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NCSE Evolution and Climate Education Update for 2017/09/08

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(by NCSE Deputy Director Glenn Branch)

Dear friends of NCSE,

A new survey on what young people around the world think about climate
change, plus a report on climate change education in New York.

WHAT YOUNG PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD THINK ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE

Around the world, there is a high level of acceptance of anthropogenic
climate change on the part of people under the age of thirty,
according to the latest Global Shaper Survey, conducted by the World
Economic Forum.

Presented with "Science has proven that humans are responsible for
climate change," 69.6% of respondents strongly agreed, 21.7% somewhat
agreed, 6.7% neither agreed nor disagreed, 1.7% somewhat disagreed,
and 0.9% strongly disagreed.

Data was provided for various regions, subregions, and countries for
which there were more than three hundred respondents. Among
respondents in the United States, 76.3% strongly agreed that science
has proven that humans are responsible for climate change, while 16.7%
somewhat agreed, 4.3% neither agreed nor disagreed, 1.8% somewhat
disagreed, and 1.0% strongly disagreed.

Respondents were also asked to rank serious issues affecting the world
today. "Climate change/destruction of nature" was ranked the most
serious for the third year in a row, with 48.8% of the vote in 2017.

The Global Shaper Survey was conducted on paper and in person from
March 31 to June 30, 2017, reaching 31,495 individuals in 186
countries and territories; the analyses in the report were based on
the answers to 24,766 surveys.

For the Global Shaper Survey for 2017, visit:
http://shaperssurvey2017.org/ 

And for NCSE's collection of polls and surveys on climate change, visit:
https://ncse.com/library-resource/polls-climate-change 

CLIMATE CHANGE EDUCATION IN NEW YORK

As New York begins its transition to a new set of state science
standards that contain climate change, the New York State School
Boards Association issued a new report, "When Politics Enters the
Classroom: Teaching Climate Change in Schools," to prepare school
leaders and educators for the changes and challenges ahead.

"[T]he question is not whether to address climate change in the
curriculum, but how best to do so," the report explains, especially in
light of the mismatch between the 97% consensus on anthropogenic
global warming and the practice of middle and high school science
teachers, as revealed by a national survey conducted by NCSE and
researchers at Penn State.

NCSE was mentioned elsewhere in the report, with references to NCSE's
Scientist in the Classroom project, which matches teachers with
climate scientists in their classrooms, and NCSE's recommendation to
make climate change education local, human, pervasive, and hopeful
(see "Teaching Climate Change: Best Practices").

The report's recommendations are likely to be heeded. A survey
conducted for the report between July 24 and August 2, 2017, asked 603
school board members in New York whether they suppose or oppose
climate change being taught in New York's public schools: 70% of
respondents supported it, while 16% opposed and 14% were not sure.

Those who supported or were not sure about teaching climate change
were asked whether they support or oppose schools teaching that humans
contribute to climate change: 86% supported and 5% opposed, while 9%
were not sure. Therefore, 72% of the whole pool of 603 respondents
supported teaching that humans contribute to climate change.

For "When Politics Enter the Classroom" (PDF), visit:
http://www.nyssba.org/clientuploads/nyssba_pdf/report-teaching-climate-change-08312017.pdf 

For New York's new state science standards (PDF), visit:
http://www.p12.nysed.gov/ciai/mst/sci/documents/p-12-science-learning-standards.pdf 

For "Mixed Messages," the report of the NCSE/Penn State survey (PDF), visit:
https://ncse.com/files/MixedMessages.pdf 

For information on NCSE's Scientist in the Classroom project, visit:
https://ncse.com/scientistinclassroom 

For "Teaching Climate Change: Best Practices," visit:
https://ncse.com/library-resource/teaching-climate-change-best-practices 

And for NCSE's previous coverage of events in New York, visit:
https://ncse.com/news/new-york 

WHAT'S NEW AT NCSE'S BLOG?

Have you been visiting NCSE's blog recently? If not, then you've missed:

* Brian Pinney describing how he works to engender trust in scientists
at NCSE's Science Booster Club events:
https://ncse.com/blog/2017/09/sbc-voices-watchers-0018604 

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