NCSE Round Up: This Week in Evolution and Climate Change

This week in evolution and climate change, the NCSE discusses its current and past battles against exposing falsehoods perpetuated by creationism, the National Park Service serves as a useful tool for educators teaching climate change, Darwin goes Disney and more. 

Poll Reveals Americans Are Split on Dinosaur/Human Coexistence

A poll from YouGov has revealed that Americans are split on their beliefs of whether humans and dinosaurs lived on the planet at the same time.

"Asked 'Do you believe that dinosaurs and humans once lived on the planet at the same time,' 14% of respondents said definitely, 27% said probably, 18% said probably not, and 25% said definitely not; 16% were unsure."

The poll surveyed 1,000 Americans over two days time and is consistent with the fact that many Americans are inconsistent with their views on the subject.

Interestingly enough, however, "in its press release, YouGov says that 'the last dinosaurs died out 65 million years ago.' In fact, the scientific consensus is that dinosaurs are still extant: birds are theropod dinosaurs. It is unclear to what extent respondents were influenced by the scientific consensus."

Read more here. 

Creationists and the National Education Association Conference

This week will be the annual meeting of teachers at the National Education Association conference in Atlanta, Georgia, and the NCSE will be there to represent science against creationists who are using the conference to influence teachers.

"Never one to hide in the face of controversy, NCSE is returning to NEA this week. This time, though, we won’t be alone. Sharing a booth sponsored by the NEA Science Caucus, we are teaming up with the National Association of Biology Teachers (NABT) to bring science to the exhibit halls of NEA," said Minda Berbeco.

Here, the NCSE will be providing teachers with facts about evolution as well as signing teachers up to the new NCSE teacher network.

"We have rounded up our allies and are ready to share the 'good stuff' with teachers from across the country," Berbeco said.

The NCSE is encouraging teachers participating in the conference to stop by the booth and find out more.

Read more here. 

The National Park Service's Climate Change Plan Includes Educational Resources

"To address the growing threat of climate change, the National Park Service (NPS) is turning to scientific solutions, reducing its own carbon footprint, and implementing adaptation and education programs," according to NCSE guest blogger Kate Heffernan.

Part of this plan includes providing educational resources to educate about climate change and the country's national parks.

For example, "[a]s a native Floridian, I was drawn to the lesson on sea level rise in Everglades National Park. The detailed, three part lesson covers historic sea level changes in Florida, the difference between the effects of icebergs and ice sheets melting on sea level rise, and the current effects of sea level rise and climate change on Florida’s coastline," Heffernan said.

The resources also include interactive experiments and assessment questions to help those looking to learn about how climate change impacts the nation's national parks.

Heffernan also makes the case for visiting one of the 407 national park sites run by NPS as these sites serve as some of the best ways to learn about the environment.

Read more here. 

Falsehoods About Science Span Party Lines

NCSE's Steven Newton took a look at libertarian television journalist John Stossel's claims that although many Democrats hold issue with Republicans for conservative views that often lead to false ideas about evolution and the like, they are also guilty of "bad" science views.

But Newton argues that whether or not each party is guilty of a wrong belief admonished by the science community, the issue transcends politics.

"Left, right, or middle of the road, we ought to be able to agree that it’s important for students to learn about the science as scientists understand it without the interference of political or religious ideologues," he argues.

Read more here. 

NCSE Reminisces on Pre-Kitzmiller Trial Creationism Battles

Back in 2000, when the NCSE was much smaller and stationed in Berkely, Calif., it took on a case against a move to circulate a textbook based on intelligent design titled Of Pandas and People in a West Virginia school district.

Five years prior to the 2005 "intelligent design" trial Kitzmiller v. Dover, the NCSE took on the "textbook case (as it were) of how NCSE handles such matters. The decision-makers needed to be educated as to the real issue, which was not merely whether to provide teachers with instructional materials supplementing the standard textbooks," said NCSE writer Eugenie Scott.

"Back then, we would often send out a review of Pandas that had been prepared by teachers in Vista, California, where a similar effort to force the book into the schools had been previously thwarted. These teachers had reviewed Pandas using the same standards they applied to all instructional materials, and their review stated in bland educationese reason after reason why the pedagogy of the creationist textbook made it unsuitable for a modern science classroom."

Scott will be revealing the result of NCSE's efforts next week, so stayed tuned and read the first part here. 

Darwin in Disney

A Charles Darwin movie is reportedly in the works at the hands of Disney, and NCSE writer Josh Rosenau is encouraging readers to have some fun and come up with possible titles for the currently untitled work.

Read his ideas and comment your own here.