NCSE Evolution and Climate Education Update for 2016/04/29
Submitted by Peter Burns on Fri, 2016-04-29 14:12.
National Center for Science Education
(by NCSE Deputy Director Glenn Branch)
Dear friends of NCSE, A new publication coauthored by Eugenie C. Scott. And a call for climate change education from the New York City Council.
DORNER AND SCOTT IN EVOLUTION: EDUCATION AND OUTREACH Meredith A. Dorner and NCSE's founding executive director Eugenie C. Scott published "An Exploration of Instructor Perceptions of Community College Students' Attitudes Towards Evolution" in Evolution: Education and Outreach. Dorner and Scott explain in the abstract, "we compared how community college instructors of life sciences courses perceive students' attitudes towards evolution with those students' actual attitudes towards evolution. In the end, they report, they found "much idiosyncrasy regarding community college instructor accuracy concerning student opinions about evolution." For Dorner and Scott's article, visit: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12052-016-0055-x And for a listing of Scott's contributions to Evolution: Education and Outreach, visit: http://link.springer.com/search?facet-creator=%22Eugenie+C.+Scott%22 NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL CALLS FOR CLIMATE CHANGE EDUCATION The New York City Council adopted Resolution 0375 on April 20, 2016, calling on the New York state department of education to include lessons on climate change in the curriculum of the state's public K-12 schools -- and NCSE was cited. The resolution begins, "Whereas, According to the National Center for Science Education (NCSE), 'it is important for the science of climate change to be taught, both in formal and informal educational environments, in order for future citizens to be able to make scientifically informed decisions about the consequences of climate change.'" The resolution also notes that although "thirteen" (now, eighteen) states have adopted the Next Generation Science Standards, which recommend the teaching of climate change as early as middle school, New York is not among them. (As a lead state partner of the NGSS, however, New York is committed to giving the NGSS serious consideration.) The prime sponsor of the resolution was Costa G. Constantinides, but, according to AM New York (April 22, 2016), the idea of the resolution "originated with high school activists from Global Kids, who rallied at City Hall in 2014 and continued lobbying council members," including by a petition describing teaching climate change as a moral duty. Although the resolution has no legal force, Evie Hantzopoulos, the executive director of Global Kids, wrote at the Huffington Post (April 22, 2016), "The students will now take their campaign and this resolution to New York State officials that oversee curriculum." For the text of Resolution 0375, visit: http://legistar.council.nyc.gov/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=1890953&GUID=A7AE4C36-D944-4BC4-ABA6-3EFE563F646A For the AM New York story, visit: http://www.amny.com/opinion/columnists/mark-chiusano/what-are-you-doing-to-fight-climate-change-1.11720251 For Evie Hantzopoulos's essay at the Huffington Post, visit: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/global-kids/beyond-reduce-reuse-recyc_b_9759148.html And for NCSE's Voices for Climate Change Education, visit: http://ncse.com/climate/taking-action/voices-climate-change-education 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: * Ann Reid contemplating the incremental harm of bad science education: http://ncse.com/blog/2016/04/ncse-case-missing-pepper-0017031 * Stephanie Keep pondering issues of accessibility and accuracy in science popularization: http://ncse.com/blog/2016/04/say-what-infuriating-false-dichotomy-part-1-0017032 http://ncse.com/blog/2016/04/say-what-infuriating-false-dichotomy-part-2-0017033 http://ncse.com/blog/2016/04/say-what-infuriating-false-dichotomy-part-3-0017034 * Guest blogger Bob Cooper discussing ways of teaching natural selection with the aid of HHMI BioInteractive: http://ncse.com/blog/2016/04/need-help-teaching-natural-selection-try-this-0017027 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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