NCSE Evolution and Climate Education Update for 2017/05/26
Submitted by Peter Burns on Fri, 2017-05-26 14:52.
(by NCSE Deputy Director Glenn Branch)
Dear friends of NCSE, Is creationist sentiment in the United States at a new low? And is climate change on its way back to Idaho's state science standards?
THE LATEST GALLUP POLL ON EVOLUTION "The percentage of U.S. adults who believe that God created humans in their present form at some time within the last 10,000 years or so -- the strict creationist view -- has reached a new low," reports Gallup (May 22, 2017). "This is the first time since 1982 -- when Gallup began asking this question using this wording -- that belief in God's direct creation of man has not been the outright most-common response." Asked "[w]hich of the following statements comes closest to your views on the origin and development of human beings," 38% of the respondents accepted "Human beings have developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life, but God guided this process," 19% accepted "Human beings have developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life, but God had no part in this process," and 38% accepted "God created human beings pretty much in their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years or so." Acceptance of the creationist option was associated with lower education levels, Protestantism, and weekly church attendance. According to Gallup, the poll results are "based on telephone interviews conducted May 3-7, 2017, with a random sample of 1,011 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia"; the samples were weighted to match demographics. The maximum range of sampling error for the total sample was +/- 4%. Conveniently, Gallup provides a graph showing the results from its polls using the same question since 1982. For Gallup's report on the poll, visit: http://www.gallup.com/poll/210956/belief-creationist-view-humans-new-low.aspx And for NCSE's collection of information on polls and surveys, visit: https://ncse.com/surveypollsstudies CLIMATE CHANGE ON ITS WAY BACK TO IDAHO? On May 19, 2017, the Idaho state department of education released a draft revision of five science education standards addressing climate change and human impact on the environment. Earlier versions of the same standards were, as NCSE previously reported, deleted from the state science standards by the state legislature, where legislators -- particularly in the House Education Committee -- complained that they failed to present "both sides of the debate." The revised versions of the standards continue to acknowledge human responsibility for recent climate change, but appear to soften or qualify the acknowledgment somewhat. For example, where ESS3.C formerly stated, "Human activities ... are major factors in the current rise in Earth's mean surface temperature," it now states, "Current scientific models indicate that human activities ... are the primary factors in the present-day measured rise in Earth's mean surface temperature," while the sentence "Emphasis is on the major role that human activities play in causing the rise in global temperatures" was removed from ESS3-MS-5. A member of the revision committee told Idaho Education News (May 19, 2017) that the committee tried to respond to lawmakers' concerns while maintaining the scientific integrity of the concerns: "we did look at legislators' comments and took out words we knew were hot buttons." The Idaho state board of education will review the standards in August 2017, and then, after a twenty-one day public comment period, will vote on whether to adopt them. The standards will then again undergo legislative review in 2018. For the draft revision of the standards (PDF), visit: http://www.sde.idaho.gov/communications/files/news-releases/05-19-2017-Idaho-Science-Standards-Comparison.pdf For the article from Idaho Education News, visit: https://www.idahoednews.org/news/state-releases-revamped-science-standards-proposal/ And for NCSE's previous coverage of events in Idaho, visit: https://ncse.com/news/idaho WHAT'S NEW AT NCSE'S BLOG? Have you been visiting NCSE's blog recently? If not, then you've missed: * Glenn Branch discussing the unlikely connection between Gene Wilder and Erasmus Darwin: https://ncse.com/blog/2017/05/vermicelli-vorticella-0018542 For NCSE's blog, 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: 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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