NCSE Evolution and Climate Education Update for 2015/04/10

(by NCSE Deputy Director Glenn Branch)

Dear friends of NCSE,

New science standards in West Virginia. Climate Education Week. A
climate bumper sticker contest from NCSE. Overwhelming public support
in West Virginia for a set of science standards that mandate teaching
about global warming. And the winners of NCSE's inaugural Grand Canyon
teacher scholarships.

SCIENCE STANDARDS ADOPTED IN WEST VIRGINIA

The West Virginia state board of education adopted a new set of state
science standards largely based on the Next Generation Science
Standards on April 9, 2015 -- "but," the Charleston Gazette (April 9,
2015) explains, "not without adding in changes suggested by board
member Wade Linger to the teaching of global warming."

Where a standard originally called for middle school students to "ask
questions to clarify evidence of the factors that have caused the rise
in global temperature over the past century" -- which would include
the burning of fossil fuels -- the revised standard asks them about
"the change in global temperature."

And where a standard for a high school environmental science class
(not based on the NGSS) asked students to "[d]ebate climate changes as
it [sic] relates to greenhouse gases, human changes in atmospheric
concentrations of greenhouse gases, and relevant laws and treaties,"
the revised standard adds a reference to "natural forces."

"These aren't useful changes," commented NCSE's Minda Berbeco. "They
make the standards less precise and they seem intended to open the
classroom door a crack to climate change denial. But they are mostly
harmless -- especially compared to Linger's previous attempts to
undermine the treatment of climate change in the standards."

As NCSE previously reported, in December 2014, before the new
standards, based on the Next Generation Science Standards, were
adopted, the material on climate change was quietly revised to
downplay the scientific consensus at the behest of Linger, who later
told the Gazette (December 28, 2014), "We're on this global warming
binge going on here."

As a result, where the NGSS called for high school students to
"[a]nalyze geoscience data and the results from global climate models
to make an evidence-based forecast of the current rate of global or
regional climate change and associated future impacts to Earth
systems," for example, the revised standard asked them to assess the
"creditability" (sic) of such data.

Even more strikingly, where the NGSS called for middle school students
to "ask questions to clarify evidence of the factors that have caused
the rise in global temperature over the past century" -- which would
include the burning of fossil fuels -- the revised standard asked them
about "the rise and fall in global temperature."

Condemnation of the revisions came from NCSE -- whose Mark McCaffrey
contributed a column to the Gazette (January 4, 2015) -- as well as
from the West Virginia Science Teachers Association, faculty at West
Virginia University, Citizens Climate Lobby, Climate Parents, and the
National Science Teachers Association.

In January 2015, following a recommendation from the state department
of education, the board voted to revert to the original version of the
sections addressing climate science. During the ensuing public comment
period, the vast majority of comments received were in favor of
adopting the standards, according to the Gazette (April 6, 2015).

Linger's new amendments were adopted on a 5-3 vote, and the newly
revised standards were adopted on a 6-2 vote, with at least one member
who voted against them citing Linger's revisions as the reason,
according to West Virginia Public Broadcasting (April 9, 2015). The
standards will be in effect starting in the 2016-2017 academic year.

For the 4/9/15 story in the Charleston Gazette, visit:
http://www.wvgazette.com/article/20150409/GZ01/150409236/1101 

For the 12/28/14 story in the Charleston Gazette, visit:
http://www.wvgazette.com/article/20141228/GZ01/141229489/1419 

For Mark McCaffrey's column in the Charleston Gazette, visit:
http://www.wvgazette.com/article/20150104/ARTICLE/150109890/1103 

For the 4/6/15 story in the Charleston Gazette, visit:
http://www.wvgazette.com/article/20150406/GZ01/150409537 

For West Virginia Public Broadcasting's story, visit:
http://wvpublic.org/post/state-boe-adopts-amended-climate-change-science-standards 

And for NCSE's previous coverage of events in West Virginia, visit:
http://ncse.com/news/west-virginia 

CLIMATE EDUCATION WEEK APPROACHES

April 18-25, 2015, is the inaugural Climate Education Week, sponsored
by Earth Day Network. To celebrate, the Climate Education Week website
is providing K-12 educators with the Climate Education Toolkit -- "a
free, easy-to-use, ready-to-go resource with everything you need. The
Toolkit includes a week's worth of lesson plans, activities, and
contests for K-12 students that meet Next Generation Science Standards
and Common Core. Each day covers a different theme related to climate
change with two highlighted activities handpicked by Earth Day Network
for your use." There are videos, contests, a downloadable Earth Day
poster, and even an interactive on-line textbook for middle school
students -- all aimed at helping to promote climate education!

