NCSE Evolution and Climate Education Update for 2016/02/26
Submitted by Peter Burns on Fri, 2016-02-26 15:20.
National Center for Science Education
(by NCSE Deputy Director Glenn Branch)
Dear friends of NCSE, The antiscience bill in Mississippi and the anti-NGSS bill in Iowa are now both out of commission. Plus public opinion about climate change in Alaska and a reminder about NCSE's 2016 excursion to the Grand Canyon.
ANTISCIENCE BILL IN MISSISSIPPI DIES Mississippi's House Bill 50, whose principal sponsor acknowledged was intended to allow teachers in the public schools to present creationism, died in the House Education Committee on February 23, 2016, when a deadline for bills to be reported out of committee expired. HB 50 was the first antiscience bill in the state since 2010. If enacted, the bill would have allowed teachers "to help students understand, analyze, critique and review in an objective manner the scientific strengths and scientific weaknesses of existing scientific theories covered in the course being taught" -- and blocked administrators from preventing the teaching of pseudoscience. HB 50 specifically cited biological evolution, the chemical origins of life, global warming, and human cloning as topics that "may cause debate and disputation," claiming that "Some teachers may be unsure of the expectations concerning how they should present information when debate and disputation occur on these subjects." Interviewed by the Jackson Clarion-Ledger (February 10, 2016), Mark Formby (R-District 108) explained, "If a teacher... believes the Earth was created by a Supreme Being, [she should be able to say] that maybe there are other theories than the big bang theory where there was nothing, then nothing exploded and created something." For the text of Mississippi's House Bill 50 as introduced, visit: http://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/documents/2016/html/HB/0001-0099/HB0050IN.htm For the story in the Jackson Clarion-Ledger, visit: http://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/2016/02/10/bill-would-allow-teachers-promote-creationism/80084338/ And for NCSE's previous coverage of events in Mississippi, visit: http://ncse.com/news/mississippi ANTI-NGSS BILL IN IOWA DIES House File 2054, which, if enacted, would have reversed Iowa's decision to adopt the Next Generation Science Standards, died in committee on February 19, 2016, when a deadline for bills to be reported out of committee expired. The NGSS's treatment of evolution and climate change appears to have been part of the motivation for the bill. The lead sponsor of HF 2054, Sandy Salmon (R-District 63), previously introduced legislation banning the adoption of the NGSS, telling the Cedar Rapids Gazette (March 2, 2015) that she was "concerned that the standards miss some key math and science concepts, present evolution as scientific fact[,] and shine a negative light on human impacts on climate change." But the Iowa Board of Education voted unanimously to adopt the Next Generation Science Standards at its August 6, 2015, meeting. HF 2054 would have undone that decision, directing the board to adopt the same science standards used during the 2014-2015 school year and requiring further changes to be approved by the legislature and governor. So far, eighteen states -- Arkansas (so far only for middle school), California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Kansas, Kentucky, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and West Virginia -- as well as the District of Columbia have adopted the NGSS. For the text of Iowa's House File 2054 as introduced, visit: https://www.legis.iowa.gov/legislation/BillBook?ga=86&ba=hf2054 And for NCSE's previous coverage of events in Iowa, visit: http://ncse.com/news/iowa POLLING CLIMATE IN ALASKA "Three-quarters of Alaskans are sold on the existence and seriousness of global warming, but far fewer are convinced that it's caused by human activity, according to a poll commissioned by Alaska Dispatch News," reports Alaska Dispatch News (February 13, 2016). Asked, "Which statement comes closest to your view about global warming?" and presented with "Global warming is caused mostly by human activity such as burning fossil fuels," "Global warming is caused mostly by natural patterns in the earth's environment," and "Global warming does not exist," 50.8% of respondents preferred the human activity answer, 38.0% preferred the natural patterns answer, 7.4% preferred the denial answer, and 3.8% were unsure. The newspaper noted that "answers fell along party lines, with 79.9 percent of Democrats attributing climate change to human activities, such as burning fossil fuels, and 59.6 percent of registered Republicans convinced climate change is natural." The poll was conducted by Ivan Moore Research as part of the Alaska Survey. The survey polled 750 Alaskans by telephone (300 on landlines and 450 on cellphones); questions about political affiliation were asked only of the 651 self-identified registered voters. For the story from Alaska Dispatch News, visit: http://www.adn.com/article/20160213/adn-poll-alaskans-are-sure-about-global-warming-not-its-cause And for NCSE's collection of polls and surveys on climate, visit: http://ncse.com/polls/polls-climate-change 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's 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 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 discussing a misrepresented passage from a nineteenth-century professor of divinity: http://ncse.com/blog/2016/02/as-fixed-as-sphynx-0016796 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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