News from NSTA Express

May 9th, 2013 Bob

A Special Offer for Teacher Appreciation Week

We can’t thank our educators enough during Teacher Appreciation Week. To shower our teachers with well-deserved gratitude, we’re excited to make this special offer—spend $50 on NSTA Press books, as seen in our recent spring catalog, and take $15 off.

Check out the digital catalog here, or browse the Science Store to view and make purchases. You can also download free sample chapters in the Science Store.

If you spend $50 on NSTA Press print books, receive $15 off with promo code DESERVED at checkout.
If you spend $50 on NSTA Press e-books, receive $15 off with promo code EDESERVED at checkout.

Offer is valid until Friday, May 17.

Attend Free Web Seminars for Classroom-Ready Lessons

NSTA web seminars are a quick, easy, and engaging way to enhance your own professional learning. Participating educators gain immediate access to lessons, science content, online resources, and instructional strategies that can be used in the classroom right away. The lineup of free web seminars in May features scientists and education experts from NASA, MIT, and the American Chemical Society to name some of our renowned sponsors.

May 9: Engineering Design Challenge: Lunar Plant Growth Chamber
May 15: Introduction to Biology—The Secret of Life: Pedagogical Implications Discussion
May 20: Chemical Change—Introducing a Free Online Resource for Middle School Chemistry
May 21: The Curiosity Rover: Robotic Geologist and Explorer

Get details on these web seminars, view the full calendar of upcoming programs, and register here.

Develop Your STEM Strategies in St. Louis

Learn strategies for implementing STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) into classroom curriculum at NSTA’s STEM Forum & Expo. Scheduled for May 15–18 in St. Louis, Missouri, the forum has a robust agenda for preK–12 teachers in all STEM disciplines and includes administrators and STEM partners (both public and private sector organizations). For the first time our program offers panel discussions on key issues of interest and concern related to STEM teaching, led by top experts from across the country.

Panel titles include the following:

What is a STEM School and What Does it Look Like?
Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards
State STEM Networks—How Are They Working to Change STEM Education
STEM in Urban Science Education and Engaging and Keeping More Girls and Minorities in STEM
Public/Private Partnerships, Out of School and Informal Programs that Excite Students about the World of STEM
Putting the T and E in Your STEM Program
A Whole School Approach to STEM: What You Need to Know
Promising STEM Programs

Also available are more than 300 hands-on, practical workshops targeted to preK, elementary, middle level, high school, administrators and leadership partners on a host of STEM related topics. Check out sample sessions:

After-School STEM
STEM in the Primary Classroom (grades 3–5)
Science Journalism, Infographics, and Other Cool Stuff to Engage Students (grades 10–12)
K–4 STEM Learning with an Environmental Twist (middle school)
Integrating Hands-On Science with Math, English Language Arts, and Technology (grades 6–9)
What Do Engineers Really Do? How Is Engineering Different from Science and How Does That Change My Teaching Practice? (grades 3–5)
Exploring the Science Encountered in the Young Child’s World: Nurturing, Observing, Questioning, Investigating, Thinking, and Talking About Science (preK–2)
Medics in Training STEM Institute (grades 6–9)
Fostering a K–12 to College Pipeline Using Projects and Competitions, Partnerships
Changing the Culture: Engineering as the Integrator (administrators)

Visit www.nsta.org/2013stemforum to view all workshops and to register.

Online Graduate Courses from Montana State University

Montana State University’s online graduate courses for science teachers are now open for summer registration. The courses are all part of MSU Extended University’s National Teachers Enhancement Network (NTEN).

Summer courses include “Plant Science,” “Weather & Climate,” “Adolescent Nutrition,” and “Quantum Mechanics” among others in earth science, land resources & env sci, math and more.

The courses offer between one and three graduate credits to practicing elementary, middle, high school and community college teachers, and each course is 100 percent Web-based. Courses begin in late May through early July. Teachers do not have to enroll in an MSU degree program in order to take the courses; however, courses can apply towards MSU’s new graduate certificates in science teaching and the university’s Masters of Science in Science Education degree.

Members of the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) receive a discount on the courses.

Register or read more about the courses at www.scienceteacher.org. For questions, call (406) 994-7798 or (800) 435-1286 (toll-free). E-mail distance@montana.edu

Like NTEN on Facebook and participate in giveaways this summer! And, the next 25 fans to like us will receive an NTEN carabiner keychain. Go to www.facebook.com/ScienceTeachers like the page and then email your mailing address to ExtendedU@montana.edu so we can send your keychain!

Posted in News | No Comments »

NABT News

May 7th, 2013 Bob

You’ve Got Mail: Session Proposal Notifications

The review process is over, and NABT is proud to once again feature hundreds of sessions and special workshops at the NABT Professional Development Conference. For four days, biology and life science educators will be discussing challenges and developing solutions. Share your curriculum and problem sets as examples. Have questions about standards and assessments ready. Whether you are a presenter or a participant, be prepared to learn from a community of master educators. Know that you will interact, engage, and enjoy this time with your colleagues!   May 31^st is the deadline for Early Bird Registration. Make sure to take advantage of discounts on registration and accommodations by registering BEFORE you leave your classroom at 2013 Conference Registration. Special workshop, field trip and meal function tickets will be coming soon.  Please note: Session acceptance letters were sent by email last week, and all presenters should know the status of their sessions at this time. Acceptance notifications for special workshops will be sent by May 15^th. All conference presenters must register by May 31^st to have their sessions included in the program. Please contact NABT at conference@nabt.org if you have not received your notice.

NABT Call for Proposals:  Biology Education Research Symposium

All researchers from 4-year, 2-year and K-12 areas are welcome.

The NABT Four-Year College & University Section’s Biology Education Research Committee invites you to submit a proposal to present your research in biology education at the 2013 NABT Professional Development Conference. This is a refereed session and all papers will go through double blind review. Reviews will be guided by the following criteria:

Subject/Problem: Is there a clear focus, rationale, model, theory, or philosophy upon which the proposal is based?
Design or Procedure: Are the methodology, procedure, design, and organization appropriate?
Analyses and Findings: Do the syntheses of ideas or data analyses and findings appear to be appropriate and complete? Do the conclusions drawn follow from the data?
Contribution: Do the conclusions contribute valuable insights into the teaching/learning of biology?
General Interest: Does the presentation promise to be of general interest to NABT members?

