NCSE Evolution and Climate Education Update for 2014/06/13
Submitted by Peter Burns on Fri, 2014-06-13 19:35.
National Center for Science Education
(by NCSE Deputy Director Glenn Branch)
Dear friends of NCSE, A proposal to undermine the treatment of evolution in South Carolina's state science standards was rejected. The American Humanist Association honors NCSE's Eugenie C. Scott. There's a new contribution from NCSE in Evolution: Education and Outreach. And NCSE is offering a glimpse of The Cartoon Introduction to Climate Change.
ANTIEVOLUTION PROPOSAL REJECTED IN SOUTH CAROLINA The South Carolina state board of education rejected the Education Oversight Committee's proposal to revise the state science standards to require students to "[c]onstruct scientific arguments that seem to support and scientific arguments that seem to discredit Darwinian natural selection" at its June 11, 2014, meeting, according to the Charleston Post and Courier (June 11, 2014). Ultimately, the board voted not to accept the EOC's proposal on a voice vote; only one member of the board, Neil Willis, was recorded as favoring it. Rob Dillon, a professor of biology at the College of Charleston and president of South Carolinians for Science Education, told the Post and Courier, "I was very gratified by the support for rigorous science education that came from the State Board of Education." Still, the impasse over South Carolina's state science standards continues. As the Post and Courier (April 28, 2014) previously explained, "both bodies must agree on what the language should say. Otherwise, the state keeps the current language," i.e., of the state science standards adopted in 2005. The relevant standard (H.B.5C) now presumably returns to the EOC to accept, again propose to revise, or reject. As NCSE previously reported, in January 2014 the state board of education voted to adopt a revised set of science standards, rejecting two different proposals -- one from the Education Oversight Committee, one from a member of the board -- that would have compromised the treatment of evolution in the process. Although the board's vote was supposed to be final, the standards then returned to the EOC for its approval. In February 2014, the EOC voted to approve the standards with the exception of a clause involving the phrase "natural selection." Senator Mike Fair (R-District 6), a member of the EOC and a long-time opponent of evolution education in South Carolina, told the Charleston Post and Courier (February 10, 2014), "Natural selection is a direct reference to Darwinism. And the implication of Darwinism is that it is start to finish." Subsequently, Fair seemed to reverse himself, telling the Charleston City Paper (February 13, 2014), "I support the scientific standards as they were given to our subcommittee," adding, "I just needed a few days to look at the possible overreach of the terminology, and it's not there." It was expected, therefore, that the material about natural selection would be restored, and the standards would be approved, at the EOC's April 2014 meeting. But Fair reversed himself again during the EOC's April 28, 2014, meeting, saying, according to the Post and Courier, "We must teach the controversy ... There's another side. I'm not afraid of the controversy." He proposed to amend the standards to call for students to "[c]onstruct scientific arguments that seem to support and scientific arguments that seem to discredit Darwinian Natural selection." The amendment passed on a 7-4 vote. When the EOC's proposal reached the board at its June 11, 2014, board meeting, the proposal was defended by two speakers affiliated with the Discovery Institute. But a number of South Carolina scientists and educators, including Rob Dillon, Ed Emmer, the Reverend Jeremy Rutledge, Kelly C. Smith, Michael Svec, and Valerie Waite, as well as a representative of the state department of education, spoke in opposition to it. For the June 11, 2014, story in the Charleston Post and Courier, visit: http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20140611/PC1603/140619795/1031/sc-board-of-education-rejects-adoption-of-new-biology-standards For the April 28, 2014, story in the Charleston Post and Courier, visit: http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20140428/PC1603/140429335 For the story in the Charleston City Paper, visit: http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/TheBattery/archives/2014/02/13/sc-sen-mike-fair-drops-opposition-to-evolution-teaching-standards And for NCSE's previous coverage of events in South Carolina, visit: http://ncse.com/news/south-carolina AHA AWARD FOR NCSE'S SCOTT Eugenie C. Scott, the former executive director of NCSE and the current chair of its Advisory Council, was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the American Humanist Association at its annual conference in Philadelphia on June 7, 2014. "When our schools teach children the scientific method and the theory of evolution, instead of religious pseudoscience in the form of creationism or intelligent design, they are creating the next generation's innovators and leaders," explained Roy Speckhardt, the AHA's executive director, in a May 29, 2014, press release. "Through her efforts to promote the teaching of sound, scientific principles in our classrooms, Dr. Scott has made invaluable contributions to our educational system." Scott previously received the Isaac Asimov Science Award from the AHA in 1998. For information about the American Humanist Association, visit: http://americanhumanist.org/ NCSE'S LATEST IN EVOLUTION: EDUCATION AND OUTREACH NCSE's Glenn Branch's "Going Ape: Interview with Brandon Haught" was just published in Evolution: Education and Outreach. Of Haught's book Going Ape, Branch writes, "It is the only study of controversies over the teaching of evolution that concentrates on a single state over the course of almost a century," adding, "But Going Ape isn't a solemn treatment of interest only to academics. A born storyteller, Haught offers interesting, lively, and well-paced accounts of the events he describes, providing a satisfying survey of a controversy with deep historical roots that continues to affect science education even today." 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 is now continuing to contribute "Overcoming Obstacles to Evolution Education" columns under the new system. The first five volumes of Evolution: Education and Outreach are now freely available as well. For Branch's interview of Haught (PDF), visit: http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1186%2Fs12052-014-0014-3.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 A GLIMPSE OF THE CARTOON INTRODUCTION TO CLIMATE CHANGE NCSE is pleased to offer a free preview of Grady Klein and Yoram Bauman's The Cartoon Introduction to Climate Change (Island Press, 2014). The preview consists of chapter 2, "A Brief History of Planet Earth," which begins with the formation of the earth about 4.6 billion years ago -- a grandmother explains to her grandchild, "That's 50 million times older than grandpa" -- and continues, emphasizing the interplay between life and climate. Praising The Cartoon Introduction to Climate Change, James E. Hansen, the former director of NASA's Goddard Institute and a member of NCSE's Advisory Council, writes, "Climate is no laughing matter -- but it beats crying. Maybe this is the secret passage into people's hearts and minds." The reviewer for Publishers Weekly describes it as "a skillful tour of the issues that face our developing world and ... a model of how educational works of this sort should be crafted." For the preview of The Cartoon Introduction to Climate Change (PDF), visit: http://ncse.com/book-excerpt For information about the book from its publisher, visit: http://islandpress.org/ip/books/book/islandpress/C/bo9140597.html 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 discussing the twelfth episode of the Cosmos reboot: http://ncse.com/blog/2014/06/cosmos-our-solar-future-0015665 * Glenn Branch chiding a well-meant but ill-phrased defense of the NGSS: http://ncse.com/blog/2014/06/ngss-holliday-0015673 * Stephanie Keep criticizing a teleological headline in Nature: http://ncse.com/blog/2014/06/nature-problem-0015664 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 x303 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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