NCSE Evolution and Climate Education Update for 2015/10/16
Submitted by Peter Burns on Fri, 2015-10-16 14:09.
National Center for Science Education
(by NCSE Deputy Director Glenn Branch)
Dear friends of NCSE, Registration is open for NCSE's 2016 excursion to the Grand Canyon. The New York Times editorially calls for climate change education. And NCSE's founding executive director is featured in a multimedia exhibit about the NAS's Great Hall dome.
NCSE AND THE GRAND CANYON 2016 Explore the Grand Canyon with NCSE! Reservations are still available for NCSE's next excursion to the Grand Canyon -- as featured in the documentary No Dinosaurs in Heaven. From June 30 to July 8, 2016, NCSE will again explore the wonders of creation and evolution on a Grand Canyon river run conducted by NCSE's Steve Newton and Josh Rosenau. Because this is an NCSE trip, we offer more than just the typically grand float down the Canyon, the spectacular scenery, fascinating natural history, brilliant night skies, exciting rapids, delicious meals, and good company. It is, in fact, a unique "two-model" raft trip, on which we provide both the creationist view of the Grand Canyon (maybe not entirely seriously) and the evolutionist view -- and let you make up your own mind. To get a glimpse of the fun, watch the short videos filmed in 2011, posted on NCSE's YouTube channel, and explore photographs by 2015's rafters in the expedition's Flickr group. The cost of the excursion is $2790; a deposit of $500 will hold your spot. Seats are limited: call, write, or e-mail now. And, for the second time, NCSE will offer scholarships to two lucky teachers, giving them a unique opportunity to spend eight days exploring the geology and natural history of the Canyon. (Alyson Miller and Scott Hatfield wrote about their experiences on the trip on NCSE's blog.) Your donations to the scholarship fund help to make the scholarship program possible. For information about the excursion, visit: http://ncse.com/about/excursions/gcfaq For information about No Dinosaurs in Heaven, visit: http://www.nodinos.com/ For the videos and photographs, visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ll7kG8dPfgM&list=UUXlZRCBefkIvRuv5zUrXEdg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSfTH9Gl2CM&list=UUXlZRCBefkIvRuv5zUrXEdg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KD4xmkEbgqk&list=UUXlZRCBefkIvRuv5zUrXEdg https://www.flickr.com/groups/2898601@N22/pool/ For Miller and Hatfield's blog posts about their experiences, visit: http://ncse.com/blog/2015/08/reflections-2015-ncse-grand-canyon-rafting-trip-0016559 http://ncse.com/blog/2015/10/what-teacher-learned-grand-canyon-0016684 And for information about donating to the scholarship fund, visit: https://ncse.secure.force.com/GCscholarship "TEACHING THE TRUTH ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE" Observing that "[m]isinformation about climate change is distressingly common in the United States," The New York Times called for teaching students about climate change in its October 10, 2015, editorial. "Children today stand to inherit a climate severely changed by the actions of previous generations," the newspaper stated. "They need to understand how those changes came about, how to mitigate them and how to prevent more damage to the planet. Schools can start by adopting science standards that deal extensively with human-caused climate change and that accurately reflect the scientific consensus." But the inclusion of climate change in state science standards continues to provoke controversy. As NCSE previously reported, the Wyoming legislature blocked the adoption of NGSS over their treatment of climate change (a decision that was later reversed), and the West Virginia state board of education weakened the treatment of climate change in its new state science standards (a decision that was later partly reversed). New science standards currently under review in Tennessee call for seventh-graders to use data “to engage in argument the role that human activities play in global climate change," which the Times connects to the state's 2012 "monkey law," which encourages teachers to misrepresent the scientific standing of topics that arouse "debate and disputation" such as "biological evolution, the chemical origins of life, global warming, and human cloning." The editorial commended the Next Generation Science Standards, already adopted by fifteen states for their treatment of climate science, but also noted that other state standards address the issue, including those of Alabama and New York. For the editorial in The New York Times, visit: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/11/opinion/sunday/teaching-the-truth-about-climate-change.html And for NCSE's previous coverage of events in Wyoming, West Virginia, and Tennessee, visit: http://ncse.com/news/wyoming http://ncse.com/news/west-virginia http://ncse.com/news/tennessee EUGENIE C. SCOTT IN THE NAS GREAT HALL NCSE's founding executive director Eugenie C. Scott is featured in a multimedia exhibit about the Great Hall dome of the National Academy of Sciences building in Washington DC. Videos from the exhibit are available on YouTube and in a special iPad application. In the exhibit's video clips, the website explains, "twelve scientists discuss the scientific disciplines; science as a unique way of knowing; science and society; the grand challenges of science; being a science and doing science; and recent accomplishments of science." The scientists interviewed for the exhibit, in addition to Scott, are Cynthia Beall, S. James Gates, Neil Gershenfeld, Robert Lefkowitz, Kirk Johnson, Eric Kandel, Marc Rothenberg, Barbara Schaal, Manil Suri, J. Craig Venter, and George Whitesides. For information about the exhibit and links to the videos and app, visit: http://nasgreathall.com/ 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 expressing a few misgivings about the recent survey of Big Ten scientists' views on climate change: http://ncse.com/blog/2015/10/who-counts-as-climate-scientist-0016688 * Glenn Branch describing a misrepresentation of Eugenie C. Scott by the author of the original Alabama evolution disclaimer: http://ncse.com/blog/2015/10/defending-disclaimer-with-convenient-0016682 * Emily Schoerning pondering a study comparing the language used by climate scientists and by climate change deniers: http://ncse.com/blog/2015/10/emotion-credibility-0016690 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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