The format will be a traditional presentation for papers by individual or co-authors lasting 15 minutes each with an additional five – ten minutes for questions.   PROPOSAL SUBMISSION  In email text please include: Names of author(s) with organization affiliation (University, College, School System), Title of Submission, Abstract (up to 200 words to be used in program if selected), Contact information for notification.  Submit a WORD document of the proposal as an attachment (maximum five pages including references). Please write the title at the top of each page in caps. The body of the proposal should address the criteria as used in the review process: 1) subject/problem; 2) the design/procedure; 3) Analysis and Findings; 4) Contribution; and 5) General Interest. Proposals should be word-processed using a 12 font, single-spaced, with 1” margins format. Please DO NOT include author identifiers in this document. These WORD documents will be made into a PDF by the Chair of the research committee prior to submitting to the reviewers to ensure a blind review process.  Send your completed proposal document to NABTresearch@gmail.com with 2013 NABT Research Proposal in the subject heading. Members of the Research Committee will send copies of your document without names and affiliation to at least two reviewers. After review, committee members will select proposals with the highest scores for acceptance in the 2013 NABT Professional Conference Research Symposium.  The proposal submission deadline is midnight on June 15, 2013. Blind review will take place in June with final selection by June 30, 2013. Submitters will be notified of acceptance or denial in early July. All presenters are required to register for the conference and provide an electronic manuscript for distribution through the Proceedings. More information and proceedings from past symposia can be found at 2013 NABT Research Symposium.

Participate In Endangered Species Day On May 17^th 

The 8^th annual national Endangered Species Day on May 17 offers biology, ecology, general science and other teachers an ideal opportunity to educate students about the importance of protecting threatened and endangered plant and animal species. In addition to classroom discussions, there are several ways they can participate in Endangered Species Day, such as:

Plan a school-wide Endangered Species Day fair with exhibits.
Arrange a special display in the school library.
Invite a local expert to speak to the school/class.
Work with a community/environmental group on a habitat restoration project.
Attend an event at a local zoo, aquarium, botanic garden or other location.

Depending on your school schedule, you can plan events earlier in May, on Endangered Species Day (5/17) itself, or that weekend. Once a specific activity is planned, the class can register it on the Endangered Species Day website at www.endangeredspeciesday.org.   There are appropriate resources and other support items for your event. Be sure to check out the new and updated materials in the Endangered Species Day Toolkit on the website, including event planning tips, stickers, bookmarks, fliers, banners, passports, coloring/activity sheets (many of which can be downloaded and printed) and more. The website also features a Teacher Resource Center/Teacher Forum.   For additional information, contact David Robinson, Endangered Species Day Director: drobinson@stopextinction.org.

Got Lactase? New HHMI Short Film Released

Human babies drink milk; it’s the food especially provided for them by their mothers. Various cultures have also added the milk of other mammals to their diet and adults think nothing of downing a glass of cows’ milk. But worldwide, only a third of adults can actually digest lactose, the sugar in milk. Got Lactase? The Co-evolution of Genes and Culture tells the fascinating story of how people living in pastoralist societies evolved the ability to digest milk —a compelling example of the co-evolution of human genes and culture.   In this short film, you follow human geneticist Spencer Wells, Director of the Genographic Project of the National Geographic Society, as he tracks down the genetic changes associated with the ability to digest lactose as adults, tracing the origin of the trait to less than 10,000 years ago, a time when some human populations started domesticating animals, including goats, sheep, and cows. Combining genetics, chemistry, and anthropology, this story provides a compelling example of the co-evolution of human genes and human culture.   Watch the film online or order the DVD: The Making of the Fittest Vol. 2. You can also download the film guides for classroom discussion ideas, a student quiz, and teacher tips.

Free College Planning Website For Your Students

It’s graduation time and your students are thinking about the next phase of their education. Make sure they know about My College Options, the largest college and career planning community in the country. With over 94% of high schools and over 70% of high school students participating, this FREE website highlights thousands of colleges and universities that offer a wide range of post-secondary opportunities and resources for students to explore.  Registration with My College Options provides students with their personal online college and career planning profile, where their needs, talents and interests are instantly matched with colleges and universities across the nation. In addition to providing a vital link for students to the colleges that meet their needs, benefits and resources include test preparation, scholarship matching, and expert advice on the college planning process.  My College Options offers resources for parents, educators and counselors as well. Parents can learn about the transition from high school to college, research and be involved in the college selection process, and find essential information on the daunting task of paying for college. Counselors and educators can review the college matches for their students, compare their unique high school report to state and national statistics, and access our comprehensive college and career planning resource center.  For more information, please visit www.mycollegeoptions.org.

Posted in Events, News, Opportunities | No Comments »

Evolution and Climate Change News from NCSE – MAY 3rd

May 3rd, 2013 Bob

REPEAL EFFORTS FAILS AGAIN IN LOUISIANA

Louisiana’s Senate Bill 26 was tabled on a 3-2 vote in the Senate Committee on Education on May 1, 2013, which effectively kills the bill in committee, according to the New Orleans Times-Picayune (May 1, 2013). The bill, introduced by Karen Carter Peterson (D-District 5), would, if enacted, repeal Louisiana Revised Statutes 17:285.1, which implemented the so-called Louisiana Science Education Act, passed and enacted in 2008, and thus opened the door for scientifically unwarranted criticisms of evolution and climate science to be taught in the state’s public schools. It was the third bill of its kind, following SB 374 in 2012 and SB 70 in 2011.

The law targeted for repeal calls on state and local education administrators to help to promote “critical thinking skills, logical analysis, and open and objective discussion of scientific theories being studied including, but not limited to, evolution, the origins of life, global warming, and human cloning”; these four topics were described as controversial in the original draft of the legislation. It also allows teachers to use “supplemental textbooks and other instructional materials to help students understand, analyze, critique, and review scientific theories in an objective manner” if so permitted by their local school boards.

Since 2008, antievolutionists have not only sought to undermine the law’s provision allowing challenges to unsuitable supplementary materials, but have also reportedly invoked the law to support proposals to teach creationism in at least two parishes—Livingston and Tangipahoa—and to attack the treatment of evolution in biology textbooks proposed for adoption by the state. Recently, speaking to NBC News on April 12, 2013, Louisiana’s governor Bobby Jindal (R), who signed the bill into law over the protests of the state’s scientific and educational communities, acknowledged that the LSEA allows teachers to “teach our kids about creationism.”

Among those testifying in favor of the repeal was Zack Kopplin, who was quoted by the Associated Press (May 1, 2013) as describing the LSEA as “about going back into the Dark Ages, not moving forward into the 21^st [c]entury,” adding, “Louisiana students deserve to be taught sound science and that means the theory of evolution, not creationism.” Tammy Wood, a Zachary-area science teacher, highlighted the failure of the LSEA to provide “the necessary restrictions, standards, and guidelines” to avoid its misuse to promote “mere nonsense masquerading as a viable alternative.” The complete video of the hearing is available on-line.

In advance of the hearing, Kopplin published two op-eds arguing for the repeal. Writing in the Guardian (May 1, 2013), he emphasized (in the words of the headline) “the cost of teaching creationism—in reputation and dollars” to the state: “Any state that passes a creationism law will harm their students and drive scientists—and business—away.” Writing at MSNBC (May 1, 2013), he addressed Governor Jindal directly: “it’s time to take your own advice and actually lead the Republican Party toward being a smarter party by endorsing evidence-based science, and the repeal of Louisiana’s creationism law.”

