NCSE Evolution and Climate Education Update for 2014/05/09
Submitted by Peter Burns on Fri, 2014-05-09 14:38.
National Center for Science Education
(by NCSE Deputy Director Glenn Branch)
Dear friends of NCSE, NCSE had a lot to say about the educational uses of the third National Climate Assessment. There's a new editor of Reports of the NCSE: Stephanie Keep replaces Andrew J. Petto. And NCSE's Mark McCaffrey discusses the Wyoming debacle in the pages of the Casper Star-Tribune.
NCSE AND THE NATIONAL CLIMATE ASSESSMENT NCSE was on hand for the release of the third National Climate Assessment. Produced by a team of more than 300 experts, the NCA summarizes the impacts of climate change on the United States, now and in the future. When it was unveiled at the White House on May 6, 2014, NCSE's Mark McCaffrey was there to discuss the educational uses of the NCA at a panel streamed live and currently available from C-SPAN; his presentation begins at around the 1:38 mark. On the same day, McCaffrey discussed the educational uses of the NCA in a conference call with the NCAnet Education Affiliate Group, and NCSE's Minda Berbeco did the same in a webinar/teleconference with the Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network In a post on NCSE's blog The Science League of America, McCaffrey explained that the report provides "[b]oatloads of opportunities to drill down into the data to learn more about how climate change is impacting our country. ... Want to know how climate change is impacting your region? They have that. How climate change will affect coastal and marine systems? That's included. Did they include tribal nations? Of course. How human health, agriculture and water resources will change? That, too. Energy supply and use? Yep. Biodiversity? Sure. All this and much, much more. A veritable treasure trove of information." He summarized, "The NCA is the first step to changing the conversation in America about climate change, and educators have a unique opportunity to jump in and use this new material to bring the challenges of climate change home to their students." NCSE's Minda Berbeco told NBC News (May 5, 2014) that the NCA offers teachers a way to incorporate local information in their lessons on climate science, adding, "I think it's a huge opportunity for education ... not just for adults and voting-age citizens, but for everyone who's going to have to deal with climate change in the future. Which means kids." In a subsequent story, Berbeco told NBC News (May 6, 2014) that it is crucial for the children who will face the challenges of climate change in the future to be educated about it today. "It's not only a multigenerational problem -- it's a huge opportunity," she said. "For each of the challenges pointed out in the report, there's an opportunity to work with mitigation and adaptation." For the National Climate Assessment, visit: http://nca2014.globalchange.gov/ For the C-SPAN video of the panel, visit: http://www.c-span.org/video/?319224-2/white-house-unveils-climate-assessment-report For Mark McCaffrey's blog post, visit: http://ncse.com/blog/2014/05/protecting-nations-most-important-human-resource-0015568 For the NBC stories quoting Minda Berbeco, visit: http://www.nbcnews.com/science/environment/5-things-environmentalists-want-white-houses-climate-report-n97746 http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/nowhere-run-climate-change-will-affect-every-region-u-s-n98396 And for NCSE's resources on climate science and climate education, visit: http://ncse.com/climate A NEW EDITOR FOR RNCSE NCSE is pleased to welcome Stephanie Keep as the new editor of its journal Reports of the National Center for Science Education. She succeeds Andrew J. Petto, who is retiring from the post after nearly twenty years of service. "I'm thrilled to become part of NCSE's team working to defend the integrity of science education," Keep exclaimed. "I'm looking forward not only to editing Reports but also to helping NCSE's communication efforts in any way I can." Keep was trained as a paleobiologist at Wellesley College and Harvard University (where she served as a faculty assistant to Stephen Jay Gould). In the publishing world, she is involved in editing college- and high school-level textbooks in environmental science, earth science, and biology, including Kenneth R. Miller and Joseph Levine's Biology, and in the education world, she worked on science curriculum and assessment initiatives in the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. "We're delighted to welcome Stephanie Keep, with her comprehensive background in environmental science and evolution as well as her writing, editing, and education experience, as the new editor of Reports," said NCSE's executive director Ann Reid. "She has all the skills needed to succeed Anj Petto, who has been so critical to the journal’s success." In addition to editing Reports of the NCSE and serving on the board of directors of NCSE from 1995 to 2014, Petto was the editor, with Laurie R. Godfrey, of Scientists Confront Creationism: Intelligent Design and Beyond (W. W. Norton, 2008). A physical anthropologist, Petto is currently Senior Lecturer in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. He plans to use his "retirement" to re-animate Wisconsin Citizens for Science, which was guided by former NCSE staff member Skip Evans until his untimely death. "I'm retiring, but I'm not disappearing," Petto explained. "I'll be enthusiastically supporting Reports and its new editor. And of course I'll still be supporting NCSE and all it does to promote the cause of good science education." Reports of the National Center for Science Education is published by NCSE to promote the understanding of evolutionary sciences, of climate sciences, and of science as a way of knowing. The contents are freely available on-line, and submissions are welcome. For information about Reports of the NCSE, visit: http://reports.ncse.com NCSE'S MCCAFFREY ON WYOMING DEBACLE NCSE's Mark McCaffrey contributed a guest column, entitled "Protecting Wyoming's most valuable resource" -- which he identified as children rather than energy -- to the Casper Star-Tribune (May 4, 2014), reviewing the derailment of the adoption of the Next Generation Science Standards because of the legislature's objection to their treatment of climate change. “[W]hen upward of 97 percent of climate scientists agree that human activities are changing the planet’s climate, it would be absurd to reject a set of state standards that reflected the scientific consensus,” McCaffrey wrote, adding, “it’s absurd to think that teaching students about climate change is going to wreck Wyoming’s economy. True, Wyoming’s economy depends in large measure on the fossil fuel energy industry, to which the reality of climate change is definitely a challenge. But it’s a challenge that cannot be confronted in the style of the proverbial ostrich.” McCaffrey was encouraged by the fact that at least fifteen local school districts in Wyoming are moving to implement the standards themselves. But he warned, “without a statewide policy of teaching students about the science of climate change, whether using the Next Generation Science Standards or not, Wyoming will ... be doing a disservice to its most valuable resource.” For McCaffrey's column in the Casper Star-Tribune, visit: http://trib.com/opinion/columns/mccaffrey-protecting-wyoming-s-most-valuable-resource/article_924bd831-0c44-5226-b19c-675ec63988ae.html And for NCSE's previous coverage of events in Wyoming, visit: http://ncse.com/news/wyoming WHAT'S NEW FROM THE SCIENCE LEAGUE OF AMERICA Have you been visiting NCSE's blog, The Science League of America, recently? If not, then you've missed: * Josh Rosenau interviewing Elizabeth Kolbert about The Sixth Extinction: http://ncse.com/blog/2014/05/talking-extinction-with-elizabeth-kolbert-0015567 * Mark McCaffrey reflecting on the release of the National Climate Assessment: http://ncse.com/blog/2014/05/me-worry-0015578 * Glenn Branch wondering whether Captain FitzRoy of the Beagle had a mustache: http://ncse.com/blog/2014/05/search-mustache-part-1-0015561 http://ncse.com/blog/2014/05/search-mustache-part-2-0015562 And much more besides! For The Science League of America, 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. 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 Check out NCSE's new blog, Science League of America: 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
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