NCSE Evolution and Climate Education Update for 2014/08/22
Submitted by Peter Burns on Fri, 2014-08-22 15:03.
National Center for Science Education
(by NCSE Deputy Director Glenn Branch)
Dear friends of NCSE, A new antiscience bill appears in Ohio. Plus educational resources keyed to the National Climate Assessment are now available, thanks in part to NCSE.
UPDATE ON OHIO'S ANTISCIENCE BILL A sponsor of Ohio's House Bill 597, which if enacted would require the state's science standards to "prohibit political or religious interpretation of scientific facts in favor of another," confirmed that local school districts would be allowed to teach creationism along with evolution and global warming denial alongside climate science. Andy Thompson (R-District 95), who along with Matt Huffman (R-District 4) introduced HB 597, told the Columbus Dispatch (August 20, 2014), "we want to provide them the flexibility to consider all perspectives, not just on matters of faith or how the Earth came into existence, but also global warming and other topics that are controversial." The language of the bill troubles those concerned about the integrity of science education in the Buckeye State. Patricia Princehouse, director of Case Western Reserve University's Program in Evolutionary Biology, told the Dispatch, "It sounds exactly like the kind of things intelligent design and creationist promoters say." As if to confirm Princehouse's judgment, when asked whether "intelligent design" should be taught alongside evolution, Thompson answered, "I think it would be good for them to consider the perspectives of people of faith. That's legitimate." Teaching "intelligent design" in the public schools was found to be unconstitutional in 2005's Kitzmiller v. Dover trial. As NCSE previously reported, HB 597 is currently with the House Rules and Reference Committee rather than with the House Education Committee. According to the Columbus Dispatch (August 19, 2014), Huffman plans "to vote it out of committee to set up a full House vote soon after the November election." Hearings on the bill are already taking place, according to the legislative website. Concerned Ohioans are urged to register at NCSE's website to indicate their opposition to the antiscience provision of HB 597, to get help reaching out to their state representatives, and to receive action alerts for attacks on science education in Ohio. For the text of Ohio's House Bill 597 as introduced, visit: http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/bills.cfm?ID=130_HB_597 For the August 20, 2014, story from the Columbus Dispatch, visit: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2014/08/20/intelligent-design-rises-again.html For the August 19, 2014, story from the Columbus Dispatch, visit: http://http//www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2014/08/19/ohio-lawmakers-educators-debate-common-core-standards.html For NCSE's taking action page for Ohio's HB 597, visit: http://ncse.com/taking-action/stop-ohio-anti-science-bill And for NCSE's previous coverage of events in Ohio, visit: http://ncse.com/news/ohio ANTISCIENCE LEGISLATION IN OHIO Ohio's House Bill 597, introduced in the House of Representatives on July 28, 2014, would, if enacted, require the state's science standards to "prohibit political or religious interpretation of scientific facts in favor of another" -- and a sponsor of the bill told a newspaper that it would allow local school districts to teach creationism alongside evolution and global warming denial alongside climate science. Andy Thompson (R-District 95), who along with Matt Huffman (R-District 4) introduced HB 597, which is primarily aimed at repealing Common Core, told the Cleveland Plain Dealer (August 19, 2014) that the clause in question (in the newspaper's words) "prevents teachers and schools from only presenting one side of a political and scientific debate -- global warming, for example, without presenting the other side." Asked whether the law would require "intelligent design" to be taught alongside evolution, Thompson explained, "I don't know that it needs to be treated on par, but districts will be able to choose based on their judgment." Asked whether faith-based beliefs belong in a science class, he demurred: "I'm not prescribing that to classes," Thompson said. "There's not one settled perspective they should be doing, to another perspective." "The problem here," explained NCSE's executive director Ann Reid, "is that there simply isn't a debate within the scientific community over evolution or over climate change. Instead, there's a consensus, with the vast majority of scientists, of whatever political or religious inclinations, agreeing on the facts. By encouraging local school districts to misrepresent the overwhelming scientific consensus, HB 597 is a recipe for miseducation." According to the Columbus Dispatch (August 19, 2014), HB 597 was assigned not to the House Education Committee but to the House Rules and Reference Committee, "which is run by top House GOP leaders and rarely hears bills." Huffman told the Dispatch that "he plans to hold six hearings over three weeks. The plan is to vote it out of committee to set up a full House vote soon after the November election." For the text of Ohio's House Bill 597 as introduced, visit: http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/bills.cfm?ID=130_HB_597 For the story in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, visit: http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2014/08/common_core_opposition_bill_wont_limit_foreign_authors_-_or_teaching_of_creationism_and_intelligent_design.html For the story in the Columbus Dispatch, visit: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2014/08/19/ohio-lawmakers-educators-debate-common-core-standards.html And for NCSE's previous coverage of events in Ohio, visit: http://ncse.com/news/ohio NCSE AND NCA TEACHING RESOURCES NCSE was involved in developing a series of guides for educators to use the National Climate Assessment to teach about the causes, effects, and risks of and possible responses to human-caused climate change. The guides focus on the regional chapters of the NCA, helping to unpack the key messages for students and identify high-quality on-line educational resources for the ten regions of the country discussed in the report. Speaking at a White House award ceremony with youth and environmental educators on August 12, 2014, John Holdren, Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, highlighted (at around the 15:00 mark) the guides, describing them as "just one example of the many ways that we can work together to create a skilled and environmentally literate populace for the challenges that we're facing." As NCSE previously reported, the NCA, produced by a team of more than 300 experts, summarizes the impacts of climate change on the United States, now and in the future. When it was unveiled at the White House on May 6, 2014, NCSE's Mark McCaffrey discussed the educational uses of the report at a panel streamed live and currently available from C-SPAN; his presentation begins at around the 1:38 mark. The guides were developed by NOAA, the NCAnet Education Affinity Group, and members of the CLEAN Network. NCSE's Minda Berbeco and Mark McCaffrey were instrumental in launching and coordinating the project, and, with interns Rachel Connolly and Alexander Ehrenberg, played a central role in developing the resources for the Northeast, Southeast and Caribbean, Alaska, Hawai'i and Pacific Islands, Coasts, Southwest, and Ocean regions. For the guides, visit: http://www.climate.gov/teaching/2014-national-climate-assessment-resources-educators For Holdren's speech, visit: http://www.c-span.org/video/?319224-2/white-house-unveils-climate-assessment-report For NCSE's report on the National Climate Assessment, visit: http://ncse.com/news/2014/05/ncse-national-climate-assessment-0015579 For Mark McCaffrey's discussion of the educational uses of the NCA, visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeokPT06dr8 And for NCSE's resources on climate science and climate education, visit: http://ncse.com/climate 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: * Stephanie Keep discussing misconceptions about theories, laws, and hypotheses: http://ncse.com/blog/2014/08/misconception-monday-hypotheses-theories-laws-oh-my-0015806 * Glenn Branch divulging Dr. Darwin's golden secret: http://ncse.com/blog/2014/08/dr-darwin-s-golden-secret-0015815 * Stephanie Keep regretting a particularly poor description of evolution in the Dallas Morning News: http://ncse.com/blog/2014/08/say-what-dallas-morning-news-0015819 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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