Among those endorsing the repeal effort are 78 Nobel laureate scientists, the National Association of Biology Teachers, the Louisiana Association of Biology Educators, the Louisiana Coalition for Science, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Institute for Biological Sciences, the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, the American Society for Cell Biology, the Society for the Study of Evolution together with the Society of Systematic Biologists and the American Society of Naturalists, the Clergy Letter Project, the New Orleans City Council, and the Baton Rouge Advocate.

For the text of Louisiana’s Senate Bill 26 as introduced (PDF), visit:

http://www.legis.la.gov/legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=828787&n=SB26%20Original

For the story in the New Orleans Times-Picayune, visit:

http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2013/05/la_creationism_science_educati.html

For NCSE’s story on Jindal’s connecting the LSEA with creationism, visit:

http://ncse.com/news/2013/04/jindal-connects-dots-0014809

For the Associated Press story (via the Alexandria Town Talk), visit:

http://www.thetowntalk.com/viewart/20130502/NEWS01/305020026/Louisiana-senators-reject-repeal-Science-Education-Act

For the video of the committee’s hearing, visit:

http://senate.la.gov/Video/2013/May/050113EDUC.asx

For Kopplin’s op-eds in the Guardian and at MSNBC, visit:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/may/01/louisiana-cost-teaching-creationism

http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/05/01/as-creationism-law-comes-up-for-repeal-an-appeal-to-bobby-jindal/

And for NCSE’s previous coverage of events in Louisiana, visit:

http://ncse.com/louisiana

HANSEN RECEIVES RIDENHOUR COURAGE PRIZE

NCSE is delighted to congratulate James E. Hansen on receiving the Ridenhour Courage Prize for 2013. Hansen was recognized “for bravely and urgently telling the truth about climate change, even when the Bush administration tried to silence and penalize him as director of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies. Rather than giving in, or giving up, Dr. Hansen—one of the world’s most tireless and articulate activists—has courageously and continuously led the fight to save the planet ever since.” A member of NCSE’s Advisory Council, Hansen recently resigned as the director of NASA’s Goddard Institute after thirty-two years.

The Ridenhour Courage Prize is presented to an individual in recognition of his or her courageous and life-long defense of the public interest and passionate commitment to social justice, and carries with it a $10,000 stipend. The prize is awarded by the Fertel Foundation and the Nation Institute in memory of the investigative journalist Ron Ridenhour, who brought the horrific events of the My Lai massacre to the attention of the American people in 1969. Previous recipients include John Lewis, Russ Feingold, Howard Zinn, Bob Herbert, Bill Moyers, Jimmy Carter, Gloria Steinem, Seymour M. Hersh, and Daniel Ellsberg.

For the prize citation, visit:

http://www.ridenhour.org/prizes_courage_2013.html

EVOLUTION IN PENNSYLVANIA

In a wide-ranging article, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (April 28, 2013) discussed “the ill-kept secret about public school biology classrooms nationwide—that evolution often isn’t taught robustly, if at all.” In Pennsylvania as around the nation, “[f]aith-based belief in creationism and intelligent design continues to be discussed and even openly taught in public school classrooms, despite state curriculum standards.”

In a poll of Pennsylvania’s science teachers conducted by the paper in early 2013, 89.5% of respondents said that they believed in the theory of evolution, 13.3% in intelligent design, and 19.1% in creationism;

4.76% were not sure or expressed a different view. (Respondents were allowed to chose more than one option.) There were 105 respondents; further details of how the poll was conducted were not provided. Michael Berkman of Pennsylvania State University, who with Eric Plutzer and Julianna Pacheco conducted a rigorous national study of high school biology teachers on the topic of evolution in 2007, told the Post-Gazette that between 17 and 21 percent of teachers introduce creationism into the classroom, but added that the most alarming finding was the prevalence of teachers who “throw doubt [on] and downplay evolution” without introducing creationism. G. Kip Bollinger, who retired as scientific education consultant for the Pennsylvania Department of Education in 2004, observed that “Many school districts shy away from the controversy and many teachers don’t want to be the center of the controversy … So it’s not surprising that evolution is not given its due as an important theory of science. … I would receive letters written by congregations around the state decrying that evolution was included in the state’s science education standards.”

David Lampe, a professor of biology at Duquesne University, regularly polls his first-year biology students about their high school experience with learning evolution before his class begins. “His results indicate that a quarter to a third of freshmen claim to have had no instruction in evolution, with another third saying that only two class days or fewer were devoted to the topic. Only a third received three days or more of instruction on the topic.” Yet there are efforts underway to introduce a bill in the Pennsylvania legislature that “would allow teachers to teach alternative theories of evolution and climate change and other controversial topics, without facing sanctions.” As NCSE previously reported, these efforts follow on the heels of a series of presentations from young-earth and “intelligent design” creationists in a Murrysville, Pennsylvania, church. No such bill has yet been introduced, however. At the end of the presentations, the Post-Gazette noted, “a teacher in the audience submitted a written question asking … how a teacher can introduce creationism into the classroom without facing sanctions.” The answer, from the chief counsel from the Pennsylvania Family Institute, “which is spearheading the campaign for a Pennsylvania academic freedom bill,” was “There is a lot that a teacher can get away with in the classroom if you do it wisely and gently.” NCSE’s Joshua Rosenau described the bill as “a permission slip for teachers already teaching creationism to say that they are just encouraging critical thinking,” and Duquesne’s David Lampe challenged the “academic freedom” slogan directly, explaining, “It’s not freedom to say anything you want in the classroom. In the classroom, you are obligated to teach scientific facts and methods. It’s not a forum for teachers to go off and talk about whatever they want to.” Later, the Post-Gazette offered its editorial view, writing (April 30, 2013), “A science teacher who doesn’t accept evolution is like a math teacher who denies calculus,” and adding, “The ones who suffer from this breach in the wall of separation between church and state are the nation’s children. The urgent effort to promote STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education are undone every time a teacher banishes scientific facts from a classroom.” The last antievolution legislation in Pennsylvania was House Bill 1007. If enacted, the bill would have allowed school boards to add “intelligent design” to any curriculum containing evolution and allowed teachers to use, subject to the approval of their board, “supporting evidence deemed necessary for instruction on the theory of intelligent design.” The bill received a hearing in the House Subcommittee on Basic Education in June 2005, but proceeded no further.

For the article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, visit:

http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/news/education/is-evolution-missing-link-in-some-pennsylvania-high-schools-685389/

For Berkman, Pacheco, and Plutzer’s 2008 article, visit:

http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.0060124

For the editorial in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, visit:

http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/opinion/editorials/reason-not-evolving-creationism-has-no-place-in-science-classes-685576

For the text of Pennsylvania’s House Bill 1007 in 2005, visit:

http://www.legis.state.pa.us/CFDOCS/Legis/PN/Public/btCheck.cfm?txtType=HTM&sessYr=2005&sessInd=0&billBody=H&billTyp=B&billNbr=1007&pn=1153

And for NCSE’s previous coverage of events in Pennsylvania, visit:

http://ncse.com/news/pennsylvania

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.