For the Climate Education Week website, visit:
http://www.climateeducationweek.org/ 

And for NCSE's resources on climate science and climate education, visit:
http://ncse.com/climate 

ANNOUNCING A CLIMATE BUMPER STICKER CONTEST

It's time to sharpen your pencils, cudgel your brains, and consult
your muse: NCSE is running a bumper sticker contest! This is your
chance to help to spread the word about climate change education. Your
brilliant idea could end up on the tail end of thousands of
(carbon-dioxide-emitting) cars. Your climate change-themed bumper
sticker can be funny, fierce, fiery -- whatever, as long as it's good.
Full details of the contest, and a list of the luscious prizes on
offer, are available on NCSE's website. The contest ends on May 31,
2015.

For the details of the contest, visit:
http://ncse.com/climate/climate-bumper-sticker-contest 

PUBLIC SUPPORT FOR CLIMATE CHANGE EDUCATION IN WEST VIRGINIA

"The vast majority of official comments on new statewide K-12 science
standards -- the first to require teaching about global warming in
mandatory courses -- were in favor of them, according to the West
Virginia Department of Education," reports the Charleston Gazette
(April 6, 2015). With the comments in hand, the West Virginia state
board of education is expected to have its final vote on the standards
at its April 8, 2015, meeting.

The place of climate change in the new standards, closely based on the
Next Generation Science Standards, was in the news ever since December
2014, when it was discovered that, at the request of a member of the
state board of education, the standards were quietly revised to
downplay the scientific consensus on climate change.

The Gazette observed, "an overwhelming majority of scientists accept
[anthropogenic global warming], and the alterations to the climate
change standards -- like one that was modified to require students to
question the credibility of computer climate models -- diverged from
the standards' treatment of other widely accepted scientific
theories."

Condemnation of the revision came from NCSE -- whose Mark McCaffrey
contributed a column to the Gazette (January 4, 2015) -- as well as
from the West Virginia Science Teachers Association, faculty at West
Virginia University, Citizens Climate Lobby, Climate Parents, and the
National Science Teachers Association.

In January 2015, following a recommendation from the state department
of education, the board voted to revert to the original version of the
sections addressing climate science. "Board members were expected to
adopt the unaltered version last month," the Gazette explained, "but
the Department of Education said the move was delayed because of an
extraordinarily large number of comments submitted."

For the story in the Charleston Gazette, visit:
http://www.wvgazette.com/article/20150406/GZ01/150409537 

For Mark McCaffrey's column in the Charleston Gazette, visit:
http://www.wvgazette.com/article/20150104/ARTICLE/150109890/1103 

And for NCSE's previous coverage of events in West Virginia, visit:
http://ncse.com/news/west-virginia 

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE NCSE GRAND CANYON TEACHER SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS!

NCSE is pleased to announce the winners of the first teacher
scholarships on our annual Grand Canyon raft trip: Alyson Miller of
Nashua High School North, Nashua, New Hampshire, and Scott Hatfield of
Bullard High School, Fresno, California. They will receive an
all-expenses-paid eight-day rafttrip through the Grand Canyon, guided
by two members of NCSE's staff and joining twenty other NCSE members
and supporters who purchased seats on the trip. The scholarship funds
were donated by the generosity of NCSE's members.

"This trip will be the adventure of a lifetime for Miller and
Hatfield," explained NCSE's Steve Newton, a geologist and one of
NCSE's guides on the annual raft trip. "Teachers who work so hard for
their students and the science-literate future of America deserve some
time to relax on the Colorado River. But we'll be making them work,
too. The Grand Canyon is the greatest geology teaching lab in the
world, and they'll be able to explore geological processes up close,
place their hands on rock layers laid down before the first
multi-cellular fossils, and see how plate tectonics, erosion,
volcanoes, wind, and waves built up and carved down the landscape. I
can't wait to see what lesson plans they develop based on that
experience." As part of the scholarship application, both teachers
committed to produce a lesson plan and student assessment based on the
trip, which NCSE will make available for other teachers to use.

