NCSE Evolution and Climate Education Update for 2014/11/21
Submitted by Peter Burns on Fri, 2014-11-21 15:05.
National Center for Science Education
(by NCSE Deputy Director Glenn Branch)
Dear friends of NCSE, It's not too late to apply to host the Darwin Day Roadshow. A proposed set of new state science standards for South Dakota is attracting opposition from a state senator who favors creationism and climate change denial. Plus signs of progress on climate science in Texas social studies textbooks, a new issue of Reports of the NCSE, and further signs of progress on climate science in Texas social studies textbooks.
ON THE ROAD AGAIN WITH NESCENT The Darwin Day Roadshow is returning! The Roadshow is a project of the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center, in which NESCent staff shares their enthusiasm for evolutionary science with students, teachers, and the general public on the occasion of Charles Darwin's birthday, February 12. According to NESCent, "Our teams talk to students, teachers and the general public about their research in evolutionary science, describe what it takes to become an evolutionary biologist (and what some of the rewards and challenges are), and convey why evolutionary science is relevant to everyone." And the results are delightful: as NESCent's Craig McClain wrote at Pacific Standard (May 15, 2011), "for all of us the Darwin Day Road Show was a gratifying adventure that no one will forget. From the landscapes with their silos, combines, center pivot crop circles, high school gymnasiums, to the indelible interactions we had along the way, we absorbed it all." Applications from schools interested in hosting the Roadshow, especially those who would not be likely to have access to Darwin Day activities otherwise, are now being accepted -- now until December 5, 2014. For information about the Darwin Day Roadshow, visit: http://roadshow.nescent.org/ For Craig McClain's article in Pacific Standard, visit: http://www.psmag.com/science/scientists-take-charles-darwin-on-the-road-31211/ And for the application for the Darwin Day Roadshow, visit: http://roadshow.nescent.org/apply/ OPPOSITION TO NEW SCIENCE STANDARDS IN SOUTH DAKOTA? A South Dakota state senator dislikes a proposed new set of state science standards, according to the Sioux Falls Argus Leader (November 18, 2014). At a November 17, 2014, public hearing -- the second of four -- on the standards, Phil Jensen (R-District 33) expressed concern about the treatment of evolution and climate change. Jensen's primary complaint about the standards was that they are "inappropriate and unlawful," since a recent state law prohibits the state board of education from adopting standards intended for multi-state adoption. The new standards were developed in South Dakota, but include elements of the Next Generation Science Standards. According to the Rapid City Journal (November 18, 2014), "Jensen and other opponents of Common Core said Monday the proposed standards for science and social studies are linked to such multi-state efforts. Their comments included references such as 'communist,' 'evolution,' 'leftist,' 'climate change' and 'environmentalism.'" In 2014, Jensen was a cosponsor of South Dakota's Senate Bill 112, which if enacted would have provided that "[n]o school board or school administrator may prohibit a teacher in public or nonpublic school from providing instruction on intelligent design or other related topics." The bill was killed in the Senate Education Committee. In 2010, while serving in the South Dakota House of Representatives, Jensen was a cosponsor of South Dakota's House Concurrent Resolution 1009, which called for " a balanced approach for instruction in the public schools relating to global climatic change." The resolution was adopted by both houses of the legislature. Jensen is asking the state attorney general to provide an official opinion on the legality of the standards. The president of the state board of educaton told the Argus Leader that there is plenty of time: there are two further public hearings to be held before the board decides whether to adopt the standards in May 2015. For the stories in the Sioux Falls Argus Leader and the Rapid City Journal, visit: http://www.argusleader.com/story/news/2014/11/18/critics-question-social-studies-science-standards/19207939/ http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/legislature/rapid-city-lawmaker-wants-attorney-general-to-examine-common-core/article_ccf38c7d-5d46-59dd-a42a-acaf9b18c39c.html For information about 2014's Senate Bill 112 and 2010's House Concurrent Resolution 1009, visit: http://legis.sd.gov/Legislative_Session/Bills/Bill.aspx?Bill=112&Session=2014 http://legis.sd.gov/Legislative_Session/Bills/Bill.aspx?File=HCR1009ENR.htm&Session=2010&Bill=HCR1009 And for NCSE's previous coverage of events in South Dakota, visit: http://ncse.com/news/south-dakota FURTHER PROGRESS IN TEXAS "McGraw-Hill, the second-largest educational publisher in the world, has removed key passages from a proposed Texas textbook that cast doubt on climate science," reports theNational Journal (November 17, 2014). The decision follows on the heels of a similar decision by Pearson, previouslyreported by NCSE. McGraw-Hill confirmed that it will remove a deeply problematic lesson that equated unsupported arguments from a special interest-funded political advocacy group, the Heartland Institute, with data-backed material from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a Nobel-winning organization of scientists from around the world. In a joint press release from NCSE, the Texas Freedom Network, and Climate Parents, NCSE's Josh Rosenau praised the publishers for their actions: "They listened to us and the nation’s leading scientific and educational societies, ensuring that students will learn the truth about the greatest challenge they'll confront as citizens of the 21st century." Rosenau added, in a November 17, 2014, post on NCSE's Science League of America blog, "The board might try to reverse the changes the publishers made, so we'll stay vigilant until that last vote. But with this move, the publishers have made clear that they intend to stand up for accurate science, and we'll support them however we can." The state board of education is scheduled to hold