NCSE Evolution and Climate Education Update for 2017/06/30
Submitted by Peter Burns on Fri, 2017-06-30 17:16.
National Center for Science Education
(by NCSE Deputy Director Glenn Branch)
Dear friends of NCSE, Bad news from Florida. NCSE staff are among those honored by the Society for the Study of Evolution. A preview of Tim Flannery's Atmosphere of Hope. And dismaying news about evolution education in Turkey.
FLORIDA'S ANTISCIENCE BILL BECOMES LAW Florida's House Bill 989, aimed at empowering Floridians to object to the use of specific instructional materials in the public schools, was signed into law by Governor Rick Scott on June 26, 2017, according to the Tampa Bay Times (June 26, 2017). The bill was previously passed by both chambers of the Florida legislature in April and May 2017. As NCSE previously reported, climate change and evolution were clearly among the targets of HB 989. Supporters of the bill submitted affidavits that complained, "I have witnessed students being taught evolution as fact ... rather than theory ... I have witnessed children being taught that Global Warming is a reality." With the law now in place, any county resident -- not just any parent with a child in the country's public schools, as was the case previously -- can now file a complaint about instructional materials in the county's public schools, and the school will now have to appoint a hearing officer to hear the complaint. Brandon Haught of Florida Citizens for Science commented on the organization's blog (June 26, 2017), "This means our fight is only just now beginning. Each and every one of us has to be on alert. You must keep an eye on your local school board and everyone who brings forth a complaint about textbooks. If you don’t, we truly lose." Haught also expressed concern that a recently enacted "religious liberties" law -- Senate Bill 436 -- would be wielded in conjunction with HB 989 to undermine evolution education in Florida, citing a Frontline article (May 8, 2017) that quoted a backer of both bills as vowing to do just that. For information about Florida's House Bill 989, visit: http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Bills/billsdetail.aspx?BillId=58685&SessionId=83 For the article in the Tampa Bay Times, visit: http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/gradebook/gov-rick-scott-signs-several-education-bills-into-florida-law/2328542 For Brandon Haught's blog post, visit: http://www.flascience.org/wp/?p=2793 For information about Florida's Senate Bill 436, visit: https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2017/00436 For the Frontline article, visit: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/a-new-wave-of-bills-takes-aim-at-science-in-the-classroom/ And for NCSE's previous coverage of events in Florida, visit: https://ncse.com/news/florida NCSE STAFF SHARE IN THE HUXLEY AWARD NCSE is delighted to congratulate Laura A. Bankers, a graduate student in the department of biology at the University of Iowa, and her colleagues for winning the 2017 Thomas Henry Huxley Award from the Society for the Study of Evolution, in recognition of their work with NCSE's Science Booster Club program. In addition to Bankers, Kyle McLeroy, Joseph Jalinsky, James Woodell, Katelyn Larkin, and Jorge Moreno (all students at the University of Iowa), Robert Todd (a student at Creighton University), Maurine Neiman (a faculty member at the University of Iowa), and NCSE's Claire Adrian-Tucci and Emily Schoerning were named in the award citation. Initiated in May 2015 and largely staffed by graduate students, the Iowa Science Booster Clubs now boast four clubs with over a thousand members; they have reached nearly 80,000 Iowans through community outreach activities and nearly 5000 students through grants to individual science classrooms. The chair of SSE's Education and Outreach Committee, which administers the award, told Bankers, "We found your proposal to be exciting and topical, and in addition to the clear scientific relevance of your work, we are confident that the story will be an inspiring example for instructors." For information about the Huxley award, visit: http://evolutionsociety.org/index.php?module=content&type=user&func=view&pid=18 And for information about NCSE's Science Booster Club program, visit: https://ncse.com/scienceboosterclubs A PREVIEW OF ATMOSPHERE OF HOPE NCSE is pleased to offer a free preview of Tim Flannery's Atmosphere of Hope: Searching for Solutions to the Climate Crisis (Grove Press, 2015). The preview consists of chapter 4, "How Are the Animals Doing?" which discusses climate change's threat to biodiversity, as well as a new afterword added to the 2016 paperback edition of the book. "Thoughtful, candid and -- yes -- ultimately upbeat, Atmosphere of Hope could not be more timely," writes Elizabeth Kolbert (author of The Sixth Extinction). "It is just the book the world needs right now." Tim Flannery is a scientist, explorer, and conservationist; he served as head of the Australian Climate Change Commission from 2011 to 2013. For the preview (PDF), visit: https://ncse.com/files/pub/evolution/excerpt--atmosphere.pdf And for information about the book from its publisher, visit: http://www.groveatlantic.com/?title=Atmosphere+of+Hope EVOLUTION NIXED IN TURKEY "Darwin's theory of evolution has been excluded from the most recent draft of Turkey's new national curriculum," reports the Hurriyet Daily News (June 22, 2017). As NCSE previously reported, a draft of the curriculum omitted evolution, with a unit entitled "The Origin of Life and Evolution" replaced with a unit entitled "Living Beings and the Environment." The draft was subsequently approved by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. A representative of the Education Ministry was quoted by the Hurriyet Daily News as describing evolution and the origin of life as both too difficult for ninth-grade students and as "controversial." But a group of Turkish academics retorted that science education "should be presented with a perspective that allows students to connect it to subjects they will encounter in future years. It should provide them with an evolutionary point of view." The Guardian (June 23, 2017) commented, "There is little acceptance of evolution as a concept among mainstream Muslim clerics in the Middle East ... Still, evolution is briefly taught in many high school biology courses in the region." The teaching of evolution has been periodically contentious in Turkey, owing in part to the efforts of Islamic fundamentalist groups and politicians. For the articles in the Hurriyet Daily News and the Guardian, visit: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/latest-draft-of-turkeys-new-national-curriculum-excludes-evolution-theory-.aspx?PageID=238&NID=114651&NewsCatID=341 And for NCSE's previous coverage of events overseas, visit: https://ncse.com/news/international WHAT'S NEW AT NCSE'S BLOG? Have you been visiting NCSE's blog recently? If not, then you've missed: * Glenn Branch discussing a philosopher's dismay over the Scopes trial: https://ncse.com/blog/2017/06/sorry-montague-0018562 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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