NCSE Evolution and Climate Education Update for 2015/03/27
Submitted by Peter Burns on Fri, 2015-03-27 15:24.
National Center for Science Education
(by NCSE Deputy Director Glenn Branch)
Dear friends of NCSE, A contest seeks short films about evolution, while the American Federation of Teachers adds its voice for evolution. And NCSE is pleased to announce the winners of the Friend of Darwin award and the Friend of the Planet award for 2015.
ATTENTION, FILMMAKERS! Scientists and science educators of all stripes -- students, postdocs, faculty, and full- or part-time science communicators -- are invited to enter the Fifth Annual Evolution Video Competition, sponsored by the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and the Society for the Study of Evolution. To enter, please submit a video that explains a fun fact, key concept, compelling question, or exciting area of evolution research in three minutes or less. Entries may be related or unrelated to your own research, and should be suitable for use in a classroom. Videos should be both informative and entertaining. The finalists will be screened at the Evolution 2015 meeting in Guarujá, Brazil. (You do not need to attend the conference in order to enter a video.) The winner will receive a prize of $1000; the runner-up will receive a prize of $500. The deadline to submit a video is 11:00 p.m. (EST), May 31, 2015. For further information, visit filmfestival.nescent.org. For further information about the contest, visit: http://filmfestival.nescent.org AFT ADDS ITS VOICE FOR EVOLUTION The chorus of support for the teaching of evolution continues, with a statement from the American Federation of Teachers, adopted in 2014. In its statement, the AFT observes that "biological evolution is a fundamental underpinning of modern biological thought and research and is not the subject of controversy among scientists ... [but] the unfettered teaching of evolution in public schools has been under attack since the early part of the 20th century and before." Now in the twenty-first century, "a strategy to teach creationism, intelligent design[,] or evolution denial into public science classrooms has emerged with the passage of laws intended to teach these theories as science under the guise of protecting academic freedom in the classroom"; Louisiana and Tennessee are cited as cases in point. Invoking the expertise of the American Association of University Professors and NCSE, the statement concludes by affirming that "the American Federation of Teachers encourages and expects science teachers, in presenting evolution and other topics, to understand, respect[,] and communicate the consensus of the scientific community, in order to present the science curriculum effectively to their students" and that "the AFT will be on alert for, and opposed to, bills at the state or federal level that attempt to use the guise of academic freedom as a means of introducing creationism, intelligent design[,] or evolution denial into science classrooms." The AFT's statement is now reproduced, by permission, on NCSE's website, and will also be contained in the fourth edition of NCSE's Voices for Evolution. For AFT's statement, visit: http://www.aft.org/resolution/against-so-called-academic-freedom-bills-undermine-accurate-teaching-evolution And for Voices for Evolution, visit: http://ncse.com/voices FRIEND OF DARWIN AND FRIEND OF THE PLANET AWARDS FOR 2015 NCSE is pleased to announce the winners of the Friend of Darwin award for 2015: Neil Shubin, the Robert R. Bensley Distinguished Service Professor of the Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy at the University of Chicago, codiscoverer of Tiktaalik roseae and author of Your Inner Fish (2008), and Ronald L. Numbers, the Hilldale Professor of the History of Science and Medicine at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and author of The Creationists (1992, expanded edition 2006). "It would be hard to think of anyone who has contributed as much as Ron Numbers has to the understanding of creationism as a historical and social phenomenon, through his own work and the work that it has inspired," commented NCSE's executive director Ann Reid, "while it is hard to know whether to praise Neil Shubin more for his outstanding research in vertebrate paleontology or for his equally outstanding efforts to explain the power -- and wonder -- of evolutionary biology in language that everyone can understand." NCSE is also pleased to announce the winners of the Friend of the Planet award for 2015: Naomi Oreskes, Professor of History of Science at Harvard University and coauthor of Merchants of Doubt (2010); Greg Craven, creator of "The Most Terrifying Video You'll Ever See" and its sequels and author of What's the Worst That Could Happen? (2009); and the Alliance for Climate Education, a non-profit organization that has delivered informative and compelling presentations on climate change to almost two million high school students. Ann Reid praised Oreskes's work on the history of climate change denial as "ten years of unflinching, erudite, and accessible reporting on where science denial comes from and how it works" and Craven's outreach efforts as "a touchstone for the climate education movement." Through its series of in-school assemblies, the Alliance for Climate Education "has made truly impressive contributions to informing and inspiring youth, helping them to appreciate the essential science of climate change and what can be done to address it," she added. The Friend of Darwin and Friend of the Planet awards are presented annually to a select few whose efforts to support NCSE and advance its goal of defending the teaching of evolution and climate science have been truly outstanding. Previous recipients of the Friend of Darwin award include Sean Carroll, Marjorie Esman, Brandon Haught, David Hillis, Lawrence Lerner, Patricia Princehouse, and Howard Van Till, to name only a few. The first recipients of the Friend of the Planet Award, inaugurated in 2014, were Michael E. Mann and Richard Alley. For information about the two awards, visit: http://ncse.com/about/friend-of-darwin http://ncse.com/about/friend-of-planet 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 creationism's relevance to the recent elections in Israel: http://ncse.com/blog/2015/03/israel-will-creationists-reign-0016237 * Stephanie Keep warning against oversimplifying heredity: http://ncse.com/blog/2015/03/misconception-monday-gimme-b-gimme-b-0016235 * Josh Rosenau analyzing poll data on the acceptance of evolution by US and Israeli Jews: http://ncse.com/blog/2015/03/shande-vor-goyim-israelis-are-as-creationist-as-us-non-jews-0016249 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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