Alyson Miller has taught zoology, physical science, plant science,
physics, and freshmen seminar in Nashua since 2004, as well as middle
school earth science and life science. She was named advisor of the
year in 2006, and completed her master's degree in 2012. Before
entering the classroom, Miller worked in research labs at the
University of Mississippi and Emory University, co-authoring over a
dozen research papers on topics ranging from a non-human primate model
for Parkinson's disease to the effects of drugs like amphetamines,
caffeine, and cocaine on non-human primates. This school year, she was
selected for an American Federation of Teachers Teacher-Leader grant.
She has used that position to investigate a state law in New Hampshire
which allows students to opt out of certain topics; a parent tried to
opt a student in her classroom out of evolution lessons, and there are
reports of students being allowed to skip entire biology courses to
avoid topics like evolution and climate change. "Perhaps I'm
hypersensitive to the attempts to 'wedge' the teaching of supernatural
causation into science classes," she explained in her application,
"but I was not going to let this one rest." She is meeting with
lawmakers and working with her fellow educators to repeal the bill as
soon as possible.

Scott Hatfield has taught biology in Fresno since 2000, and served as
his school's choral instructor from 1993 to 1999. He also served as
music director and choir director in local Methodist churches between
1997 and 2006. He joined NCSE in 2006, after attending a talk by Kevin
Padian (then the president of NCSE's board) at the urging of a former
professor. With that same professor and other colleagues, he
established the Central Valley Café Scientifique in 2007, a venue for
the public to meet scientists and discuss new research. He has been
active in the battles over creationism, a common source of conflict in
California's Central Valley. He has appeared on local television and
radio programs, sparring with creationists, and he and a student at
Bullard won a contest hosted by Discover magazine for a two-minute
video they produced explaining evolution. Of course, he also
emphasizes evolution in his classroom. "I have yet to meet another
high school biology teacher who gives this topic greater emphasis, in
fact," he wrote in his application, adding, "Yet I have the least
problems!" By introducing key concepts and exploring how science works
in less contentious settings, he heads off conflict before it starts.

NCSE's Josh Rosenau, a biologist who guides the raft trip along with
Steve Newton, says: "Great science education doesn't end at the
schoolhouse door, and challenges to science have to be confronted in
the community and the halls of power. Hatfield and Miller show how
important it is for teachers -- and anyone concerned with improving
science education -- to speak up for science in churches and
legislatures, addressing misconceptions and harmful ideologies before
they infiltrate classrooms. We're proud to honor their remarkable
work, and that of so many other teachers who share that commitment."

One hundred forty teachers applied for the two seats, providing copies
of lesson plans, explaining how they incorporate evolution and climate
change in their classrooms, and how they have confronted efforts to
politicize or undermine science education. Hatfield and Miller stood
out not just for their excellence in the classroom, but also for their
efforts to make their communities safer for science and science
education.

"We were gratified by the response to this inaugural scholarship, and
can't wait to offer more scholarships in future years," says NCSE
executive director Ann Reid. "There were so many teachers we wished we
could have brought with us, and we're grateful to NCSE's members and
supporters who donated to the scholarship fund (to which donations are
still welcome). When communities, scientists, and teachers come
together, great things happen."

For information about NCSE's excursions to the Grand Canyon, visit:
http://ncse.com/about/excursions/gcfaq 

For the donation page for the scholarship fund, visit:
https://ncse.secure.force.com/GCscholarship 

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:

* Glenn Branch finding a creationist quoting a translation of a
translation of Darwin:
http://ncse.com/blog/2015/04/haeckeling-darwin-with-full-nelson-0016259 

* Stephanie Keep addressing misconceptions about evolution and the
origin of life:
http://ncse.com/blog/2015/03/misconception-monday-let-s-start-at-beginning-part-1-0016251 
http://ncse.com/blog/2015/04/misconception-monday-let-s-start-at-beginning-part-2-0016260 

* Minda Berbeco introducing the Energy Literacy Principles:
http://ncse.com/blog/2015/04/climate-change-connection-0016261 

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 

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