NCSE Evolution and Climate Education Update for 2016/02/19
Submitted by Peter Burns on Fri, 2016-02-19 22:12.
National Center for Science Education
(by NCSE Deputy Director Glenn Branch)
Dear friends of NCSE, Coverage of "Climate Confusion Among U.S. Teachers." A bill in Idaho that would permit the use of the Bible in studying science. And progress for Arizona's Darwin Day bill, the death of Antonin Scalia, and a Facebook milestone for NCSE.
COVERAGE OF "CLIMATE CONFUSION AMONG U.S. TEACHERS" "Climate Confusion Among U.S. Teachers," a paper in the journal Science describing the first nationwide survey of climate change education in the United States, conceived and funded by NCSE and conducted in collaboration with researchers at Pennsylvania State University, received extensive coverage in the press. Here is a sampling. Describing the study as providing "new evidence on the source of the confusion and denial surrounding global warming in American public life," the Guardian (February 11, 2016) observed that "Nearly two-thirds of schoolchildren in the US are taught lessons on climate change that do not rise to the level of a sound science education." Newsweek (February 11, 2016) explained that the survey found that climate change is taught: "Only 3 to 4 percent of students receive no teaching on the subject. The sort-of good news ends there, because what those who are taught about climate change receive -- and the amount they receive -- is shaky at best." Writing for the Washington Post (February 11, 2016), Chris Mooney summarized, "a majority [of U.S. science teachers] are teaching about climate change in their classrooms -- but a significant percentage are also including incorrect ideas, such as the notion that today's warming of the globe is a 'natural' process." Mother Jones (February 11, 2016) was particularly concerned that "most teachers are unaware of how many scientists agree that climate change is mostly caused by humans. Only 30 percent of middle school teachers and 45 percent of high school teachers agreed that the consensus was in the range of 81 to 100 percent. (It's about 97 percent.)" The paper's lead author Eric Plutzer told InsideClimate News (February 11, 2016), "Many of them personally believe the burning of fossil fuels is causing warming, but are not aware that view is shared by climate scientists. That lack of awareness surely contributes to the willingness to [entertain] alternatives and non-scientific views in their classrooms." Time (February 11, 2016) emphasized that, according to the study, "[c]onservative political identity was the strongest indicator that a teacher would suggest that climate change may be rooted in natural rather than human causes," although "a lack [of] formal education on climate change among teachers" is also a factor. The New York Times (February 11, 2016) quoted Miami science teacher Bertha Vazquez, who incorporates climate change in all of her courses, as confirming that the pressure on teachers is real. "Every year, I get the email from a father who says, 'This is garbage,' and [asks] why am I teaching this?" She added, "It's no fun to field those phone calls." NCSE's Minda Berbeco told Think Progress (February 12, 2016) that it was important not to blame teachers. "That was really not our goal at all by doing this survey. Teachers are in a really tough position. Our purpose was not to target or attack, but to figure out what's going on, and figure out next steps to help them to teach the good stuff." The survey even caught the attention of the satirical newspaper The Onion (February 15, 2016), which purported to ask ordinary citizens for their reaction to the survey. The favorite response among NCSE's staff: "It's so hard for teachers to know what's right, what with the overwhelming abundance of scientists saying the exact same thing." In New Scientist (February 11, 2016), Michael Mann concluded, "Our children will bear the brunt of the climate crisis, battling coastal inundation, the damage done by more extreme weather, increasingly withering droughts and devastating floods. We owe it to them not only to give them the facts, but to help them begin to clean up the mess that we created." Similarly, Sander van der Linden, Edward Maibach, and Anthony Leiserowitz wrote in US News & World Report (February 18, 2016), "American children are currently being presented with a false debate. This needs to end: We urge secondary school science teachers to set the record straight by educating their students about the overwhelming degree of scientific consensus on human-caused climate change." Written by Eric Plutzer, Mark McCaffrey, A. Lee Hannah, Joshua Rosenau, Minda Berbeco, and Ann H. Reid, the article is "Climate Confusion Among U.S. Teachers," appearing in Science 351 (6274):665-666. Further articles explaining the survey and its results are scheduled to appear in various venues. For "Climate Confusion Among U.S. Teachers" (PDF), visit: http://science.sciencemag.org/content/351/6274/664.full-text.pdf+html For the cited coverage, visit: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/feb/11/two-thirds-of-us-students-are-taught-climate-change-badly-study-finds http://www.newsweek.com/science-teachers-confused-climate-change-425650 https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/02/11/how-teachers-are-getting-it-wrong-on-climate-change/ http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2016/02/our-children-learning-about-climate-change http://insideclimatenews.org/news/11022016/science-teachers-are-teaching-climate-change-not-always-correctly-education-global-warming http://time.com/4214388/science-teachers-climate-change/ http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/12/science/science-teachers-grasp-of-climate-change-is-found-lacking.html http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2016/02/12/3748872/climate-change-teachers-survey/ http://www.theonion.com/americanvoices/teachers-misinform-students-climate-change-52357 https://www.newscientist.com/article/2077167-hey-us-science-teachers-leave-those-climate-myths-alone/ http://www.usnews.com/opinion/knowledge-bank/articles/2016-02-18/teachers-need-to-communicate-the-scientific-consensus-on-climate-change And for NCSE's resources on climate science education, visit: http://ncse.com/climate BIBLE-AS-SCIENCE-REFERENCE BILL IN IDAHO Idaho's Senate Bill 1321, introduced on February 12, 2016, and referred to the Senate Committee on State Affairs, would, if enacted, permit