Evolution and climate education update: May 4, 2018

[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
bra...@ncse.com
https://ncse.com

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