NCSE Evolution and Climate Education Update for 2015/07/31
Submitted by Peter Burns on Fri, 2015-07-31 19:10.
National Center for Science Education
(by NCSE Deputy Director Glenn Branch)
Dear friends of NCSE, What do people in western Canada think about evolution? And a milestone for NCSE's presence on Facebook.
POLLING EVOLUTION IN WESTERN CANADA "[T]he entire west coast" of Canada is "moving away from creationism," reports the Vancouver Observer (July 23, 2015). The article noted that James Lunney, a Member of Parliament representing a federal electoral district in British Columbia, quit the Conservative Party earlier in 2015 in order not to embarrass the party by continuing to express his vocal opposition to evolution. Asked "Which of these statements comes closest to your own point of view regarding the origin and developments of human beings on earth?" and presented with "Human beings evolved from less advanced life forms over millions of years" and "God created human beings in their present form within the last 10,000 years," 72% of British Columbians and 58% of Albertans preferred the first option, 17% of British Columbians and 24% of Albertans preferred the second option, and 11% of British Columbians and 18% of Albertans were unsure. Asked "Do you think creationism -- the belief that the universe and life originated from specific acts of divine creation -- should be part of the school curriculum in British Columbia?" probably should, 20% said that it probably should not, 40% said that it definitely should not, and 14% were unsure. Asked the same question (presumably about Alberta), 16% of respondents in Alberta said that it definitely should, 18% said that it probably should, 17% said that it probably should not, 33% said that it definitely should not, and 16% were unsure. The Insights West survey was conducted on-line among 814 adult British Columbians from May 7 to May 9, 2015, and among 801 adult Albertans from May 1 to May 3, 2015. According to the poll report, "The data has been statistically weighted according to Canadian census figures for age, gender[,] and region in British Columbia and Alberta." The margin of error was +/- 3.5 percentage points for British Columbia and Alberta. For the article in the Vancouver Observer, visit: http://www.vancouverobserver.com/opinion/bc-evolving-away-creationism For the poll report from Insights West (PDF), visit: http://www.insightswest.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Evolution-Article_23Jul2015.pdf And for NCSE's collection of polls and surveys, visit: http://ncse.com/creationism/polls-surveys FACEBOOK: N > 110,000 A milestone: there are now over 110,000 fans of NCSE's Facebook 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. 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 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: * Steven Newton describing NCSE's recent excursion to Grand Canyon: http://ncse.com/blog/2015/07/there-back-again-grand-canyon-edition-0016538 * Stephanie Keep lauding the xenarthra: http://ncse.com/blog/2015/07/xenarthra-almost-perfect-clade-part-1-0016534 http://ncse.com/blog/2015/07/xenarthra-almost-perfect-clade-part-2-0016535 * Josh Rosenau discussing partisanship in the science wars: http://ncse.com/blog/2015/07/when-is-war-science-partisan-0016536 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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