NCSE Evolution and Climate Education Update for 2015/02/27
Submitted by Peter Burns on Fri, 2015-02-27 15:34.
National Center for Science Education
(by NCSE Deputy Director Glenn Branch)
Dear friends of NCSE, The bill to unblock the NGSS in Wyoming is awaiting the governor's signature. A Darwin Day resolution was filed in Pennsylvania, while in Indiana the antiscience bill is dead. And NCSE is seeking two interns for the summer.
BILL TO UNBLOCK NGSS PASSES WYOMING LEGISLATURE The Wyoming House of Representatives and Senate have agreed on the wording of a bill that will allow the state board of education to adopt the Next Generation Science Standards,according to Wyoming Public Media (February 26, 2015). Now enrolled, House Bill 23 proceeds to Wyoming's governor Matt Mead for his signature. As originally passed by the House, HB 23 would have allowed the state to adopt the NGSS by repealing a footnote in the state budget for 2014-2016 that precluded the use of state funds for "any review or adoption of the NGSS." The footnote was prompted by the NGSS's treatment of climate change, as NCSE previously reported. Before passing HB 23, however, the Senate amended it by adding, "The state board of education may consider, discuss or modify the next generation science standards, in addition to any other standards, content or benchmarks as it may determine necessary, to develop quality science standards that are unique to Wyoming." It was feared that the uniqueness requirement in the Senate version might be interpreted as precluding the adoption of the NGSS after all. According to theCasper Star-Tribune (February 13, 2015), "Many around the Capitol on Thursday were confused as to what [the provision's author] intended with science standards that are 'unique to Wyoming.'" The uniqueness requirement, rejected by the House, was replaced by the conference committee with "The state board of education shall independently examine and scrutinize any science standards proposed or reviewed as a template in order to ensure that final standards adopted for Wyoming schools promote excellence." The new version of HB 23, which was subsequently approved by both houses of the legislature, "would allow the state Board of Education to review the Next Generation Science Standards, an enhanced version of those standards or a different set of K-12 science standards," reported the Casper Star-Tribune (February 25, 2015). For Wyoming's House Bill 23 as enrolled (PDF), visit: http://legisweb.state.wy.us/2015/Enroll/HB0023.pdf For the stories from Wyoming Public Media and the Casper Star-Tribune, visit: http://wyomingpublicmedia.org/post/science-standards-bill-goes-governor http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/riverton-senator-amends-science-standards-repeal-prompting-concern-from-proponents/article_191b4118-88e0-57c7-9205-821e685bc879.html http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/lawmakers-reach-agreement-on-science-standards/article_9fb938c3-e334-5b1e-978b-68a41a58c712.html And for NCSE's previous coverage of events in Wyoming, visit: http://ncse.com/news/wyoming DARWIN DAY RESOLUTION IN PENNSYLVANIA House Resolution 83, introduced in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives on February 26, 2015, would, if enacted, express the House's recognition of February 12, 2015, as Darwin Day in Pennsylvania. The resolution acknowledges the 206th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth, honors his discovery of natural selection, and the theory's role as "the foundation for ongoing advances in science, health, philosophy, art, education, and many other areas of modern life." It also celebrates Darwin's "strength of character" and the "great courage, wisdom and honesty required to explore and publish" his work on evolution, and deems his birthday "an appropriate day on which to celebrate and to reflect and act on the principles of intellectual bravery, perpetual curiosity, and the hunger for truth, which contribute to the well-being of all people." Like H. Res. 67 and S. Res. 66, the Darwin Day resolutions in Congress, and like Arizona's HR 2002, the resolution in Pennsylvania covers only 2015. There are nineteen sponsors of the bill; Brian Sims (D-District 182) and Mark B. Cohen (D-District 202) appear to have taken the lead. For information about Pennsylvania's House Resolution 83, visit: http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/billinfo/billinfo.cfm?syear=2015&sind=0&body=H&type=R&bn=83 For information about the resolutions in Congress and Arizona, visit: http://ncse.com/news/2015/02/darwin-day-resolution-congress-0016165 http://ncse.com/news/2015/02/darwin-day-resolution-senate-0016176 http://ncse.com/news/2015/02/darwin-day-resolution-arizona-0016180 ANTISCIENCE BILL DIES IN INDIANA Indiana's Senate Bill 562 died in the Senate Education and Career Development Committee on February 25, 2015, when the deadline for Senate bills to have their third reading in the Senate passed. If enacted, SB 562 would, in effect, have allowed public school teachers to miseducate their students about science -- and would have prevented state and local educational authorities from intervening. The only topic mentioned in the bill was 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 were Jeff Raatz (R-District 27) and Dennis Kruse (R-District 14). Kruse has a long history of sponsoring antievolution legislation, including House Bill 1356 in 2000, House Bill 1323 in 2001, and Senate Bill 89 in 2012. For information on Indiana's Senate Bill 562, visit: https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2015/bills/senate/562 And for NCSE's previous coverage of events in Indiana, visit: http://ncse.com/news/indiana HELP WANTED: SUMMER INTERNS NCSE is seeking to hire two summer interns -- one full-time, one part-time -- to work on science education activism projects, with a particular focus on climate change education. This is a unique opportunity for someone with a science background to learn about science advocacy to support one of the most important groups: science teachers. These are temporary positions based in Oakland, California, running from June to August 2015. Further information about duties, qualifications, salary and benefits, and the application process is available from NCSE's job page. For further information about the positions, visit: http://ncse.com/about/jobs#interns 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 debunking the misconception that evolution can stop: http://ncse.com/blog/2015/02/misconception-monday-can-evolution-stop-0016202 * Glenn Branch detecting something aukward about a recent critique of "Darwinism": http://ncse.com/blog/2015/02/aukward-truth-0016188 * Minda Berbeco contemplating climate education in the wake of the Willie Soon scandal: http://ncse.com/blog/2015/02/why-we-care-willie-soon-0016203 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
» 4149 reads