Posted in News | No Comments »

Evolution and Climate Change Update – April 26

April 26th, 2013 Bob

From NCSE: A new poll offers a degree of insight on American scientific literacy on issues connected to evolution and climate change.

POLLING AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC LITERACY

A new poll from the Pew Research Center and Smithsonian magazine offers a degree of insight into American scientific literacy on natural selection, the age of the earth, and climate change, although there were no questions directly addressing evolution in the sense of common ancestry or climate change in the sense of anthropogenic global warming.

Presented with “The continents on which we live have been moving their location for millons of years and will continue to move into the future,” 77% of respondents said that it was true, 10% said that it was false, and 13% said that they didn’t know or volunteered a different answer. The results were comparable to earlier results from Pew and the General Social Survey.

Asked “Which of these is a major concern about the overuse of antibiotics,” 77% of respondents selected “It can lead to antibiotic resistant bacteria,” 6% selected “Antibiotics are very expensive,” 10% selected “People will become addicted to antibiotics,” and 7% said that they didn’t know or volunteered a different answer. And asked “What gas do most scientists believe causes temperatures in the atmosphere to rise,” 58% of respondents selected carbon dioxide, 10% selected hydrogen, 8% selected helium, 7% selected radon, and 16% said that they didn’t know or refused to answer. The percentage of correct responses was down from 65% and 66% in two 2009 polls. “Education is the strongest demographic predictor of knowledge about science and technology,” the report observed: while 85%, 95%, and 76% of college graduates correctly answered the questions about continental drift, antibiotic overuse, and atmospheric warming respectively, only 68%, 58%, and 49% of those with a high school education or less did so.

There were only minor differences with regard to political opinion (63% of independents, 58% of Republicans, and 56% of Democrats correctly identified carbon dioxide as responsible for atmospheric warming), age (although respondents 65 or older tended to score lower), and sex (men slightly outperformed women, except on health-related questions).

According to the poll report, the poll was conducted “in telephone interviews conducted March 7-10, 2013[,] among a national sample of 1,006 adults 18 years of age or older living in the continental United States” and weighted by gender, age, education, race, Hispanic origin, region, and telephone status. The margin of error for the total sample was +/- 3.7%.

For the poll report (PDF), visit:

http://www.people-press.org/files/legacy-pdf/04-22-13%20Science%20knowledge%20Release.pdf

And for NCSE’s collection of polls and surveys, visit:

http://ncse.com/creationism/polls-surveys

Posted in News | No Comments »

Teaching to the Test

April 22nd, 2013 Bob

By Janet Barresi, State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Monday, April 22, 2013

As I meet with teachers from across the state, I hear a common theme. I talk with working groups of teachers here at the state department. I’ve had the opportunity to visit with past and present teachers of the year. I also have roundtable discussions with teachers at the school districts I visit on my Raise the Grade Together tours. I listen to superintendents in my leadership advisory group. These educators tell me they are frustrated with “teaching to the test.” Parents and community members often mirror these sentiments. I agree!

The time has come to have a serious discussion about this. I want teachers to know I am committed to working with them and the rest of the education community. This summer and in the fall, together with these groups, we will conduct an audit of all the different assessments given across the state, including federal, state and district level assessments.

I am proposing this study to help identify the best assessments that will provide feedback regarding instructional strategies so teachers can better meet the needs of their students. As we move to new assessments in the next few years, educators will use some familiar tools, including data, technology and texts. They will also use new instructional strategies that are a critical component of all our new Oklahoma C3 Standards. These include strategies to promote critical thinking and problem solving as well as practical application of securely held foundational knowledge. Working together, we can identify areas of duplication and unproductive assessments. Perhaps, we may even find places where we can save money and put dollars back into the classroom.

Through my advocacy and policy work over the past 17 years, and now serving as your state superintendent, there is one thing I know for sure. Our current state tests are by and large memory tests. (emphasis added) Every educator knows that tests that rely more on rote memory of facts yield very little in retained knowledge. Our current OCCT tests are aligned to the Oklahoma PASS standards. The state is currently transitioning to the new Oklahoma C3 Standards through the rewrite, revision or replacement process. The PASS Standards are a “mile wide and an inch deep.” The new Oklahoma C3 Standards are characterized as “narrower, deeper, higher.” They are narrower in focus to allow teachers to develop foundational knowledge in their students. They are deeper so teachers are able to spend more time on content to assure mastery of subject matter and higher because they focus on developing critical thinking skills that are a must for success in the 21st Century. In other words, we are teaching children to master information that is critical to their success and also teaching them how to think.

A close comparison of the two sets of standards explains why. With the old PASS Standards, teachers tend to be boxed into a system of teaching that reduces itself to drill work of students. That helps no one. It is not engaging to students, does not lend itself to mastery of subject matter and does not allow the teachers to develop thinking skills in their students. In other words, the old system makes the teacher work to “get the kids through the test.” Very little information is provided to the teacher and all that is really known is whether or not the student passed and did they improve?

Teachers need more detailed information about what a student should know and be able to do. A math teacher needs to know more than whether or not the student got the right or wrong answer on a test item. That educator needs actionable information on whether or not the student set up the formulae correctly to answer the question. They need to know if they arrived at the correct answer, and if the variables in the problem are changed, how well does the student understand the principle being taught in order to adjust the formulae to arrive at a correct answer for the new variables. The assessment yields better information more precisely targeted to what is being taught and will yield information that is actionable. In other words, instead of the teacher working for the test, the test must work for the teacher. The new academic assessments being developed for social studies, science, for English language arts and mathematics are academic tools for teachers because they evaluate students’ knowledge base across all domains of knowledge.

These should provide teachers with critical information about the strengths and weaknesses of each of their students. They will help teachers know how to adjust instruction. The information derived from them will provide the entire education team including principals and superintendents the valuable information they need to work together as a team to provide the most optimal opportunities for each child. Our state’s new academic assessments are being designed to do just that. If you think about it, we are promoting effective teaching practices, assuring mastery of subject matter, developing cognitive skills and are developing an academic assessment for students that measures all of those skills and informs future practice by educators.

We have engaged teachers and principals in a comprehensive effort of professional development to prepare educators for the new system. Our goal is to create an environment of continuous learning spurred on by innovations in instructional strategies that are student centered, research based and data driven.

My next column will be about how we’re communicating with educators and the public and the training we’re providing to support educators throughout the state.

Posted in News | No Comments »

NSTA Express

April 22nd, 2013 Bob

NSTA Student Competition Teams to Participate in April 22 (TODAY) White House Science Fair

Student teams from NSTA’s student competitions—Toshiba/NSTA ExploraVision, the U.S. Army’s eCYBERMISSION and the DuPont Science Essay Competition—will join President Obama for the White House Science Fair on Monday, April 22, starting at 11:30 a.m. ET. The president will speak at 2:25 p.m. The event will be webcast live at www.whitehouse.gov/live.

