NCSE Evolution and Climate Education Update for 2018/03/30
Submitted by Peter Burns on Fri, 2018-03-30 15:17.
National Center for Science Education
(by NCSE Deputy Director Glenn Branch)
Dear friends of NCSE, Good news from Washington, Idaho, and Wisconsin. And a new poll on public opinion about climate change.
CLIMATE EDUCATION FUNDING IN WASHINGTON When Governor Jay Inslee signed Senate Bill 6032 into law on March 27, 2018, the state of Washington committed to provide $4 million "to provide grants ... for science teacher training in the [N]ext [G]eneration [S]cience [S]tandards" -- adopted in 2013 -- "including training in the climate science standards." In a press release, E3 Washington, the state's association for environmental and sustainability educators, described the signing as "a major victory for climate education and K-12 students across the state," adding, "With this bill, Washington also advances to leading the nation in K-12 climate literacy having become the first state in the country to dedicate significant support for climate education. It is also the largest general fund allocation for environmental education ever included in a [g]overnor's budget and approved by a state legislature." "It's important for states that are improving the treatment of climate science in their state science standards to remember that their teachers need to equipped with the knowledge and knowhow to teach accordingly," commented NCSE's Brad Hoge. "It's great to see Washington recognizing and taking steps to meet the need." For Washington's Senate Bill 6032 (PDF), visit: http://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/biennium/2017-18/Pdf/Bills/Senate%20Passed%20Legislature/6032-S.PL.pdf For E3 Washington's press release, visit: http://www.e3washington.org/press-release And for NCSE's previous coverage of events in Washington, visit: https://ncse.com/news/washington VICTORY IN IDAHO When the Idaho legislature adjourned sine die on March 28, 2018, a three-year-long struggle over new state science standards ended, with a generally positive outcome. As NCSE previously reported, in 2016, the legislature rejected a proposed set of science standards altogether, ostensibly on the grounds that there was not adequate opportunity for public comment. But there is reason to think that hostility toward the inclusion of evolution and climate change in the standards played a role in the decision. In 2017, when the standards were again under consideration, the House Education Committee voted to remove references to climate change and human impact on the environment, and the Senate Education Committee, and subsequently the legislature as a whole, followed suit. The standards were then revised slightly to qualify the acknowledgment of human responsibility for recent climate change. The drafting committee was evidently "trying to navigate [between] a rock and a hard place," as NCSE's Glenn Branch told the Spokane, Washington, Inlander (June 8, 2017). In 2018, the revised version of the standards underwent review by the legislature. In February 2018, the House Education Committee voted to remove a reference to climate change and all of the "supporting material" content. But the Senate Education Committee refused to follow suit, instead voting 6-3 to approve the standards as submitted. Owing to what Idaho Education News (February 22, 2018) aptly described as "the [l]egislature's arcane process of rules review," the Senate Education Committee should have had the last word: the two chambers of the legislature would have to agree in order for the standards to be rejected. Nevertheless, the House Education Committee introduced two measures, House Concurrent Resolutions 60 and 61, which, if adopted by both chambers, would have deleted the material that the committee voted to reject from the proposed standards. These resolutions never came to a floor vote. The new standards, complete with the revised treatment of climate change, will remain in place for the next five years. For the story in the Inlander, visit: https://www.inlander.com/spokane/political-science/Content?oid=4337671 For the story in Idaho Education News, visit: https://www.idahoednews.org/news/unabridged-official-senate-oks-science-standards/ For Idaho's House Concurrent Resolutions 60 and 61 (PDF), visit: https://legislature.idaho.gov/wp-content/uploads/sessioninfo/2018/legislation/HCR060.pdf https://legislature.idaho.gov/wp-content/uploads/sessioninfo/2018/legislation/HCR061.pdf And for NCSE's previous coverage of events in Idaho, visit: https://ncse.com/news/idaho "CAMPUS FREE SPEECH ACTS" DIE IN WISCONSIN A pair of "Campus Free Speech Acts," Assembly Bill 299 and Senate Bill 250, died