NCSE Evolution and Climate Education Update for 2016/03/18
Submitted by Peter Burns on Fri, 2016-03-18 14:58.
National Center for Science Education
(by NCSE Deputy Director Glenn Branch)
Dear friends of NCSE, Disappointing news from Alabama. Everything you ever wanted to know about the NCSE/Penn State climate change education survey. Plus good news from the state legislatures of Louisiana, West Virginia, and Florida.
ALABAMA RETAINS ITS EVOLUTION DISCLAIMER . At its March 10, 2016, meeting, the Alabama state board of education voted to retain a disclaimer about evolution mandated for the state's textbooks, even though the new Alabama science standards describe evolution as "substantiated with much direct and indirect evidence." The vote accompanied the board's approval of the state textbook committee's recommendations for the adoption of science textbooks. Video of the vote is available on-line. The first Alabama disclaimer, which described evolution as "a controversial theory some scientists present," was mandated by the Alabama state board of education in 1996. It was replaced in 2001 by a second disclaimer, which described "[t]he theory of evolution by natural selection" as controversial. A third disclaimer appeared in the state science standards in 2005, but the board voted then to retain the second disclaimer. It is thus the second disclaimer that presumably will remain in Alabama's science textbooks. At the meeting, Stephanie Bell, a board member who helped to write the first disclaimer, praised the disclaimer as "a very positive addition" that "fits in perfectly with the Course of Study." NCSE's executive director Ann Reid was anything but enthusiastic, however, commenting, "By voting to retain the disclaimer, the Alabama board of education is continuing to send a scientifically unwarranted and pedagogically irresponsible message to Alabama's teachers and students -- who deserve better." For the video of the vote (starting around 15:25), visit: http://www.alsde.edu/sites/boe/Pages/VideoLargeItem.aspx?ID=845 For the text of the (second) Alabama disclaimer, visit: http://www.alsde.edu/sites/boe/_bdc/ALSDEBOE/BOE%20-%20Resolutions_4.aspx?ID=309 And for NCSE's previous coverage of events in Alabama, visit: http://ncse.com/news/alabama CLIMATE CHANGE EDUCATION SURVEY IN DEPTH Mixed Messages: How Climate Change is Taught in America's Public Schools, a detailed report of the first nationwide survey of climate change education in the United States, conceived and funded by NCSE and conducted in collaboration with researchers at Pennsylvania State University, is now available on-line. The report is divided into four parts. Part 1 focuses on what teachers do in their classrooms; part 2 focuses on teachers' educational background and scientific knowledge; part 3 focuses on the political and cultural forces and the personal values that influence teachers; and part 4 outlines the policy implications of the data. The report ends by expressing the hope "that the results of the survey ... will help guide those whose goal it is to ensure that today's students and the next generation of citizens have the scientific foundation that will allow them to grapple with complex proposals to address the challenges of climate change." Mixed Messages expands on the results and analyses previously reported in "Climate Confusion Among U.S. Teachers," published in the journal Science, and in "Climate Education in the Classroom: Cloudy with a Chance of Confusion," published in Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. The NCSE/Penn State study received extensive coverage in the press, including from the Guardian, Newsweek, the Washington Post, Mother Jones, Time, and The New York Times (all from February 11, 2016), as well as the satirical The Onion (February 15, 2016) and the Natural Resources Defense Council's On Earth (March 13, 2016). For Mixed Messages (PDF), visit: http://ncse.com/files/MixedMessages.pdf For "Climate Confusion Among U.S. Teachers" (PDF), visit: http://science.sciencemag.org/content/351/6274/664.full-text.pdf+html For "Climate Education in the Classroom: Cloudy with a Chance of Confusion" (subscription required), visit: http://thebulletin.org/2016/march/climate-education-classroom-cloudy-chance-confusion9241 And for the press coverage, visit: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/feb/11/two-thirds-of-us-students-are-taught-climate-change-badly-study-finds http://www.newsweek.com/science-teachers-confused-climate-change-425650 https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/02/11/how-teachers-are-getting-it-wrong-on-climate-change/ http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2016/02/our-children-learning-about-climate-change http://time.com/4214388/science-teachers-climate-change/ http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/12/science/science-teachers-grasp-of-climate-change-is-found-lacking.html http://www.theonion.com/americanvoices/teachers-misinform-students-climate-change-52357 http://www.onearth.org/earthwire/american-schoolteachers-climate-change-survey LOUISIANA TO REPEAL 1981 CREATIONIST LAW? Louisiana's Senate Bill 156 would, if enacted, repeal the state's Balanced Treatment for Creation-Science and Evolution-Science Act, which was enacted in 1981 and declared to be unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court in Edwards v. Aguillard in 1987. Yet the law remains on the books. SB 156 was prefiled by Dan Claitor (R-District 16) on March 3, 2016, and