NCSE Evolution and Climate Education Update for 2017/09/08
Submitted by Peter Burns on Fri, 2017-09-08 17:33.
National Center for Science Education
(by NCSE Deputy Director Glenn Branch)
Dear friends of NCSE, A new survey on what young people around the world think about climate change, plus a report on climate change education in New York.
WHAT YOUNG PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD THINK ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE 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. Presented with "Science has proven that humans are responsible for climate change," 69.6% of respondents strongly agreed, 21.7% somewhat agreed, 6.7% neither agreed nor disagreed, 1.7% somewhat disagreed, and 0.9% strongly disagreed. Data was provided for various regions, subregions, and countries for which there were more than three hundred respondents. Among respondents in the United States, 76.3% strongly agreed that science has proven that humans are responsible for climate change, while 16.7% somewhat agreed, 4.3% neither agreed nor disagreed, 1.8% somewhat disagreed, and 1.0% strongly disagreed. Respondents were also asked to rank serious issues affecting the world today. "Climate change/destruction of nature" was ranked the most serious for the third year in a row, with 48.8% of the vote in 2017. The Global Shaper Survey was conducted on paper and in person from March 31 to June 30, 2017, reaching 31,495 individuals in 186 countries and territories; the analyses in the report were based on the answers to 24,766 surveys. For the Global Shaper Survey for 2017, visit: http://shaperssurvey2017.org/ And for NCSE's collection of polls and surveys on climate change, visit: https://ncse.com/library-resource/polls-climate-change CLIMATE CHANGE EDUCATION IN NEW YORK As New York begins its transition to a new set of state science standards 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," to prepare school leaders and educators for the changes and challenges ahead. "[T]he question is not whether to address climate change in the curriculum, but how best to do so," the report explains, especially in light of the mismatch between the 97% consensus on anthropogenic global warming and the practice of middle and high school science teachers, as revealed by a national survey conducted by NCSE and researchers at Penn State. NCSE was mentioned elsewhere in the report, with references to NCSE's Scientist in the Classroom project, which matches teachers with climate scientists in their classrooms, and NCSE's recommendation to make climate change education local, human, pervasive, and hopeful (see "Teaching Climate Change: Best Practices"). The report's recommendations are likely to be heeded. A survey conducted for the report between July 24 and August 2, 2017, asked 603 school board members in New York whether they suppose or oppose climate change being taught in New York's public schools: 70% of respondents supported it, while 16% opposed and 14% were not sure. Those who supported or were not sure about teaching climate change were asked whether they support or oppose schools teaching that humans contribute to climate change: 86% supported and 5% opposed, while 9% were not sure. Therefore, 72% of the whole pool of 603 respondents supported teaching that humans contribute to climate change. For "When Politics Enter the Classroom" (PDF), visit: http://www.nyssba.org/clientuploads/nyssba_pdf/report-teaching-climate-change-08312017.pdf For New York's new state science standards (PDF), visit: http://www.p12.nysed.gov/ciai/mst/sci/documents/p-12-science-learning-standards.pdf For "Mixed Messages," the report of the NCSE/Penn State survey (PDF), visit: https://ncse.com/files/MixedMessages.pdf For information on NCSE's Scientist in the Classroom project, visit: https://ncse.com/scientistinclassroom For "Teaching Climate Change: Best Practices," visit: https://ncse.com/library-resource/teaching-climate-change-best-practices And for NCSE's previous coverage of events in New York, visit: https://ncse.com/news/new-york WHAT'S NEW AT NCSE'S BLOG? Have you been visiting NCSE's blog recently? If not, then you've missed: * Brian Pinney describing how he works to engender trust in scientists at NCSE's Science Booster Club events: https://ncse.com/blog/2017/09/sbc-voices-watchers-0018604 For NCSE's blog, visit: http://ncse.com/blog 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. -- 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 branch@ncse.com http://ncse.com Check out NCSE's blog: http://ncse.com/blog Read Reports of the NCSE on-line: http://reports.ncse.com Subscribe to NCSE's free weekly e-newsletter: http://groups.google.com/group/ncse-news NCSE is on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter: http://www.facebook.com/evolution.ncse http://www.youtube.com/NatCen4ScienceEd http://twitter.com/ncse NCSE's work is supported by its members. Join today! http://ncse.com/join
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