NCSE Evolution and Climate Education Update for 2015/01/23

(by NCSE Deputy Director Glenn Branch)

Dear friends of NCSE,

Progress in Wyoming. News and more news about antiscience legislation
in Indiana. Plus congratulations to Richard Lewontin, a Facebook
milestone for NCSE, and a reminder about Darwin Day.

BILL TO UNBLOCK NGSS ADVANCES IN WYOMING

Wyoming's House Bill 23 was unanimously passed by the House Education
Committee, according to the Casper Star-Tribune (January 20, 2015),
and now proceeds to the floor of the House. If enacted, the bill would
repeal the footnote in the law establishing the state budget for
2014-2016 that precludes the use of state funds "for any review or
adoption" of the Next Generation Science Standards.

As NCSE previously reported, the treatment of climate change was cited
as the reason for the footnote. The Wyoming state board of education
subsequently declined to develop a new set of science standards
independent of the NGSS. Despite the legislature's decision, local
school districts are free to adopt the NGSS, and about fifteen (of
forty-eight) have reportedly done so.

For the text of Wyoming's House Bill as introduced (PDF), visit:
http://legisweb.state.wy.us/2015/Introduced/HB0023.pdf 

For the story in the Caster Star-Tribune, visit:
http://trib.com/news/local/education/wyoming-bill-that-repeals-science-standard-ban-advances/article_85bcf7bf-4b6b-50d8-9396-e323818a602c.html 

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

INDIANA'S ANTISCIENCE BILL IN THE NEWS

"Call it a back-door approach to failed attempts to chip away at state
standards on teaching evolution and to bring creationism into the
public school classroom," wrote the Lafayette, Indiana, Journal and
Courier (January 20, 2015), referring to Senate Bill 562, which if
enacted would deprive administrators of the ability to prevent
teachers from miseducating students about "scientific controversies."

Jeff Raatz (R-District 27), one of the sponsors of the bill, told the
newspaper, "Could it be seen as an anti-evolution bill? Could be,"
adding, "That doesn't bother me at all. Essentially, we're saying
there are competing theories and we should allow the discussion in the
classroom. Not to promote anything or one over another. But that we
should have the ability to discuss."

NCSE's Glenn Branch, however, charged that the bill was intended to
"free the hands of those few teachers who have funny ideas, allowing
them to "misrepresent the state of the scientific consensus on the
issues" with impunity. He added that it would add to pressure on
responsible teachers "who ordinarily wouldn't even consider it,
because they know better" to teach creationism or climate change
denial.

As NCSE previously reported, SB 562 was introduced in the Indiana
Senate on January 20, 2015, with Jeff Raatz (R-District 27) and Dennis
Kruse (R-District 14), who has a long history of sponsoring
antievolution legislation, as its sponsors. Raatz told the Journal and
Courier that he expects the bill to be referred to the Senate
Education and Career Development Committee, of which Kruse is the
chair.

For information about Indiana's Senate Bill 562, visit:
https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2015/bills/senate/562 

For the story in the Lafayette Journal and Courier, visit:
http://www.jconline.com/story/opinion/columnists/dave-bangert/2015/01/20/evolution-science-back-bills-cross-hairs/22064443/ 

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

ANTISCIENCE LEGISLATION IN INDIANA

Indiana's Senate Bill 562, introduced and referred to the Senate
Committee on Education & Career Development on January 20, 2015, is
the second antiscience bill of the year, following Missouri's House
Bill 486.

SB 562 would require state and local educational authorities to
"assist teachers in finding effective ways to present the curriculum"
where it addresses scientific controversies and to permit teachers "to
help students understand, analyze, critique, and review in an
objective manner the scientific strengths and scientific weaknesses of
conclusions and theories being presented"; it would prevent such
authorities from "prohibit[ing] a teacher in a public school from
helping students to understand, analyze, critique, and review in an
objective manner the scientific strengths and scientific weaknesses of
existing conclusions and theories being presented." A further section
of SB 562 attempts to immunize it against constitutional scrutiny,
insisting that the bill "may not be construed to promote ... any
religious or nonreligious doctrine."

The only topic mentioned in the bill as controversial is human
cloning, which frequently appears alongside biological evolution and
climate change in such bills; SB 562 is, however, apparently the first
such bill to mention only human cloning.

The bill's sponsors are Jeff Raatz (R-District 27) and Dennis Kruse
(R-District 14). Kruse, as it happens, has a long history of
sponsoring antievolution legislation. In 1999, while serving in the
Indiana House of Representatives, Kruse pledged to introduce a law to
remove evolution from the state's science standards, according to the
South Bend Tribune (August 27, 1999). Instead, however, he introduced
bills that would permit local school districts to require the teaching
of creation science -- House Bill 1356 in 2000 and House Bill 1323 in
2001. Both bills died in committee. In the Senate, Kruse introduced a
similar bill -- Senate Bill 89 in 2012 -- which passed the Senate, but
only after it was amended to require the inclusion of "theories from
multiple religions, which may include ... Christianity, Judaism,
Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Scientology." SB 89 subsequently died
in the House.

