NCSE Evolution and Climate Education Update for 2018/05/04
(by NCSE Deputy Director Glenn Branch)
Dear friends of NCSE, NCSE is seeking a Director of Community Outreach. And a pair of climate change education bills appears in Congress.
HELP WANTED: DIRECTOR OF COMMUNITY OUTREACH NCSE is seeking to hire a Director of Community Outreach. The Director of Community Outreach will be responsible for the direction and strategic expansion of the NCSE Science Booster Club program, which facilitates the creation and support of local community-based groups to provide hands-on, accessible evolution and climate change activities at community events. The Director of Community Outreach is responsible for the training of volunteers and oversight of the collection of data on club activities. The Director of Community Outreach also conducts and publishes research on the Science Booster Club Program, identifies and maintains organizational and academic collaborations, and leads efforts to acquire local and national funding for the program. The Director of Community Outreach is a member of the NCSE program leadership team, working with the executive director and the other program directors to establish and achieve NCSE’s strategic vision. Further information about duties, qualifications, benefits, and the application process is available from NCSE's job page. For NCSE's job page, visit: https://ncse.com/about/jobs CLIMATE CHANGE EDUCATION ACTS IN CONGRESS A pair of bills introduced in Congress -- S. 2740 in the Senate; H.R. 5606 in the House of Representatives -- would authorize the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to institute a competitive grant program aimed in part at developing and improving educational material and teacher training on the topic of climate change. Among the findings listed in the bills are "[T]he evidence for human-induced climate change is overwhelming and undeniable" and "Only 30 percent of middle school and 45 percent of high school science teachers understand the extent of the scientific consensus on climate change" -- a reference to the NCSE/Penn State survey of climate change educators. NCSE is among the organizations endorsing the bills. NCSE's executive director Ann Reid commented, "The Climate Change Education Act addresses a critically important need. Teachers urgently need and want support to cover climate change accurately and effectively. Federal funding to support the development of high-quality evidence-based teaching resources ultimately will benefit millions of students." S. 2740 was sponsored by Edward J. Markey (D-Massachusetts), joined by seven colleagues in the Senate; Markey previously introduced a similar measure (SA 2175 to S. 1177) in the Senate in 2015. H.R. 5606 was sponsored by Carol Shea-Porter (D-New Hampshire 1), joined by thirteen colleagues in the House of Representatives. For the text of S. 2740 and H.R. 5606, visit: https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/2740 https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/5606 And for Mixed Messages, the report of the NCSE/Penn State survey (PDF), visit: https://ncse.com/files/MixedMessages.pdf 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