NCSE Evolution and Climate Education Update for 2013/03/15
Submitted by Peter Burns on Fri, 2013-03-15 15:25.
National Center for Science Education
(by NCSE Deputy Director Glenn Branch)
Dear Friends of NCSE, The second of Oklahoma's antiscience bills is dead. A new batch of videos at NCSE's YouTube channel. And ClimateWire covers the recent spate of bills aimed at enabling climate change denial in the public schools.
SECOND ANTISCIENCE BILL DIES IN OKLAHOMA House Bill 1674 died in the Oklahoma House of Representatives on March 14, 2013, when a deadline for bills to have their third reading in their house of origin passed. Along with Senate Bill 758, which died in February 2013, HB 1674 was one of two proposed laws that would have undermined the integrity of science education in Oklahoma. If enacted, HB 1674 would have encouraged teachers to "help students understand, analyze, critique, and review in an objective manner the scientific strengths and scientific weaknesses of existing scientific theories pertinent to the course being taught." HB 1674 specifically mentioned "biological evolution, the chemical origins of life, global warming, and human cloning" as subjects which "some teachers may be unsure" about how to teach. Sponsored by Gus Blackwell (R-District 61) and Sally Kern (R-District 84), HB 1674 passed the House Education Committee on a 9-8 vote on February 19, 2013. A previous incarnation of the bill, House Bill 1551 from 2011-2012, was first rejected (in 2011) but then passed (in 2012) by the House Education Committee, and then passed by the House of Representatives on March 15, 2012, by which time it managed to attract condemnation from national scientific and educational organizations. HB 1551 died in the Senate Education Committee in April 2012. A similar bill, Senate Bill 320 from 2009, was memorably described by a member of the Senate Education Committee as one of the worst bills that he had ever seen, according to the Tulsa World (February 17, 2009). Writing in The Oklahoma Daily (March 6, 2013), Richard E. Broughton, Associate Professor of Biology at the University of Oklahoma, described HB 1674 as "a 'Trojan horse' bill specifically crafted by an out-of-state, religious think tank to open the door for the teaching of religious or political views in school science classes. This is clearly understood by everyone familiar with the bill on both sides. HB 1674 would write false claims about science into state law, contradicting the wealth of scientific evidence, our own curriculum standards and the expertise of Oklahoma?s scientists and teachers." He concluded, "Passage of this bill will damage the education of our students, diminish the ability to attract scientifically-based industries to Oklahoma and will likely lead to costly lawsuits over constitutionality." For the text of Oklahoma's House Bill 1674 (PDF), visit: http://webserver1.lsb.state.ok.us/cf_pdf/2013-14%20FLR/HFLR/HB1674%20HFLR.PDF For Broughton's column in The Oklahoma Daily, visit: http://www.oudaily.com/news/2013/mar/06/letter_editor/ And for NCSE's previous coverage of events in Oklahoma, visit: http://ncse.com/news/oklahoma VIDEOS, VIDEOS, VIDEOS NCSE is pleased to announce the addition of a further batch of videos to NCSE's YouTube channel. Especially noteworthy is Eugenie C. Scott speaking on "In the Beginning: Science, Origins, and Religion" at Westminster College in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 2012. Also featured are Minda Berbeco speaking on "Climate Change from the Biotic to the Exotic" to the Bay Area Skeptics in Berkeley, California, in 2012, Barbara Forrest (a member of NCSE's board of directors) speaking as part of a panel discussion of "Religious Politics and Secular Values" to the Center for Inquiry in Washington DC in 2011, and highlights from the committee hearings on Montana's House Bill 183 in Helena, Montana, in 2013. Tune in and enjoy! For NCSE's YouTube channel, visit: http://www.youtube.com/NatCen4ScienceEd "'TEACH THE CONTROVERSY' COMES TO CLIMATE SCIENCE" "A flurry of bills that critics say would allow climate change denial to be taught in public schools have been moving through state legislatures throughout the United States," reported ClimateWire (March 6, 2013). Citing laws in place in Louisiana and Tennessee, as well as Arizona's Senate Bill 1213, Kansas's House Bill 2306, and Oklahoma's Senate Bill 758 and House Bill 1674, the article attributed the push for such legislation to the Discovery Institute -- a judgment shared by NCSE's Glenn Branch in his recent column for DeSmogBlog (February 28, 2013). "The Discovery Institute's pet issue is not climate change but evolution," ClimateWire observed. A spokesperson for the Discovery Institute said that although it takes no position on climate change, "we definitely have a position on whether or not there should be investigation in schools on that subject," and claimed that the legislation it favors would "give teachers the right to teach both sides of a scientific controversy," providing legal protection for educators who might want to introduce "other sides of the topic" to students. But NCSE's Mark McCaffrey told ClimateWire, "The bottom line is that these type of bills provide cover -- a Trojan horse, if you will -- for teachers to act as if there is controversy when there isn't, to present both sides in a way that makes them look equal." He observed that climate science is already not adequately presented in K-12 education, citing a 2011 report that showed that fewer than one in five teens felt "very well informed" on global warming, and that more than two-thirds think they have not learned a great deal about climate change in school. McCaffrey described legislation aimed at encouraging the misrepresentation of climate change as scientifically controversial as the product of a "counter-movement, dedicated to fostering confusion and doubt and delay around having an adult conversation around climate change." "We've heard stories of teachers showing a clip from 'An Inconvenient Truth' and a clip from 'The Great Global Warming Swindle,' and the students come away confused," he commented. "That's not a good way to teach science." For the ClimateWire story (via Scientific American), visit: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=teach-the-controversy-comes-to-climate-science For Branch's column at DeSmogBlog, visit: http://www.desmogblog.com/2013/02/28/not-smart-not-alec-either And for NCSE's coverage of events involving climate change, visit: http://ncse.com/news/climate-change 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. 420 40th Street, Suite 2 Oakland, CA 94609-2509 510-601-7203 x305 fax: 510-601-7204 800-290-6006 branch@ncse.com http://ncse.com 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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