NCSE Evolution and Climate Education Update for 2015/01/02
Submitted by Peter Burns on Fri, 2015-01-02 17:00.
National Center for Science Education
(by NCSE Deputy Director Glenn Branch)
Dear friends of NCSE, The creationist lawsuit against the NGSS is back. Plus discouraging signs from West Virginia, where the treatment of climate in new state science standards was compromised, but encouraging signs from Wyoming, where a bill to repeal the ban on adoption of the Next Generation Science Standards was filed.
APPEAL IN COPE V. KANSAS The dismissal of a creationist lawsuit seeking to prevent Kansas from adopting the Next Generation Science Standards on the grounds that doing so would "establish and endorse a non-theistic religious worldview" is now under appeal. The Associated Press (December 31, 2014) reports that the plaintiffs in COPE et al. v. Kansas State Board of Education et al. filed a notice of appeal with the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit on December 30, 2014. As NCSE previously reported, the original complaint, filed in September 2013, contended that the NGSS "seek to cause students to embrace a non-theistic Worldview ... by leading very young children to ask ultimate questions about the cause and nature of life and the universe ... and then using a variety of deceptive devices and methods that will lead them to answer the questions with only materialistic/atheistic explanations." Both the Big Bang and evolution were emphasized as problematic. In a December 2, 2014, order, Judge Daniel D. Crabtree of the United States District Court for the District of Kansas granted the defendants' motion to dismiss the case. The decision did not address the content of the complaint, instead finding that that the Kansas state board of education and the Kansas state department of education enjoyed Eleventh Amendment sovereign immunity against the suit and that the plaintiffs lacked standing to assert any of their claims. As NCSE previously reported, the lead plaintiff, COPE, Citizens for Objective Public Education, is a relatively new creationist organization, founded in 2012, but its leaders and attorneys include figures familiar from previous attacks on evolution education across the country, such as John H. Calvert of the Intelligent Design Network. The Kansas board of education voted to adopt the NGSS in June 2013, and the lawsuit in effect attempted to undo the decision. The NGSS have been adopted in thirteen states -- California, Delaware, Kansas, Kentucky, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and West Virginia -- plus the District of Columbia. The treatment of evolution and climate science in the standards occasionally provokes controversy (especially in Wyoming, where the legislature derailed their adoption over climate science), but COPE v. Kansas is the only lawsuit to have resulted. For the Associated Press story (via the Emporia Gazette), visit: http://www.emporiagazette.com/news/state/article_eb7fc1e6-45fe-519c-8ed4-546855fe3866.html For NCSE's collection of documents from the case, visit: http://ncse.com/legal/cope-v-kansas-state-boe And for NCSE's previous coverage of events in Kansas, visit: http://ncse.com/news/kansas CLIMATE COMPROMISED IN WEST VIRGINIA "At the request of a West Virginia Board of Education member who said he doesn't believe human-influenced climate change is a 'foregone conclusion,' new state science standards on the topic were altered before the state school board adopted them," reported the Charleston Gazette (December 28, 2014), in a detailed story. Where the NGSS called for high school students to "[a]nalyze geoscience data and the results from global climate models to make an evidence-based forecast of the current rate of global or regional climate change and associated future impacts to Earth systems," for example, the revised standard asks them to assess the "creditability" (sic) of such data. Even more strikingly, where the NGSS called for middle school students to "ask questions to clarify evidence of the factors that have caused the rise in global temperature over the past century" -- which would include the burning of fossil fuels -- the revised standard asks them about "the rise and fall in global temperature." West Virginia adopted the Next Generation Science Standards in December 2014, becoming the thirteenth state to do so and joining California, Delaware, Kansas, Kentucky, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington, as well as the District of Columbia. But before the standards were offered for public comment in the state, Wade Linger, a member of the state board of education, asked for changes to downplay climate change. He told the Gazette, "We're on this global warming binge going on here," adding, "We need to look at all the theories about it rather than just the human changes in greenhouse gases." Tom Campbell, a member of the board who expressed his agreement with Linger, told the newspaper, "Let's not use unproven theories." Asked why he was concerned especially with the "unproven theory" of climate change, he responded, "West Virginia coal in particular has been taking on unfair negativity from certain groups." A staffer in the state department of education noted that before the adoption of the new standards, students were not required to learn about the evidence for climate change, and described the "and fall" addition as "fabulous." A colleague claimed that the changes were vetted by departmental staff and were consistent with the intentions of the NGSS. Stephen Pruitt of Achieve, the non-profit organization coordinating the NGSS, commented that "the science is showing that we are seeing a rise in the mean global temperatures." But he also downplayed the significance of human-caused climate change in the standards, and a colleague added that states are free to modify the NGSS without penalty. NCSE's Mark McCaffrey was dismayed by the changes. "While the new standards are a vast improvement over West Virginia's old standards," he explained, "it's disappointing to see that the whims of a few board members have been allowed to ride roughshod over the scientific consensus on climate reflected in the NGSS." "When asked how the state Department of Education would ensure that teachers instructing students on the climate change standards actually foster fair debate backed up by solid evidence," the Gazette reported, "school officials argued they have little control over local curricula or ability to monitor it." For the story in the Charleston Gazette, visit: http://www.wvgazette.com/article/20141228/GZ01/141229489/1419 And for NCSE's previous coverage of events in West Virginia, visit: http://ncse.com/news/west-virginia BILL TO UNBLOCK NGSS INTRODUCED IN WYOMING Wyoming's House Bill 23, introducted on December 23, 2014, would, if enacted, repeal the footnote in the law establishing the state budget for 2014-2016 that precludes the use of state funds "for any review or adoption" of the Next Generation Science Standards. As NCSE previously reported, the treatment of climate change was cited as the reason for the footnote. The Wyoming state board of education subsequently declined to develop a new set of science standards independent of the NGSS. Despite the legislature's decision, local school districts are free to adopt the NGSS, and about fifteen (of forty-eight) have reportedly done so. Before the bill was introduced, John Patton (R-District 29) told the Casper Star-Tribune (December 15, 2014), "What the bill does is pretty straight forward and simple ... It simply removes Footnote No. 3 in the appropriations bill. It means the State Board of Education can continue with its work uninterrupted by the Legislature." He was optimistic about the prospect for the bill's passage. Joining Patton as sponsors of HB 23 are, in the House of Representatives, Rosie Berger (R-District 51), Kermit Brown (R-District 14), and John Freeman (D-District 60), and, in the Senate, J. D. Anderson (D-District 2) and Chris Rothfuss (D-District 9). For Wyoming's House Bill 23 as introduced (PDF), visit: http://legisweb.state.wy.us/2015/Introduced/HB0023.pdf For the story in the Casper Star-Tribune, visit: http://trib.com/news/local/education/bill-would-repeal-controversial-science-standard-ban-in-wyoming/article_a6320e23-ca71-509b-af1a-5ed18dbfe76a.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 continuing to ponder the latest poll on evolution and religion: http://ncse.com/blog/2014/12/where-do-creationists-come-from-0016073 * Glenn Branch investigating a spurious quotation from Darwin: http://ncse.com/blog/2014/12/pseudo-darwin-quotation-part-1-0016035 http://ncse.com/blog/2014/12/pseudo-darwin-quotation-part-2-0016036 * Stephanie Keep applauding a good explanation of fossils in a children's book: http://ncse.com/blog/2014/12/well-said-lessons-from-children-s-book-0016069 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 x303 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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