Elementary students Evan Jackson, Alec Jackson, and Caleb Robinson (at right) from Flippen Elementary School in McDonough, Georgia, will present their 2012 National award-winning ExploraVision project “COOL Pads: Shoulder Pads that Keep Players Safe from Overheating.”

Hayden Hilst, Riya Kaul, and Rebecca (Becca) Mackey (at left) from Jenks East Intermediate School in Jenks, Oklahoma, will present their eCYBERMISSION winning project that explored the benefits of using technologically advanced energy and water efficiency devices in their school.

Representing the 2012 DuPont Science Essay Competition will be Mike Espy from Little Snake River Valley High School in Baggs, Wyoming, for his essay titled “Moo-ing Energy,” and Cecelia Poole, from Carvel Academy in Bear, Delaware, for her essay titled “Breathe Easy: Bronchial Thermoplasty.”

The President hosted the first-ever White House Science Fair in late 2010 to celebrate the student winners of a broad range of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) competitions from across the country. As part of the Administration’s Educate to Innovate campaign, the President told students in 2010 that “If you win the NCAA championship, you come to the White House. Well, if you’re a young person and you produce the best experiment or design, the best hardware or software, you ought to be recognized for that achievement, too.”   Congratulations to these teams for their achievements, and plan to watch the White House Science Fair live Monday at 2:25 p.m. ET.

Congratulations to the 2013 DuPont Challenge Science Essay Competition Winners

This year’s winners of the DuPont Challenge researched and wrote about some of the world’s most pressing issues: Feeding the World, Building an Energy Secure Future, Protecting People and the Environment, and Innovative Science. Twenty-six NSTA members judged the nearly 10,000 thought-provoking essays, selecting eight winners. This is quite an honor for the students and the sponsoring science teacher. The winners will receive US Savings Bonds, reference materials from Britannica Digital Learning and NBC Learn, and much more. Grand prize and first runners-up winners along with a parent and sponsoring teacher are packing their bags for an all-expenses paid trip to Orlando, Florida, and the award ceremony at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Learn more about these amazing winners of the 2013 DuPont Challenge here.

National Environmental Education Week Resources

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan relates how environmental education can be a tool to improve student health and engagement in STEM fields in a public service announcement for National Environmental Education Week (EE Week). “We know so many of the jobs of the future are in the STEM fields, and there are so many great ties between STEM education and environmental education,” he said. View the PSA here.

To celebrate EE Week, the National Environmental Education Foundation (NEEF) has released a variety of timely resources. Its video toolkit demonstrates lessons that use technology to connect students to the natural world. Its 10 Apps for Taking Tech Outdoors and Tech & Our Planet infographic illustrate the widespread use of technology among kids and adults and possibilities for environmental learning, career pathways, and implications for the economy. NEEF is also sponsoring an Environmental Educator Photo Contest running through May 31, 2013.

Secretary Duncan will also announce the second annual U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon Schools and first-ever District Sustainability Awardees on April 22 at 10:30 a.m. ET. Honored schools and districts will have an important role to play modeling best practices for all schools who wish to provide an education geared toward the challenges and jobs of the future, which is why the Department of Education will release a report with summaries of each of the honorees.

NSTA Legislative Update: President’s FY2014 Budget Consolidates Major STEM Education Programs

As expected, President Obama’s FY2014 budget request includes a major reorganization of federal STEM education programs, and comprehensive immigration legislation introduced last week by the Gang of Eight contains funding for STEM education. Read all about it in this issue of the NSTA Legislative Update.

NGSS@NSTA

Register for April 30 Web Seminar on Crosscutting Concept; Energy and Matter—Flows, Cycles, and Conservation  Prepare for NGSS in your classroom by learning more about the important crosscutting concept of Energy and Matter—Flows, Cycles, and Conservation. This web seminar will be held April 30 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. ET. Join Andy Anderson in this great professional development experience that will explore the role that energy and matter play in science, how student understanding of energy and matter might develop over the course of K–12 education, how learning about energy and matter can take place during the learning of disciplinary core ideas by engaging in scientific and engineering practices, and what studying energy and matter really looks like in the classroom. Visit the NSTA Learning Center to register.

Dive Into NGSS with the NSTA Reader’s Guide to the Next Generation Science Standards  The e-book is available now and the print edition coming in May. Written by science education expert Harold Pratt, the publication gives readers a deep understanding of NGSS core ideas, scientific and engineering practices, and crosscutting concepts. To order, visit the NSTA Science Store. View the standards online at www.nextgenscience.org or www.nsta.org/ngss. Want your own print version of the entire NGSS (coming this fall)? Pre-order your print version now at the NSTA Science Store.

Three New Everyday Science Mysteries Books for K–8 Classrooms

Everyone loves a good mystery—and thousands of teachers love the way the Everyday Science Mysteries series gets K–8 students engaged in real experimentation about real science content. Our three new releases in this bestselling series each focus on a specific content area—Earth and space science, physical science, or biological science. The stories come with lists of science concepts to explore, grade-appropriate strategies for using them, and explanations of how the lessons align with national standards. They also relieve you of the tiring work of designing every one of your inquiry lessons from scratch.

Member Price: $20.76 | Nonmember Price: $25.95

Budget-Friendly PD

Scholarships for New Science Teachers—Apply by August 1

Special career-enhancing experiences for middle and high school science teachers in their second through fifth year can be found through the New Science Teachers Academy, a yearlong professional development and mentoring program that offers unique support and resources. Hundreds of teachers will be chosen to participate in the 2013–2014 Academy and take advantage of cost-free, consistent online professional development activities along with face-to-face educational experiences. Simply apply and take control of your career. Principals should consider making this a priority for their newest science teachers.

The Academy provides each teacher with

Discipline-specific mentoring throughout the year
Web-based content development courses and other resources
Membership with full benefits in NSTA
2014 National Conference on Science Education attendance, including air travel, lodging, meals, and registration fees

To find out more about the Academy and how to apply for a scholarship, visit www.nsta.org/academy. The application deadline is August 1.

Lab Out Loud Episode 95: Helping Students Imagine Mars

This week hosts Brian Bartel and Dale Basler talk with David Delgado, lead of the Imagine Mars project from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). The Imagine Mars Project gives students a chance to work with scientists and engineers to build and design a future human community on Mars. Listen to Lab Out Loud to learn about the project and other educational outreach opportunities from JPL.

Focusing the Lens on STEM

Do you need help implementing engineering concepts in your early childhood classroom? Are skills development in math and science preparing students well enough for integration of technology and engineering into the curriculum? Get hands-on experience and practical knowledge for improving student performance in STEM subjects. Learn how to put an action plan into place. Participate in panel discussions and teacher workshops that include instructional models and activities. Attend NSTA’s second STEM Forum & Expo in St. Louis, Missouri, May 15–18.

