NCSE Evolution and Climate Education Update for 2018/04/06
Submitted by Peter Burns on Fri, 2018-04-06 14:37.
National Center for Science Education
(by NCSE Deputy Director Glenn Branch)
Dear friends of NCSE, Good news from Alabama. And a new issue of RNCSE.
CREATIONIST BILL DIES IN ALABAMA Alabama's House Bill 258, which would have allowed teachers to present "the theory of creation as presented in the Bible" in any class discussing evolution, "thereby affording students a choice as to which theory to accept," died in committee on March 29, 2018, when the legislature adjourned sine die. As NCSE previously reported, HB 258 is evidently modeled on a Kentucky law, Kentucky Revised Statutes 158.177, enacted in 1976 and still on the books despite its patent unconstitutionality. The sole sponsor of the Alabama bill was Steve Hurst (R-District 35), a legislator noteworthy for his previous proposals to require public school teachers to read a daily prayer in the classroom and to punish sex offenders with surgical or chemical castration. Writing at PLOS's SciComm blog (February 19, 2018), Amanda Glaze -- a native of Alabama now teaching at Georgia Southern University -- decried HB 258, arguing, "Legislation that conflates empirical scientific evidence with evidence derived from religious texts can seriously harm efforts to improve science literacy." For information about Alabama's House Bill 258, visit: http://alisondb.legislature.state.al.us/alison/searchableinstruments/2018RS/bills/HB258.htm For Amanda Glaze's commentary on the bill, visit: http://blogs.plos.org/scicomm/2018/02/19/opinion-were-at-war-for-science-literacy-not-at-war-with-faith/ And for NCSE's previous coverage of events in Alabama, visit: https://ncse.com/news/alabama RNCSE 38:2 NOW ON-LINE NCSE is pleased to announce that the latest issue of Reports of the National Center for Science Education is now available on-line. The issue -- volume 38, number 2 -- is the tenth issue in the newsletter's new, streamlined, and full-color format. Featured are Mark Bloom and Ian C. Binns's report on their survey of attitudes toward evolution among pre-service elementary teachers; Brad Hoge's report on NCSE's new Turning Misconceptions into Educational Opportunities project; Emily Schoerning's explanation, with examples, of how new activities are developed for NCSE's Science Booster Clubs; Randy Moore's discussion of David Starr Jordan; and Glenn Branch's review of The Quotable Darwin. The entire issue is freely available on NCSE's website. Members of NCSE will be receiving it in printed form shortly. (Not a member? Join today!) For RNCSE 38:2, visit: https://ncse.com/ncse-newsletter For information about joining NCSE, visit: https://ncse.com/join Thanks for reading. And don't forget to visit NCSE's website -- https://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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