referred to the Senate Committee on Education. It is Claitor's third attempt to repeal the law. In 2013, his amendment to Senate Bill 205 to repeal the 1981 law was approved by the Senate -- despite the opposition of Ben Nevers (D-District 12), the senate sponsor of the so-called Louisiana Science Education Act of 2008, who argued that it would be useful for the law to be on the books in case the Edwards decision is ever reversed -- but was later stripped from the bill. In 2014, Claitor introduced Senate Bill 70, which would have repealed the 1981 law, prompting Barbara Forrest, Professor of Philosophy at Southeastern Louisiana University and a member of NCSE's board of directors to comment, "It shouldn't take twenty-seven years and a Supreme Court case to convince the legislature to repeal the Balanced Treatment Act." But SB 70 was rejected by the Senate without debate. Passage of SB 156 would not affect the so-called Louisiana Science Education Act of 2008. Five attempts to repeal the 2008 law -- SB 70 in 2011, SB 374 in 2012, SB 26 in 2013, SB 175 in 2014, and SB 74 in 2015 -- have been introduced by Karen Carter Peterson (D-District 5). So far no such bill has been introduced in the current legislative session, which begins on March 14, 2016, and ends no later than June 6, 2016. For Louisiana's Senate Bill 156 as introduced (PDF), visit: http://www.legis.la.gov/legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=981379 And for NCSE's previous coverage of events in Louisiana, visit: http://ncse.com/news/louisiana ATTACK ON SCIENCE STANDARDS BLUNTED IN WEST VIRGINIA Both houses of West Virginia's legislature have agreed on a version of House Bill 4014 that would require only the review, not the repeal, of the recently adopted state science standards, according to the Charleston Gazette-Mail (March 12, 2016). The bill now proceeds to Governor Earl Ray Tomblin (D) for his consideration. As NCSE previously reported, HB 4014 was originally aimed at repealing West Virginia's standards for mathematics and English language arts. But the House of Delegates amended it also to repeal the standards for science, with several legislators citing their concern about the inclusion of climate change in the standards as their reason. The Senate Education Committee subsequently amended the bill. As revised, it would establish a panel appointed by deans at Marshall University and West Virginia University and supervised by the Chancellor of the Higher Education Policy Commission to review the science standards "and recommend revisions that it considers appropriate." The Senate then passed the amended bill, which returned to the House of Delegates. According to the Gazette-Mail, "The House version of the bill included a one-year block on science standards, but House members retreated on that proposal Saturday [March 12, 2016 -- the last day of the legislative session] to ensure the Senate's support of the bill." For information about West Virginia's House Bill 4014 from the legislature, visit: http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/bills_history.cfm?INPUT=4014&year=2016&sessiontype=RS For the story in the Charleston Gazette-Mail, visit: http://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/20160312/brunch-bill-heads-to-governor And for NCSE's previous coverage of events in West Virginia, visit: http://ncse.com/news/west-virginia ANTISCIENCE BILLS DIE IN FLORIDA House Bill 899 and Senate Bill 1018 both died in committee on March 11, 2016, when the Florida legislature adjourned. Ostensibly aimed at empowering taxpayers to object to the use of specific instructional materials in the public schools, the bills were promoted by groups with a record of objecting to the treatment of evolution and climate change in textbooks, as NCSE previously reported. "We're fortunate and happy that these bad bills didn't get out of the starting gate," Florida Citizens for Science's Brandon Haught told NCSE. "The good thing to come out of this brief fight is that a clear anti-science motivation behind these bills is now documented. The bills' sponsors and supporters aren't likely to give up, though. But we'll be ready, just as we have been for a full ten years now." For Florida's House Bill 899 and Senate Bill 1018 as introduced, visit: http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Documents/loaddoc.aspx?FileName=_h0899__.docx&DocumentType=Bill&BillNumber=0899&Session=2016 https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2016/1018/BillText/Filed/HTML For Florida Citizens for Science's website and blog, visit: http://www.flascience.org http://www.flascience.org/wp/ And for NCSE's previous coverage of events in Florida, visit: http://ncse.com/news/florida 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: * Stephanie Keep pondering the momentous question of state dinosaurs: http://ncse.com/blog/2016/03/state-dinosaurs-let-s-do-this-0016969 * Emily Schoerning describing evolution and climate change outreach by a group of nuns: http://ncse.com/blog/2016/03/franciscan-follow-up-0016967 * Glenn Branch examining a creationist's embroidered rendition of a familiar anecdote: http://ncse.com/blog/2016/03/wilder-smith-fantasies-huxley-0016823 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. 1904 Franklin Street, Suite 600 Oakland CA 94612-2922 510-601-7203 fax 510-788-7971 branch@ncse.com http://ncse.com Check out NCSE's 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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