Strands:

PreK–2 (Early Childhood)
Grades 3–5
Grades 6–9
Grades 10–12
Effective STEM Partnerships
Administrators

Panel Discussions:

Successful K–12 STEM Schools
Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards
State STEM networks—How Are They Working to Change STEM Education?
STEM in Urban Science Education and Engaging—and Keeping—More Girls and Minorities in STEM
Public/Private Partnerships, Out-of-School and Informal Programs that Excite Students to the World of STEM
Putting the “T” and “E” in Your STEM Program
A Whole School Approach to STEM: What You Need to Know
Promising STEM Programs: Three to Watch

For more information, including a list of teacher workshops, visit www.nsta.org/2013stemforum. Register today.

Online Courses from the American Museum of Natural History

Are you interested in learning about evolution? Do you want to know more about Earth or the solar system? Are you looking for graduate or professional development credit? If so, check out the Seminars on Science program from the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH). Online courses run from May 27 through July 7 and include Earth: Inside and Out; Climate Change; The Solar System; Evolution; Genetics, Genomics, Genethics, and more.

Each course is available for graduate credit and is co-taught by an experienced educator and a scientist. For more information, or to register, visit www.amnh.org/learn or contact AMNH directly.

Registration deadline: May 13  Registration: www.amnh.org/learn/Register  Phone: 800-649-6715  E-mail: seminfo@amnh.org

Popular Science Magazine/Delta Science Fair

Calling All Teachers!  Know a student with a genius idea for a science project that could help make the world cleaner and greener? Here is a chance to share it with the world and win cash prizes! Popular Science magazine in partnership with Delta is hosting its 1st Annual Science Fair and is now accepting submissions for best original science projects in the category of sustainability.

This nationwide competition is open to elementary, middle school, high school, and college students. Judges will select one Grand Prize winner and runner-up winners in each of the four educational divisions. Prizes include cash awards and the chance to see your project in the pages of Popular Science magazine!

To learn more and register, visit www.popsci.com/sciencefair.

Science of Innovation

NBC Learn, in partnership with the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, looks at the Science of Innovation. More than just a single event or brilliant idea, innovation is a process that anyone from a garage tinkerer to a federally-funded scientist can take to discover new solutions. This 11-part series, narrated by NBC’s Ann Curry, highlights top innovators from across the country working on innovative projects in industries such as healthcare, energy, transportation, and agriculture. Free lesson plans are provided by NSTA.

Posted in News | No Comments »

News from OESE

April 19th, 2013 Bob

OKLAHOMA/TEXAS EVOLUTION ROAD TRIP: OPEN TO ALL.

Thursday May 30 thru Sunday June 2, 2013   

Time is running short to register for the Oklahoma Evolution Road Trip! It is May 30 through June 2 and costs $350 which includes travel, accommodations, and most meals. (The cost is $400 if you prefer single accommodations.) This is a real bargain; a recent Big Bend ecotour of similar length cost almost $3000. Home base is the University of Oklahoma Biological Station on beautiful Lake Texoma. We will see fossil deposits, dinosaur footprints, and living trees, and visit creationist museums. There will be plenty of time for discussion. Dr. Stanley Rice and Dr. Gordon Eggleton, both of Southeastern Oklahoma State University, will lead the trip. The tentative deadline is May 3, though we may extend this upon request. Pre-college teachers will receive professional development credit. More information, and registration information, is available at http://www.ou.edu/uobs/evolution.html as well as at Dr. Rice’s blog (http://www.honest-ab.blogspot.com) and website (http://www.stanleyrice.com). If necessary you may attend for just part of the trip, although registration costs remain the same. We’ve talked about evolution; now let’s go see some stunning evidence for it!

TEACHERS’ WORKSHOP ON SCIENCE OF CLIMATE CHANGE AND VARIABILITY, 20-22 SEPTEMBER.

The teachers’ workshop for high school science teachers from Oklahoma and northern Texas will be held at the University of Oklahoma Biological Station on Lake Texoma, 20-22 September, sponsored by Oklahomans for Excellence in Science Education, Oklahoma Climatological Survey and the OU Biological Station. Tentative topics include: evidence for human-caused changes in climate, how temperature may be affected, how precipitation may change, inquiry in the classroom, tree ring data, resources for teachers, climate change and human prehistory, biological effects of climate change, teaching climate change in Oklahoma and Texas (state standards and curriculum), lesson plans for the classroom.

Instructors include faculty from OU and OSU, experienced science teachers and curriculum supervisors and, especially, staff from the Oklahoma Climatological Survey. Full scholarships for room, board, books and other costs will be provided for 30 high school teachers accepted. PLAN NOW TO APPLY. DETAILS FOR APPLICATION WILL BE POSTED ON THE OESE WEB SITE (http://www.oklascience.org) SHORTLY.

STATUS OF OKLAHOMA LEGISLATIVE BILLS.

As previously reported the anti-science bills are dormant. Unless an attempt is made with a floor amendment to insert the content into another bill, HB 1674 (Rep, Blackwell, ‘Science Education and Academic Freedom Act’) and SB 758 (Sen., Brecheen, ‘Oklahoma Science Education Act’) are dead for this year. However, they could be revived with the same bill number next session. Like previous attempts these bills are not authored by scientists and there is no evidence that qualified scientists had any input into the texts of the bills; they are based on templates provided by the creationist Discovery Institute and similar to bills attempted in other states.

The demise of these bills this year can be attributed to the large number of messages sent to the appropriate committees by national and state organizations and the individuals who responded to requests to help. To all who did, THANK YOU – your efforts paid off as usual!

USEFUL OKLAHOMA WEATHER/CLIMATE SITE AND NEWSLETTER.

For up to date information on Oklahoma weather and climate information, the website provided by the Oklahoma Climatological Survey mesonet is recommended ( http://www.mesonet.org ). Also for subscription for daily email reports send to ticker (at) mesonet.org (replace ;’at’ with @ symbol)..

ANTI-SCIENCE LEGISLATION IN OTHER STATES.

So far this year nine bills have been filed in seven states on evolution education, climate change education or both. These bills have failed in Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Indiana, Montana and Oklahoma. Bills in Missouri have not yet been decided. In Kansas there is a bill that explicitly targeted climate change without mentioning evolution. In addition, there is a Texas bill pending that would protect proponents of ‘intelligent design’ in institutions of higher education. In the past 13 years Oklahoma has more anti-science creationist bills (23) than any other state! Thanks to the many science supporting individual activists and organizations Oklahoma remains free of these damaging attempts to damage science education.

NEW GALLUP POLL ON CLIMATE CHANGE. {From NCSE, 9 April 2013]

“U.S. worry about global warming is heading back up after several years of expanded public skepticism,” according (PDF) to a new poll from Gallup. Also heading back up are the rate of understanding that most scientists accept global warming and the rate of accepting that increases in the global temperature over the last century are mostly due to human activity. But those who think that global warming’s effects will affect them in their lifetime are still in a minority.

Asked “Just your impression, which of the one following statements do you think is most accurate?” 62% of respondents preferred “most scientists believe that global warming is occurring,” 28% preferred “most scientists believe that global warming is NOT occurring,” and 6% preferred “most scientists are unsure about whether global warming is occurring or not.” Gallup described the 62% figure as representing “a nearly full return to pre-2010 attitudes.”