the use of the Bible in Idaho's public schools "for reference purposes to further the study of" a variety of topics, including "astronomy, biology, [and] geology." The bill resembles a resolution adopted by the Idaho Republican Party in the summer of 2015. The executive director of the party told KBPO television (June 10, 2015), "if there is a school district that thinks having the Bible as part of the curriculum would be useful, this resolution is basically saying, 'we support the idea of allowing them to have that tool in their tool box.'" The bill is credited to the Senate Education Committee, but according to Idaho Education News (February 11, 2016), it was proposed by Sheryl Nuxoll (R-District 7), who convinced the committee to introduce the bill. Idaho Education News also reported, "Idaho school teachers can already use the Bible as a reference." For the text of Idaho's Senate Bill 1321 as introduced (PDF), visit: http://legislature.idaho.gov/legislation/2016/S1321.pdf For the resolution from the Idaho Republican Party (PDF, p. 4) and the story from KBPO, visit: http://images.bimedia.net/documents/Approved+Resolutions+Summer+2015+(2).pdf http://kboi2.com/news/local/republican-party-passes-resolution-for-bibles-inside-public-schools For the story from Idaho Education News, visit: http://www.idahoednews.org/news/house-introduces-class-size-bill/ And for NCSE's previous coverage of events in Idaho, visit: http://ncse.com/news/idaho ARIZONA'S DARWIN DAY BILL PROGRESSES Arizona's Senate Resolution 1001, which would, if enacted, express the Senate's recognition of February 12, 2016, as International Darwin Day, was passed on a 5-1 vote by the Senate Committee on Natural Resources on February 15, 2016. The measure would also need to be approved by the Senate Health and Human Services Committee to reach the Senate floor, according to the Arizona Capitol Times (February 15, 2016); the chair of the committee reportedly has not decided whether to give SR 1001 a hearing. SR 1001's sponsor, Andrew Sherwood (D-26), told the Capitol Times that although the resolution would have no legal effect, it is still important to recognize the importance of science and the role Charles Darwin has played in advancing it. For the text of Arizona's Senate Resolution 1001 as introduced, visit: http://www.azleg.gov//FormatDocument.asp?inDoc=/legtext/52leg/2r/bills/sr1001p.htm&Session_ID=115 For the story in the Arizona Capitol Times, visit: http://azcapitoltimes.com/news/2016/02/15/senate-committee-votes-to-create-day-for-charles-darwin/ And for NCSE's previous coverage of events in Arizona, visit: http://ncse.com/news/arizona ANTONIN SCALIA DIES Antonin Scalia, a justice on the United States Supreme Court, died on February 13, 2016, at the age of 79, according to the obituary in The New York Times (February 14, 2016). Appointed by President Ronald Reagan, Scalia served on the court from 1986 until his death. The Times wrote of the controversial Scalia that his "transformative legal theories, vivid writing and outsize personality made him a leader of a conservative intellectual renaissance in his three decades on the Supreme Court." With regard to science education, Scalia is remembered for his dissenting opinion in Edwards v. Aguillard (1987), in which the Supreme Court ruled that Louisiana's Balanced Treatment for Creation-Science and Evolution-Science in Public School Instruction Act violated the Constitution. While the Supreme Court agreed with the district court and the court of appeals that the act was unconstitutional because it was intended to discredit evolution by promoting creationism, Scalia (joined by William Rehnquist) was skeptical both of the court's claim to be able to detect the intentions of the legislature and of the relevance of intention to constitutionality. He famously asserted, "The people of Louisiana, including those who are Christian fundamentalists, are quite entitled, as a secular matter, to have whatever scientific evidence there may be against evolution presented in their schools." The dissent elicited a rebuttal from Stephen Jay Gould, "Justice Scalia's Misunderstanding" (1987), in which Gould lamented, "Justice Scalia does not understand the subject matter of evolutionary biology. He has simply adopted the creationists' definition and thereby repeated their willful mistake." Undeterred, Scalia later repeatedly took the opportunity to condone antievolution tactics, as in his dissents to the court's decision not to hear appeals in Freiler v. Tangipahoa (2000) and LeVake v. Independent School District #656 (2002). Scalia was born on March 11, 1936, in Trenton, New Jersey. He graduated from Georgetown University in 1957 and Harvard Law School in 1960, practiced law in Cleveland, and then became a law professor at the University of Virginia in 1967. He worked for the federal government in various capacities from 1971 to 1977, when he became a law professor at the University of Chicago. He was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in 1982, where he served until he was named to the Supreme Court. For the obituary in The New York Times, visit: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/14/us/antonin-scalia-death.html For the decision and Scalia's dissent in Edwards v. Aguillard, visit: http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/482/578.html For "Justice Scalia's Misunderstanding" as it appeared in Natural History, visit: https://archive.org/stream/naturalhistory96unse#page/n867/mode/2up/ FACEBOOK: N > 150,000 A milestone: there are now over 150,000 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: * Stephanie Keep reviewing a Darwin app and interviewing its cocreator: http://ncse.com/blog/2016/02/chatting-with-charles-0016912 http://ncse.com/blog/2016/02/chatting-with-john-charles-0016913 * A guest post from Daniel Duzdevich about his modern rendition of Darwin's Origin: http://ncse.com/blog/2016/02/darwin-many-with-all-due-respect-to-few-response-to-michael-0016922 * Glenn Branch discussing a pair of misleading quotations from John Tyndall: http://ncse.com/blog/2016/02/tyndall-twice-twisted-part-1-0016786 http://ncse.com/blog/2016/02/tyndall-twice-twisted-part-2-0016787 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. 1904 Franklin Street, Suite 600 Oakland CA 94612-2922 510-601-7203 fax 510-788-7971 branch@ncse.com http://ncse.com Check out NCSE's 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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