Pro-Science News

A recent Harris poll addressed evolution and creationism, with unsurprising results. 

"[A] special expert panel has given unanimous approval to the Pearson biology textbook whose adoption by the Texas State Board of Education ... last month had been tripped up by allegations that it contained 'factual errors,'" reports the Texas Freedom Network on its TFN Insider blog (December 17, 2013). 

NCSE's archives house a unique trove of material on the creationism/evolution controversy, and we regard it as part of our mission to preserve it for posterity — as well as for occasions such as Kitzmiller v. Dover, where NCSE's archives helped to establish the creationist antecedents of the "intelligent design" movement. And we are beginning to amass a similar trove of material on disputes over climate change education. We cordially invite you now to help NCSE's archives keep up-to-date by purchasing books for NCSE through our wish list at Amazon.com.

When the Texas state board of education gave its final approval to all of the proposed textbooks for high school biology and environmental science courses at its November 22, 2013, meeting, there was a loose end.

Explore the Grand Canyon with NCSE! Reservations are still available for NCSE's next excursion to the Grand Canyon — as featured in the documentary No Dinosaurs in Heaven.

The Catholic theologian Edward T. Oakes, S.J., died on December 6, 2013, at the age of 65, according to the Catholic News Agency (December 6, 2013).

NCSE is pleased to offer a free preview (PDF) of Henry Gee's The Accidental Species: Misunderstandings of Human Evolution (University of Chicago Press, 2013).

NCSE is pleased to announce the second of a new series of on-line workshops aimed at broadening and deepening the networks that make our work possible. The workshop focuses on lobbying policymakers — legislators, members of state boards of education, members of local school boards, and the like — and features NCSE's Josh Rosenau, the ACLU's Dena Sher, and Oklahomans for Excellence in Science Education's Vic Hutchison.

Will a federal court dismiss a lawsuit seeking to prevent Kansas from adopting the Next Generation Science Standards? In documents filed on December 5, 2013, the defendants in COPE et al. v. Kansas State Board of Education et al. asked the United States District Court for the District of Kansas to dismiss the suit, saying (PDF) that the court lacks jurisdiction over all claims asserted in the complaint and that the complaint fails to state a claim against the defendants.

NCSE's outgoing executive director Eugenie C. Scott was interviewed for the December 2013 issue of Americans United for Separation of Church and State's magazine Church & State.

Eugenie C. Scott

NCSE is pleased to announce the addition of a further batch of videos to NCSE's YouTube channel.

"Old wine in new bottles" (PDF), a review of Jeffrey P. Moran's American Genesis by NCSE's Glenn Branch, was just published in Evolution: Education and Outreach.

The integrity of science education triumphed in Texas when the state board of education gave its final approval to all of the proposed textbooks for high school biology and environmental science courses at its November 22, 2013, meeting.

NCSE is pleased to announce that the latest issue of Reports of the National Center for Science Education is now available on-line.

What can citizens like you do to respond when science education comes under attack? How can you and other concerned citizens organize to fight back? What can you do to prevent attacks on science education in your community? NCSE is pleased to announce the first of a new series of on-line workshops aimed at broadening and deepening the networks that make our work possible. The workshop begins at 3:00 p.m. Pacific time (6:00 p.m. Eastern time) on November 25, 2013, and spaces are still available, so register now!

When the Texas state board of education held its final public hearing on science textbook adoption on November 20, 2013, NCSE's Joshua Rosenau was on hand to present the board with a statement urging the adoption of the textbooks endorsed by no fewer than fifty-one scientific and educational societies.

Ann Reid

"Ann Reid has been a researcher, a policy wonk, and a program manager. In January, she will put on a new hat — as first responder to attacks on science education," reported Science Insider (November 20, 2013), taking notice of NCSE's announcement of Reid's appointment as its new executive director, succeeding Eugenie C. Scott.

In a 4-3 decision issued on November 19, 2013, the Supreme Court of Ohio upheld the termination of John Freshwater.