Asked “And from what you have heard or read, do you believe increases in the Earth’s temperature over the last century are due more to the effects of pollution from human activities or natural changes in the environment that are not due to human activities?” 57% of respondents chose the human activities response and 39% chose the natural changes response. The 57% figure is up from 50% in 2010, but lower than the all-time high of 61% in 2007.

Asked “Do you think that global warming will pose a serious threat to you or your way of life in your lifetime?” 34% of respondents said yes, 64% of respondents said no, and 1% expressed no opinion. But 54% of respondents to a separate question about when global warming’s effects will begin thought that they have already begun to happen, with 3% thinking that they will begin within a few years and 9% thinking that they will begin within their lifetime.

Finally, asked “Which comes closer to your view — it is possible to take specific actions that will slow down the effects of global warming or the effects of global warming are part of a natural process that can’t be altered?” 56% of respondents thought that specific actions to slow down the effects are possible, 40% thought not, and 5% expressed no opinion. The new poll was the first in which Gallup asked the question, so no longitudinal comparison is possible.

Asked “Next, thinking about the issue of global warming, how well do you feel you understand this issue?” 27% of respondents preferred “very well,” 52% preferred “fairly well,” 18% preferred “not very well,” and 3% preferred “not at all.” The 27% figure is comparable to results from previous polls from 2010 on; Gallup used a different question (including a reference to the greenhouse effect) previously and received a lower rate of “very well” answers.

Overall, Gallup summarizes, “trends throughout the past decade — and some stretching back to 1989 — have shown generally consistent majority support for the idea that global warming is real, that human activities cause it, and that news reports on it are correct, if not underestimated.” Despite a fall in support in the last few years, Gallup adds, now “attitudes are returning to previous levels, putting them near the long-term averages.” [….]

For a Pew poll on climate change views see HERE.

Posted in News, Opportunities | No Comments »

Final Next Generation Science Standards Released

April 9th, 2013 Bob

State-created standards for science education in the 21st Century

WASHINGTON – April 9, 2013 – On Tuesday, April 9, the final Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), a new set of voluntary, rigorous, and internationally benchmarked standards for K-12 science education, were released.

Twenty six states and their broad-based teams worked together for two years with a 41-member writing team and partners to develop the standards which identify science and engineering practices and content that all K-12 students should master in order to be fully prepared for college, careers and citizenship. The NGSS were built upon a vision for science education established by the Framework for K-12 Science Education, published by the National Academies’ National Research Council in 2011.

The lead state partners include Arizona, Arkansas, California, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, Washington and West Virginia.

“The NGSS aim to prepare students to be better decision makers about scientific and technical issues and to apply science to their daily lives. By blending core science knowledge with scientific practices, students are engaged in a more relevant context that deepens their understanding and helps them to build what they need to move forward with their education -whether that’s moving on to a four-year college or moving into post-secondary training,” said Matt Krehbeil, Science Education Program Consultant, of Kansas.

“This blending of the dimensions described in the Framework for K-12 Science Education aligns with what research has shown are the most effective practices in teaching science. Students who experience quality instruction based on the NGSS will be prepared to understand the world around them and will be college and career ready.”

“As emphasized in the Framework, an active learning of scientific practices is critical, and takes time. A focus on these practices, rather than on content alone, leads to a deep, sustained learning of the skills needed to be a successful adult, regardless of career choice,” said Bruce Alberts, PhD, who is Editor-in-Chief of Science and served two six-year terms as President of the National Academy of Sciences. “We must teach our science students to do something in science class, not to memorize facts.”

The creation of the NGSS was entirely state-driven, with no federal funds or incentives to create or adopt the standards. The process was primarily funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, a leading philanthropy dedicated to improving science education in the U.S. The NGSS are grounded in a sound, evidence-based foundation of current scientific research-including research on the ways students learn science effectively-and identify the science all K-12 students should know.

“In Michigan, our conversation about education always includes workforce training. Whenever we adopt a new set of standards we make sure to promote the opportunities the standards afford, not just in terms of college readiness, but in terms of workforce readiness. That’s particularly relevant with the NGSS,” said Susan Codere, Project Coordinator for the NGSS in Michigan.

“The Next Generation Science Standards are going to pull together inquiry and practice, and recognize the role of engineering. Pulling together the cross-cutting concepts is going to be a challenge, but it’s really effective pedagogy,” said Ellen Ebert, Washington State’s Director of Science for Teaching and Learning at the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. “In Washington State we’re looking at the NGSS to propel students into 21st century-we’re looking at college and career readiness. This is a real opportunity to help students see the potential of science in their lives.”

“The Next Generation of Science Standards promise to help students understand why is it that we have to know science and help them use scientific learning to develop critical thinking skills-which may be applied throughout their lives, no matter the topic. Today, students see science as simply a list of facts and ideas that they are expected to memorize. In contrast to that approach education researchers have learned, particularly in the last 15 to 20 years, that if we cover fewer ideas, but go into more depth, students come away with a much richer understanding. Unlike previous standards, where you have separation of inquiry and ideas that students should know, in the NGSS they are now together,” said Joseph S. Krajcik, Professor of Science Education in the College of Education at Michigan State University and a member of the writing team.

Achieve, a non-partisan nonprofit education organization, coordinated the states’ efforts.

About NGSS

Next Generation Science Standards for Today’s Students and Tomorrow’s Workforce: Through a collaborative, state-led process, new K-12 science standards were developed that are rich in content and practice, arranged in a coherent manner across disciplines and grades to provide all students an internationally benchmarked science education. The NGSS are based on the Framework for K-12 Science Education developed by the National Research Council. For more information, please visit our website at www.nextgenscience.org.

Posted in News | No Comments »

Evolution and Climate Change Update from NCSE

April 5th, 2013 Bob

A NEW PEW POLL ON GLOBAL WARMING

A new poll from the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press asked about global warming and its causes. A press release summarizes, “The survey … finds that 69% say there is solid evidence that the average temperature on earth has been getting warmer over the past few decades. That is little changed from last October (67%), but up 12 points since October 2009. At the same time, however, the percentage of Americans who say that global warming is a very serious problem has slipped six points, from 39% to 33%, since last October. Current opinions about whether global warming is a very serious problem are similar to those in 2009 and 2010.”

Asked, “From what you’ve read and heard, is there solid evidence that the average temperature on earth has been getting warmer over the past few decades, or not?” 69% of respondents said yes, 27% said no, 1% said that the evidence was mixed, and 4% said that they didn’t know or refused to answer the question. The Pew Research Center asked the same question at intervals from June 2006 onward; acceptance of global warming was at its highest in July 2006, with 79% of respondents answering that there is solid evidence for it, and at its lowest in February/March 2011, with 58% answering that there is solid evidence for it.

