Pro-Science News

As the October 16, 2017, public hearing in Santa Fe on the new state science standards proposed for New Mexico approaches, there is no sign of the opposition to their omission of references to evolution, human responsibility for climate change, and the age of the earth abating.

"The Partisan Divide on Political Values Grows Even Wider," in the words of a headline of a Pew Research Center report dated October 5, 2017 — and public attitudes toward climate change are evidently involved.

A recent survey conducted in the United Kingdom and Canada found that the majority of respondents in both countries accepted evolution, according to a September 5, 2017, press release.

Opposition to the new state science standards proposed in New Mexico — which omit references to evolution, human responsibility for climate change, and the age of the earth —is coming fast and furious.  

A new survey from the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago and the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research examines American attitudes toward climate change.

The Darwin Day Roadshow is returning!

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

"Latinos are much more engaged with the issue of global warming than are non-Latinos," according to a new report from the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. "Latinos are more convinced global warming is happening and human-caused, more worried about it, perceive greater risks, are more supportive of climate change policies, and are more willing to get involved politically."

The new state science standards proposed in New Mexico — which omit references to evolution, human responsibility for climate change, and the age of the earth — are attracting scrutiny and criticism across the state.

At a recent meeting of NCSE's board of directors, Kenneth R. Miller was elected as president, replacing Francisco J. Ayala, whose term on the board expired.

NCSE is delighted to congratulate Michael E. Mann on receiving the James Shea Award for 2017. Presented by the National Association of Geoscience Teachers, the award honors "exceptional contributions in the form of writing and/or editing of Earth science materials (broadly construed) that are of interest to the general public and/or teachers of Earth science."

NCSE is seeking to hire a Director of Development. 

Described as an "award-winning scholar and champion of science," NCSE's founding executive director Eugenie C. Scott received an honorary degree from Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky, at the university's Academic Convocation on  September 15, 2017.

"New Mexico's Public Education Department unveiled proposed teaching standards ... that critics say would omit references to evolution, rising global temperatures and the age of Earth from the state's science curriculum," reports the Albuquerque Journal (September 16, 2017).

Around the world, there is a high level of acceptance of anthropogenic climate change on the part of people under the age of thirty, according to the latest Global Shaper Survey, conducted by the World Economic Forum.

As New York begins its transition to a new set of state science standards (PDF) that contain climate change, the New York State School Boards Association issued a new report, "When Politics Enters the Classroom: Teaching Climate Change in Schools" (PDF), to prepare school leaders and educators for the changes and challenges ahead.