NCSE Evolution and Climate Education Update for 2015/06/19
Submitted by Peter Burns on Fri, 2015-06-19 15:14.
National Center for Science Education
(by NCSE Deputy Director Glenn Branch)
Dear friends of NCSE, Good signs for evolution in Turkey after a recent parliamentary election. And a reminder that you can help NCSE's archives.
ENCOURAGING NEWS FROM TURKEY? When the Justice and Development Party (AKP) lost its parliamentary majority in the June 7, 2015, election, scientists in Turkey were "euphoric," according to Nature (June 16, 2015), hoping that the next parliament will "reverse the creeping restrictions on academic freedom and the seeping away of scientific standards that have been a feature of the AKP's 12 years of political domination" -- including the party's support for creationism. As NCSE previously reported, there is a long-standing concern about the state of evolution education in Turkey at both the pre-college and the university level. A useful review by Zehra Sayers and Zuhal Özcan, writing in APS News (June 2013), concluded, "Turkey is raising a generation of biologists/scientists whose grasp of scientific thinking is flawed and whose ability to participate in modern biology is correspondingly compromised." The effects of antievolution activity are felt beyond the classroom as well. In 2013, for example, the Science and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBITAK), the main funder of scientific research in Turkey, denied a funding application for a summer workshop on evolutionary biology in Turkey on the grounds that "evolution is a controversial subject," according to Science Insider (July 5, 2013). In a Pew Research Center survey of Muslims in Turkey asking, "Thinking about evolution, which comes closer to your view? Humans and other living things have evolved over time [or] Humans and other living things have existed in their present form since the beginning of time," 49% of respondents preferred the former and 35% preferred the latter. In a survey in the United States in 2014, 65% of respondents preferred the former and 31% preferred the latter. For the story in Nature, visit: http://www.nature.com/news/turkey-election-results-delight-scientists-1.17768 For the article in APS News, visit: http://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/201306/international.cfm For the story in Science Insider, visit: http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2013/07/turkish-scientists-see-new-evide.html For the survey data cited (both PDF; p. 132 and p. 43, respectively), visit: http://www.pewforum.org/files/2013/04/worlds-muslims-religion-politics-society-full-report.pdf http://www.pewinternet.org/files/2015/01/PI_ScienceandSociety_Report_012915.pdf And for NCSE's previous coverage of events outside the United States, visit: http://ncse.com/news/international A CHANCE TO HELP NCSE'S ARCHIVES NCSE's archives house a unique trove of material on the creationism/evolution controversy, and we regard it as part of our mission to preserve it for posterity -- as well as for occasions such as Kitzmiller v. Dover, where NCSE's archives helped to establish the creationist antecedents of the "intelligent design" movement. And we are beginning to amass a similar trove of material on disputes over climate change education. We cordially invite you now to help NCSE's archives keep up-to-date by purchasing books for NCSE through our wish list at Amazon.com. And it's not just books -- gifts of needed hardware, software, and office equipment are welcome, too! All of these donations are tax-deductible. We're pleased to report that 278 items have been purchased already, and we thank the donors for their generosity. You can view the catalogue of books in NCSE's archives at LibraryThing. For NCSE's wishlist at Amazon.com, visit: http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/39U1UMFQ22WED/ For NCSE's catalogue at LibraryThing, visit: http://www.librarything.com/catalog/NCSE 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: * NCSE intern Kate Heffernan reviewing the BBC's Climate Change game: http://ncse.com/blog/2015/06/classroom-climate-change-policy-action-0016431 * Josh Rosenau analyzing attitudes toward evolution and the environment among different groups of Catholics: http://ncse.com/blog/2015/06/catholics-climate-change-preview-0016438 * Glenn Branch investigating the presence of Darwin's ideas in Civil War camps: http://ncse.com/blog/2015/06/marse-robert-again-0016423 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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