Of the 69% who said yes, 42% agreed that the warming was mostly because of human activity such as burning fossil fuels, 23% agreed that it was mostly because of natural patterns in the earth’s environment, and 4% said that they didn’t know or refused to answer the question. The Pew Research Center asked the same question at intervals from June 2006 onward; acceptance of the human cause of global warming was at its highest in July 2006, with 50% of respondents attributing global warming mostly to human activity, and at its lowest in October 2010, with 34% attributing global warming mostly to human activity.

Asked, “In your view, is global warming a very serious problem, somewhat serious, not too serious, or not a problem?” 33% of respondents said that it was very serious, 32% said that it is somewhat serious, 13% said that it not too serious, 20% said that it not a problem, and 2% said that they didn’t know or refused to answer the question. In past polls, the greatest percentage of respondents regarding global warming as a very serious problem was 47%, in April/May 2009, and the lowest percentage was 32%, in October 2010. A majority of respondents have always regarded global warming as somewhat or very serious.

The press release commented, “There has been a sizable partisan gap in views about whether there is solid evidence of global warming since the Pew Research Center began asking this question in 2006. In the current survey, almost twice as many Democrats (87%) as Republicans (44%) say there is solid evidence that the average temperature on earth has been rising. Further, Democrats are three times as likely as Republicans to say that human activity is mostly causing global warming (57% vs. 19%).” There was a similar gap with regard to the seriousness of global warming: 48% of Democrats regarded it as very serious but only 19% of Republicans agreed.

According to the Pew Research Center, “The analysis in this report is based on telephone interviews conducted March 13-17, 2013, among a national sample of 1,501 adults, 18 years of age or older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia (750 respondents were interviewed on a landline telephone, and 751 were interviewed on a cell phone, including 385 who had no landline telephone). The survey was conducted by Abt SRBI.” The sample was weighted using demographic considerations and to match current “current patterns of telephone status and relative usage of landline and cell phones.” The sample error for the total sample was +/ 2.9%.

For the press release, visit:

http://www.people-press.org/2013/04/02/keystone-xl-pipeline-draws-broad-support/

For the complete report and the topline questionnaire (PDF), visit:

http://www.people-press.org/files/legacy-pdf/4-2-13%20Keystone%20Pipeline%20and%20Global%20Warming%20Release.pdf

http://www.people-press.org/files/legacy-questionnaires/4-2-13%20topline%20for%20release.pdf

And for NCSE’s collection of polls and surveys on climate change, visit:

http://ncse.com/polls/polls-climate-change

POLLING REPUBLICANS ON CLIMATE CHANGE

A new report from the George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication and the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication suggests that a slim majority of Republicans accept that climate change is happening. The researchers surveyed 726 adults who recently identified themselves as Republicans or Republican-leaning independent voters.

When presented with a definition of climate change as “the idea that the world’s average temperature has been increasing over the past 150 years, may be increasing more in the future, and that other aspects of the world’s climate may change as a result,” and asked “Do you think that climate change is happening,” 52% answered yes, 26% answered no, and 22% answered don’t know.

When asked “To what degree do you agree with the Republican Party’s position on the issue of climate change?” 9% of respondents strongly agreed, 25% moderately agreed, 34% neither agreed nor disagreed, 6% moderately disagreed, and 4% strongly agreed. The Republican party’s position on climate change was not specified in the poll question. The sample for the survey was drawn from adults who identified themselves as Republicans or Republican-leaning in previous Climate Change in the American Mind surveys. The average margin of sampling error was +/- 4 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. Demographics were weighted with data from the most recent Current Population Survey.

For the report (PDF), visit:

http://environment.yale.edu/climate/files/Republican_Views_on_Climate_Change.pdf

And for NCSE’s collection of polls and surveys on climate change, visit:

http://ncse.com/polls/polls-climate-change

WILL CLIMATE CHANGE DENIAL INHERIT THE WIND?

NCSE’s Josh Rosenau contributed “Will Climate Change Denial Inherit the Wind?” to Mobilizing Ideas, the blog of the Center for the Study of Social Movements at the University of Notre Dame. “The persistence of the creationist movement is a remarkable example of the power of social movements, and provides a valuable lesson for students of other anti-science movements,” he argued. After reviewing the strategies that have enabled creationism to flourish, he suggested, “A similar dynamic may be forming around the science of climate change as well, and social movement theory will play a key role in understanding that battle—and perhaps in sparing climate science from being doomed, like evolution, to be used as a shibboleth for political factions.” “Just as the creationist movement’s persistence grew out of its success in linking religious identity with creationist belief, there is a danger that climate change denial could establish itself as a permanent feature of American politics if denialist beliefs establish themselves as core parts of the conservative identity,” Rosenau observed, citing the shifts with regard to climate change of nationally prominent Republican politicians through the dozen years of the twenty-first century. But there are, he added, encouraging signs that “the climate change denial movement may not be able to fully merge with movement conservatism, averting the danger that climate change denial would join creationism as a permanent feature of the American sociopolitical landscape.”

For Rosenau’s essay, visit:

http://mobilizingideas.wordpress.com/2013/04/01/will-climate-change-denial-inherit-the-wind/

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.

Glenn Branch

Deputy Director

National Center for Science Education, Inc.

Posted in News | No Comments »

State Science Fair Funding in Jeopardy

March 30th, 2013 Bob

The legislative session continues and many education-related bills are making their way through the process. Below is a letter received from East Central University President John Hargrave explaining the tenuous position of funding for the Oklahoma State Science Fair.

Needless to say, public support (or the lack of it) for the Science Fair and other after-school Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics programs sends a powerful message about Oklahoma’s commitment to STEM. As science educators, we may be the best source of information about how these programs inspire, nurture, and develop the children with whom we work. If you have a story to share, don’t keep it a secret. Remember, every education decision is a political decision.

LETTER FROM ECU PRESIDENT DR. HARGRAVE

East Central University has been proud to host the Oklahoma State Science and Engineering Fair for many years. Unfortunately, the state funding for this important STEM initiative has been eliminated by the State of Oklahoma. We are trying to keep the Science Fair alive. We need your help. Would you please contact the State Senator and the State Representatives from your area and ask them to reinstate the funding necessary to keep the program alive. Ask your State Representative or State Senator to contact the Appropriation Chair in the House, the Honorable Representative Scott Martin or the Appropriations Chair in the Senate, the Honorable Clark Jolley. We have enclosed a brief sample letter/email you may want to consider sending.

Dear Representative/Senator _____________________,

STEM is important to Oklahoma. Please restore the funding for the Oklahoma State Science and Engineering Fair. This year over 8,000 students participated in the state and regional fairs. Please contact Senator Clark Jolley and Representative Scott Martin and ask that the funding for the Oklahoma State Science and Engineering Fair and the Oklahoma Regional Fairs be restored.

Thanks you so much for help keep STEM education and science fair competition viable in Oklahoma.

Very truly yours,

John R. Hargrave

President

East Central University

1100 East 14^th Street

Ada, OK 74820