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A young activist in Oklahoma is making headlines for his opposition to the state's Senate Bill 393, which would empower science denial in the classroom.

"Record percentages of Americans are concerned about global warming, believe it is occurring, consider it a serious threat and say it is caused by human activity. All of these perceptions are up significantly from 2015," reports Gallup (March 14, 2017).

NCSE's deputy director Glenn Branch contributed "Science Teachers in the Trenches of the Climate Wars" to the opinion section of the website of Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (March 13, 2017).

European Perceptions of Climate Change, the March 2017 report of a public opinion survey conducted in June 2016 in France, Germany, Norway, and the United Kingdom, offers (PDF) information about the attitudes toward the reality of, the causes behind, and the scientific consensus about climate change in those countries.

The editorial in the March 8, 2017, issue of the prestigious scientific journal Nature calls on researchers to defend the integrity of science education — and cites NCSE.

Arkansas's House Bill 2050 (PDF), filed as a shell bill on March 6, 2017 — the last day on which bills may be filed in the 2017 regular session — would, if enacted, "allow public schools to teach creationism and intelligent design as theories alongside the theory of evolution," according to THV 11 (March 6, 2017). 

Two additional national organizations have expressed their concern to the Oklahoma Senate about Senate Bill 393, which would empower science denial in the classroom.

The March for Science will take place on April 22, 2017, in Washington DC, with satellite marches planned in more than 300 communities in more than thirty countries. The National Center for Science Education was one of the first organizations to endorse the march, and we are encouraging our members to take part. Why?

Two bills in the Iowa legislature that would have undermined the integrity of science education died on March 3, 2017, when a deadline for bills to pass committee in their house of origin expired.

Iowa's House File 480, introduced and referred to the House Education Committee on March 1, 2017, would, if enacted, require teachers in Iowa's public schools to include "opposing points of view or beliefs" to accompany any instruction relating to evolution, the origins of life, global warming, or human cloning.

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

NCSE's annual report for 2016 is now available (PDF) on NCSE's website.

Indiana's Senate Resolution 17, which targets the teaching of evolution in Indiana's public schools, was passed on a 40-9 vote by the Senate on February 27, 2017. 

Idaho's Senate Education Committee voted, on party lines, to delete five standards — those discussing climate change and human impact on the environment — from a proposed new set of state science standards for Idaho on February 27, 2017, according to Idaho Ed News (February 27, 2017).

Alabama's House Joint Resolution 78 (PDF), introduced and referred to the House Rules Committee on February 23, 2017, would, if adopted, ostensibly urge state and local education authorities to promote the academic freedom of science teachers in the state's public schools. "Biological evolution, the chemical origins of life, global warming, and human cloning" are specifically identified as controversial.

Oklahoma's Senate Bill 393 (PDF), which would empower science denial in the classroom, was passed on a 13-1 vote by the Senate Education Committee on February 27, 2017.

NCSE's deputy director Glenn Branch contributed a column, entitled "It's About Time To Teach Evolution Forthrightly," to the February 2017 issue of The Science Teacher, a special issue devoted to evolution.

A pair of bills introduced in the Florida legislature — House Bill 989 and Senate Bill 1210 — are ostensibly aimed at empowering taxpayers to object to the use of specific instructional materials in the public schools, for example on the grounds that they fail to provide "a noninflammatory, objective, and balanced viewpoint on issues." There is reason to believe that evolution and climate change are among the targets.