a final public hearing on social studies textbooks, including the submissions from McGraw-Hill and Pearson, on November 18, 2014, with a vote on the textbooks expected to follow on November 21, 2014. Textbooks approved by the board will be used in classrooms starting in the 2015-2016 academic year. For the story in the National Journal, visit: http://www.nationaljournal.com/energy/second-texas-textbook-publisher-drops-climate-denial-entry-amid-backlash-20141117 For the press release, visit: http://ncse.com/climate/publishers-remove-climate-change-denialism-from-texas For Rosenau's blog post, visit: http://ncse.com/blog/2014/11/climate-change-denial-nixed-textbooks-0015999 And for NCSE's previous coverage of events in Texas, visit: http://ncse.com/news/texas RNCSE 34:6 NOW ON-LINE NCSE is pleased to announce that the latest issue of Reports of the National Center for Science Education is now available on-line. The issue -- volume 34, number 6 -- contains Sehoya Cotner, D. Christopher Brooks, and Randy Moore's "Science and Society: Evolution and Student Voting Patterns"; John P. Abraham, John Fasullo, and Greg Laden's "Continued Global Warming in the Midst of Natural Climate Fluctuations"; and John Cook and Peter Jacobs's "Scientists are from Mars, Laypeople are from Venus: An Evidence-Based Rationale for Communicating the Consensus on Climate." And for his regular People and Places column, Randy Moore discusses the geologist William Smith. Plus a host of reviews of books on various topics: Douglas Allchin reviews Martin A. Nowak and Sarah Coakley's collection Evolution, Games, and God, David M. Dobson reviews Donald R. Prothero's Reality Check, David Morrison reviews David C. Catling's Astrobiology, David A. Rintoul reviews Gregg D. Caruso's Science and Religion: 5 Questions, Kenneth Saladin reviews Randy Moore and Sehoya Cotner's Understanding Galápagos, and Brian Switek reviews Richard Milner's Charles M. Knight: The Artist Who Saw Through Time. All of these articles, features, and reviews are freely available in PDF form from http://reports.ncse.com. Members of NCSE will shortly be receiving in the mail the print supplement to Reports 34:6, which, in addition to summaries of the on-line material, contains news from the membership, a regular column in which NCSE staffers offer personal reports on what they've been doing to defend the teaching of evolution, a regular column interviewing NCSE's favorite people, and more besides. (Not a member? Join today! And as the holiday season approaches, why not consider giving a membership to, or a donation in honor of, that special someone?) For the table of contents for RNCSE 34:6, visit: http://reports.ncse.com/index.php/rncse/issue/current/showToc For information about joining NCSE, visit: http://ncse.com/join PROGRESS IN TEXAS "Climate scientists can breathe a bit easier," the National Journal (November 13, 2014) reports. "Pearson Education -- the largest educational publisher in the world -- has cut material from a proposed Texas social-studies textbook that cast doubt on the human causes of global warming." Along with the Texas Freedom Network, NCSE previouslycharged that "an examination of how proposed social studies textbooks for Texas public schools address climate change reveals distortions and bias that misrepresent the broad scientific consensus on the phenomenon." As submitted, Pearson's fifth-grade social textbook claimed, "Some scientists believe that this carbon dioxide could lead to a slow heating of Earth's overall climate. This temperature change is known as global warming or climate change. Scientists disagree about what is causing climate change." As now revised, the passage reads, "Carbon dioxide, which occurs both naturally and through human activities, is called a greenhouse gas, because it traps heat. As the amounts of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases increase, the Earth warms. Scientists warn that climate change, caused by this warming, will pose challenges to society." "I couldn't be more pleased," NCSE's Josh Rosenau told the National Journal. "The revised textbook [from Pearson] provides students with the reliable science they need to understand the social debates surrounding climate change and does so without manufacturing a scientific debate." Unfortunately, although McGraw-Hill revised problematic claims about climate science in its sixth-grade social studies textbook, the discussion still incorrectly suggests that climate change is still scientifically controversial and still presents the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the Heartland Institute as offering "differing viewpoints." "The fundamental flaw remains unchanged," Rosenau said. "To have a debate about science that is well understood is simply inappropriate." (Rosenau further discusses the status of the textbook revisions in detail in his "A Gold Star in the Lone Star," posted on November 14, 2014, on NCSE's Science League of America blog.) The state board of education is scheduled to hold a final public hearing on the textbooks on November 18, with a vote on the textbooks expected to follow on November 21. "For now," the National Report noted, "activists hope that the board will either reject the McGraw-Hill book or that [the] publisher will make a last-minute correction." For the story in the National Report, visit: http://www.nationaljournal.com/energy/under-pressure-texas-textbook-publisher-caves-on-climate-denial-20141113 For Rosenau's blog post, visit: http://ncse.com/blog/2014/11/gold-star-lone-star-0015991 And for NCSE's previous coverage of events in Texas, visit: http://ncse.com/news/texas 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: * Mark McCaffrey discussing a Virginia school district that's taking climate change seriously: http://ncse.com/blog/2014/11/taking-initiative-0016005 * Josh Rosenau covering the controversy over climate change in Texas social studies textbooks: http://ncse.com/blog/2014/11/gold-star-lone-star-0015991 http://ncse.com/blog/2014/11/climate-change-denial-nixed-textbooks-0015999 * Ann Reid recounting the impact of a science teacher on a NCSE staffer: http://ncse.com/blog/2014/11/thank-teach-thursday-robert-luhn-thanks-brother-nick-0016009 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
» 3437 reads
