Evolution and climate education update: April 6, 2018

[Glenn Branch]

Dear friends of NCSE,

Good news from Alabama. And a new issue of RNCSE.

CREATIONIST BILL DIES IN ALABAMA

Alabama's House Bill 258, which would have allowed teachers to present
"the theory of creation as presented in the Bible" in any class
discussing evolution, "thereby affording students a choice as to which
theory to accept," died in committee on March 29, 2018, when the
legislature adjourned sine die.

As NCSE previously reported, HB 258 is evidently modeled on a Kentucky
law, Kentucky Revised Statutes 158.177, enacted in 1976 and still on
the books despite its patent unconstitutionality. The sole sponsor of
the Alabama bill was Steve Hurst (R-District 35), a legislator
noteworthy for his previous proposals to require public school
teachers to read a daily prayer in the classroom and to punish sex
offenders with surgical or chemical castration.

Writing at PLOS's SciComm blog (February 19, 2018), Amanda Glaze -- a
native of Alabama now teaching at Georgia Southern University --
decried HB 258, arguing, "Legislation that conflates empirical
scientific evidence with evidence derived from religious texts can
seriously harm efforts to improve science literacy."

For information about Alabama's House Bill 258, visit:
http://alisondb.legislature.state.al.us/alison/searchableinstruments/2018RS/bills/HB258.htm

For Amanda Glaze's commentary on the bill, visit:
http://blogs.plos.org/scicomm/2018/02/19/opinion-were-at-war-for-science-literacy-not-at-war-with-faith/

And for NCSE's previous coverage of events in Alabama, visit:
https://ncse.com/news/alabama

RNCSE 38:2 NOW ON-LINE

NCSE is pleased to announce that the latest issue of Reports of the
National Center for Science Education is now available on-line. The
issue -- volume 38, number 2 -- is the tenth issue in the newsletter's
new, streamlined, and full-color format.

Featured are Mark Bloom and Ian C. Binns's report on their survey of
attitudes toward evolution among pre-service elementary teachers; Brad
Hoge's report on NCSE's new Turning Misconceptions into Educational
Opportunities project; Emily Schoerning's explanation, with examples,
of how new activities are developed for NCSE's Science Booster Clubs;
Randy Moore's discussion of David Starr Jordan; and Glenn Branch's
review of The Quotable Darwin.

The entire issue is freely available on NCSE's website. Members of
NCSE will be receiving it in printed form shortly. (Not a member? Join
today!)

For RNCSE 38:2, visit:
https://ncse.com/ncse-newsletter

For information about joining NCSE, visit:
https://ncse.com/join

Thanks for reading. And don't forget to visit NCSE's website --
https://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

Check out NCSE's blog:
https://ncse.com/blog

Subscribe to NCSE's free weekly e-newsletter:
https://groups.google.com/group/ncse-news

NCSE is on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter:
https://www.facebook.com/evolution.ncse
https://www.youtube.com/NatCen4ScienceEd
https://twitter.com/ncse

NCSE's work is supported by its members. Join today!
https://ncse.com/join