In late 2012, Kruse told the Lafayette Journal and Courier (November
10, 2012) that he would introduce a bill drafted by the Discovery
Institute in the legislature in 2013, but he failed to do so. Now SB
562 appears to fulfill his vow.

For information about Indiana's Senate Bill 562, visit:
https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2015/bills/senate/562 

For the story in the Lafayette Journal and Courier, visit:
http://www.jconline.com/article/20121110/COLUMNISTS30/311100042/bangert-evolution-pence 

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

CONGRATULATIONS TO RICHARD LEWONTIN

NCSE is delighted to congratulate Richard Lewontin on being named as a
recipient of the Crafoord Prize in Biosciences for 2015.

Lewontin and Tomoka Ohta of the National Institute of Genetics in
Mishima, Japan, were honored "for their pioneering analyses and
fundamental contributions to the understanding of genetic
polymorphism," according to a January 15, 2015, press release from the
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. They will receive their awards at a
ceremony in Stockholm in May 2015.

A member of NCSE's Advisory Council, Lewontin is Professor Emeritus in
the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard
University.

For the press release from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, visit:
http://www.crafoordprize.se/press/arkivpressreleases/thecrafoordprizeinbiosciences2015.5.3110ee8c1495db7443260c7.html 

And for NCSE's Advisory Council, visit:
http://ncse.com/about/advisory-council 

FACEBOOK: N > 90,000

A milestone: there are now over 90,000 fans of NCSE'sFacebook page.
Why not join them, by visiting the page and becoming a fan by clicking
on the "Like" box by NCSE's name? You'll receive the latest NCSE news
delivered straight to your Facebook Home page, as well as updates on
evolution-related and climate-related topics. Or if you prefer your
news in 140-character chunks, follow NCSE on Twitter. And while you're
surfing the web, why not visit NCSE's YouTube channel, with hundreds
of videos for your watching pleasure? It's the best place on the web
to view talks by NCSE's staff, including the recent series of activist
workshop webinars.

For NCSE's Facebook page, Twitter feed, and YouTube channel, visit:
http://www.facebook.com/evolution.ncse 
http://twitter.com/ncse 
http://www.youtube.com/NatCen4ScienceEd 

DARWIN DAY APPROACHES

It's time to dust off your Darwin costume again: less than three weeks
remain before Darwin Day 2015! Colleges and universities, schools,
libraries, museums, churches, civic groups, and just plain folks
across the country -- and the world -- are preparing to celebrate
Darwin Day, on or around February 12, in honor of the life and work of
Charles Darwin. These events provide a marvelous opportunity not only
to celebrate Darwin's birthday but also to engage in public outreach
about science, evolution, and the importance of evolution education --
which is especially needed with assaults on evolution education
already under way in state legislatures. NCSE encourages its members
and friends to attend, participate in, and even organize Darwin Day
events in their own communities. To find a local event, check the
websites of local universities and museums and the registry of Darwin
Day events maintained by the Darwin Day Celebration website. (And
don't forget to register your own event with the Darwin Day
Celebration website!)

And with Darwin Day comes the return of Evolution Weekend! Hundreds of
congregations all over the country and around the world are taking
part in Evolution Weekend, February 13-15, 2015, by presenting sermons
and discussion groups on the compatibility of faith and science.
Michael Zimmerman, the initiator of the project, writes, "Evolution
Weekend is an opportunity for serious discussion and reflection on the
relationship between religion and science. One important goal is to
elevate the quality of the discussion on this critical topic -- to
move beyond sound bites. A second critical goal is to demonstrate that
religious people from many faiths and locations understand that
evolution is sound science and poses no problems for their faith.
Finally, as with The Clergy Letter itself, Evolution Weekend makes it
clear that those claiming that people must choose between religion and
science are creating a false dichotomy." At last count, 350
congregations in forty-four states (and twelve foreign countries) were
scheduled to hold Evolution Weekend events.

For the Darwin Day registry, visit:
http://darwinday.org/events/ 
http://darwinday.org/events/community/add 

For information about Evolution Weekend, visit:
http://www.evolutionweekend.org/ 

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 the muddled concept of species:
http://ncse.com/blog/2015/01/misconception-monday-alas-poor-linnaeus-0016127 

* Mark McCaffrey musing about John Muir:
http://ncse.com/blog/2015/01/hitched-to-everything-0016113 

* Josh Rosenau pondering the U.S. Senate's symbolic votes on climate change:
http://ncse.com/blog/2015/01/us-senate-votes-against-science-0016138 

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 

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