Tag: Evolution

Anti-Evolution and Anti-Climate Science Legislation Scorecard: 2017

    Robert Luhn
    11.27.2017

Thanks in part to NCSE’s efforts, it was a bad year for those who would make it easier to miseducate kids about science, with one major exception: Florida. Signed into law in June 2017, Florida’s House Bill 989 allows any county resident—not just any parent with a child in the country’s public schools—to file a complaint about textbooks and other instructional materials. Climate change and evolution were clearly among the targets of HB 989.

Anti-science legislation fared poorly elsewhere in the U.S. None of the “academic freedom” bills aimed at empowering teachers to miseducate their students passed, although it was close in Oklahoma and South Dakota. In Arkansas, a bill that would allow creationism to be taught never got to the point of being drafted. A novelty in 2017 were “academic freedom” bills in the form of non-binding resolutions, which were passed in Alabama and Indiana.

The legislative lay of the land:

Alabama

House Joint Resolution 78
Aim: “Academic freedom”
Status: Passed House and Senate; did not require governor’s signature
Links: Antiscience resolution adopted in Alabama

Arkansas

HB 2050
Aim: would allow creationism to be taught in public schools
Status: Died in House committee
Links: Arkansas creationism bill apparently dies

Florida

HB 989
Aim: Instructional materials challenge
Status: Passed the House and Senate; signed into law

SB 1210
Aim: Instructional materials challenge
Status: Abandoned in favor of HB 989

Links: Florida’s antiscience bill becomes law

Idaho

Senate Concurrent Resolution 121
Aim: Delete climate change from state science standards
Status: Passed both houses; did not require governor’s signature
Links: Climate change deletion finalized in Idaho

Indiana

Senate Resolution 17
Aim: “Academic freedom”
Status: Passed Senate; did not require House passage or governor’s signature
Links: Indiana antiscience resolution passes the Senate

Iowa

HF 140
Aim: Would make state science standards optional or repeal them
Status: Died in House committee

HF 480
Aim: Would require “opposing points of view” to evolution and climate change be taught
Status: Died in House committee

Links: Two down in Iowa

Oklahoma

SB 393
Aim: “Academic freedom” bill
Status: Passed in Senate; died in the House
Links: Oklahoma’s antiscience bill blocked

South Dakota

SB 55
Aim: Would have empowered science denial in the classroom
Status: Died in committee
Links: South Dakota’s antiscience bill stopped

Texas

HB 1485
Aim: “Academic freedom” bill
Status: Died in House committee
Links: Antiscience legislation dies in Texas

Wisconsin

AB 299
Aim: Campus free speech bill; creationist sponsor claims it might protect creationist college students
Status: Passed Assembly, currently with Senate

SB 250
Aim: Campus free speech bill; creationist sponsor claims it might protect creationist college students
Status: Currently with Senate
Links: Would a Wisconsin bill protect science denial on campus?

www.ncse.com

The National Center for Science Education (NCSE) defends the integrity of science education against ideological interference. We work with teachers, parents, scientists, and concerned citizens at the local, state, and national levels to ensure that topics including evolution and climate change are taught accurately, honestly, and confidently. Our work is made possible by our members and other generous donors.

News: Godless Billboards Return to Sioux Falls, South Dakota

 

2016 Billboard
2017 Billboard

Sioux Falls Freethinkers, in coordination with Sioux Falls Atheists & Humanists, recently activated an annual billboard campaign promoting science and evolution.

Dale Hemming, the President of Sioux Falls Freethinkers, gave a description of the billboard campaign’s main intent. “The Sioux Falls Atheists and Humanists wish to take a stand against the anti-science rhetoric of creationists, revisionists, fundamentalists, and ultra-conservative Evangelicals. Their distrust of science does a disservice to everyone, but especially to our children who do not yet have the mental ability to defend themselves from misinformation and deception. Toward this end, we are launching an Evolution Billboard Campaign.”

According to Hemming, the objective of the campaign is not to attack religion, but to support the ideas that evolution is a fact and the Earth is not 6,000 years old, as taught by some religions.

http://www.SiouxFallsFreethinkers.com

Richard Dawkins announces Evolution video game

Britsoft game developer Gordie Ross plans on teaching America a lesson

On March 10, 2017, Richard Dawkins and EvoRevo Ltd, the video game team founded by veteran Britsoft game developer Gordie Ross, launched a Kickstarter campaign for their new entertainment product Richard Dawkins: Evolution. The Kickstarter campaign failed to meet its goal of £50K ($62.5K US dollars) by the deadline, April 10, 2017.

Gordie Ross made the following announcements to his backers via Kickstarter:

April 5, 2017: “It looks of course like we will not meet the Kickstarter target, but we are very happy to have received everyone´s good wishes, support and feedback for the project. Your enthusiasm will drive us to make a game full of fun learning going forward.”

April 11, 2017: “Thank you again to everyone, I bear the responsibility for not getting the word spread far and wide enough.

For those who would like a few stats:

We had tremendous support with 1 in 46 video views resulting in a backer… final total of video views was around 6200, most of which came from the early activity and the average pledge was 57 pounds.

We shall press on now with the game and look forward to staying in touch as we get the job done.”

View the game trailer here:

More about the game:

The video game is set in a solar system similar to the newly charted Trappis 1 where 7 Earth-sized planets were recently discovered by NASA. The game relies on cutting-edge cloud technology to simulate a population of hundreds of thousands of lifeforms as they evolve in wonderful ways.

Richard Dawkins said, “Evolution is happening all the time; however in most cases, the rate of change is so small that it is difficult for a human to come to terms with the length of time involved. Our goal is to strike a balance between explaining that it is a gradual process and showing it happening at a rate that is entertaining to our audience.”

Like The Oregon Trail, an entertaining yet brilliantly educational video game which blazed its own trail in the classrooms of the 1980s, Gordie Ross (the game´s creator) envisions the Richard Dawkins: Evolution video game will ultimately make its way out of the home and into the classroom alongside exciting and entertaining learning resources.

Gordie Ross said, “Ultimately we see America as the greatest challenge where roughly 40% of the population believes the Earth is less than 10 thousand years old. Using a video game, we hope to additionally talk to this different audience who generally do not read science books. It´s Richard and I´s hope to trigger a curiosity about Evolution and Science that sets a new generation on an amazing journey of discovery.”

We will update you as we learn future plans on the development of this game.