in the Wisconsin legislature on March 28, 2018, when they failed to meet a deadline. The bills in question would have required the board of regents of the University of Wisconsin system to adopt a policy on free expression with various provisions affecting students, faculty, speakers, the public, and the institutions that are part of the system themselves, and to appoint a council on free expression to report on free expression issues to the board, the legislature, and the governor. Judging from the text of the bills, science education would not have obviously been affected. But during a committee hearing on May 11, 2017, two of the sponsors of AB 299, Jesse Kremer (R-District 59) and Robin Vos (R-District 63), suggested that the teaching of evolution and climate change might be affected by the bill's passage, according to the Capital Times (June 6, 2017). Kremer insisted that the earth is 6000 years old. Before dying, AB 299 was passed by the Assembly on a 61-36 vote on June 21, 2017; SB 250 died in the Senate Committee on Universities and Technical Colleges. For information about Wisconsin's Assembly Bill 299 and Senate Bill 250, visit: https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/2017/proposals/ab299 https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/2017/proposals/sb250 For the story in the Capital Times, visit: http://host.madison.com/ct/news/local/education/university/gagging-the-uw-critics-worry-campus-speech-bill-is-another/article_cc7e994b-e6f2-5d16-8ff2-11513bc03033.html And for NCSE's previous coverage of events in Wisconsin, visit: https://ncse.com/news/wisconsin THE LATEST GALLUP POLL ON CLIMATE CHANGE About two thirds of Americans overall realize that most scientists think that global warming is occurring and that it is caused by human activities, according to a new poll from Gallup. But the partisan polarization of opinion on climate change continues to be clear. Gallup suggests, "With Trump reversing many of his predecessors' policies aimed at curbing warming, Democrats are feeling a greater sense of urgency about the issue, while Republicans have either remained as skeptical as they had been in the past or have become more so." Asked "Just your impression, which of the one following statements do you think is most accurate?" 66% of respondents preferred "most scientists believe that global warming is occurring," 24% preferred "most scientists believe that global warming is NOT occurring," and 6% preferred "most scientists are unsure about whether global warming is occurring or not," with 4% expressing no opinion. The "most scientists believe that global warming" statement was preferred by 86% of Democrats, 65% of independents, and 42% of Republicans. Asked "And from what you have heard or read, do you believe increases in the Earth's temperature over the last century are due more to the effects of pollution from human activities or natural changes in the environment that are not due to human activities?" 64% of respondents chose the human activities response and 33% chose the natural changes response, with 3% expressing no opinion. The human activities response was preferred by 89% of Democrats, 62% of independents, and 35% of Republicans. According to Gallup's report, the poll was conducted by telephone interviews conducted March 1-8, 2018, with a random sample of 1,041 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia; the sample was weighted to correct for unequal selection probability, nonresponse, and double coverage of landline and cell users in the two sampling frames, and to match national demographics. The maximum margin of sampling error for the total sample was +/4 percent. For Gallup's story about and report for the poll (PDF), visit: http://news.gallup.com/poll/231530/global-warming-concern-steady-despite-partisan-shifts.aspx http://news.gallup.com/file/poll/231575/180327ClimateChange.pdf WHAT'S NEW AT NCSE'S BLOG? Have you been visiting NCSE's blog recently? If not, then you've missed: * Stephanie Keep examining a new report on perceptions of science in America: https://ncse.com/blog/2018/03/what-we-know-don-t-know-science-denial-america-0018728 For NCSE's blog, visit: https://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 https://ncse.com Check out NCSE's blog: https://ncse.com/blog Subscribe to NCSE's free weekly e-newsletter: https://groups.google.com/group/ncse-news NCSE is on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter: https://www.facebook.com/evolution.ncse https://www.youtube.com/NatCen4ScienceEd https://twitter.com/ncse NCSE's work is supported by its members. Join today! https://ncse.com/join
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