd 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: * Peter Hess examining the latest recrudescence of geocentrism: http://ncse.com/blog/2014/04/sun-revolves-around-you-narcissism-cosmic-scale-0015521 * Mark McCaffrey appreciating the first episode of Years of Living Dangerously: http://ncse.com/blog/2014/04/living-dangerously-0015533 * Josh Rosenau discussing the sixth episode of Cosmos and the nature of science: http://ncse.com/blog/2014/04/cosmos-wars-episode-vi-return-tiny-0015529 * Adam Shapiro's guest post on World War I and the creationism-evolution controversy: http://ncse.com/blog/2014/04/what-if-world-war-i-creationism-evolution-controversy-part-3-0015502 * Abraham C. Flipse's guest post on World War I and the creationism-evolution controversy: http://ncse.com/blog/2014/04/what-if-world-war-i-creationism-evolution-controversy-part-4-0015503 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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