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Glenn Branch
02.07.2017

Attention, filmmakers!

Logo from the NESCent/HHMI/SSE evolution video contestScientists and science educators of all stripes — students, postdocs, faculty, and full- or part-time science communicators — are invited to enter the Seventh Annual Evolution Video Competition, sponsored by the Duke Initiative for Science & Society, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Society for the Study of Evolution, and the BEACON Center fo

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Glenn Branch
02.06.2017

Update from South Dakota

South Dakota's Senate Bill 55, which would empower science denial in the classroom, is still awaiting a hearing in the House Education Committee, currently scheduled for February 13, 2017. In the meantime, the bill continues to attract state and national attention.

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Glenn Branch
02.06.2017

Anti-NGSS bill in Iowa

House File 140, introduced in the Iowa House of Representatives on January 31, 2017, and referred to the House Education Committee, would, if enacted, prohibit the state board of education from "adopting, approving, or requiring implementation of the [N]ext [G]eneration [S]cience [S]tandards by school districts and accredited nonpublic schools."

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Glenn Branch
02.03.2017

Antiscience legislation in Texas

House Bill 1485, introduced in the Texas House of Representatives on February 2, 2017, is the fourth antiscience bill of the year, joining similar bills in Indiana, Oklahoma, and South Dakota.

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Glenn Branch
02.01.2017

A disappointing vote in Texas

"The Texas State Board of Education on Wednesday [February 1, 2017] voted preliminarily for science standards that would keep in language that some say opens the door to creationism," the Texas Tribune (February 1, 2017) reports.

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Glenn Branch
01.30.2017

Darwin Day declared in Delaware

Delaware's governor and lieutenant governor, John Carney and Bethany Hall-Long, declared February 12, 2017, Charles Darwin Day in the state of Delaware, urging (PDF) "all citizens to join us in celebrating his tremendous contributions in the field of science."

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Glenn Branch
01.27.2017

Concerns mount about South Dakota's antiscience bill

"Parents and educators worry that legislation advancing in the South Dakota Legislature would open the floodgates for teachers to present nearly any topic as science," according to the Sioux Falls Argus-Leader (January 27, 2017), referring to South Dakota's Senate Bill 55, which passed the Senate on January 25, 2017.

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Glenn Branch
01.25.2017

South Dakota's antiscience bill passes the Senate

South Dakota's Senate Bill 55 passed the Senate on a 23-12 vote on January 25, 2017, "despite guidance from the State Department of Education, state school boards, school administrators, teachers and scientists," according to the Sioux Falls Argus-Leader (January 25, 2017).

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Glenn Branch
01.24.2017

Update from South Dakota

South Dakota's Senate Bill 55 passed the Senate Education Committee on a 4-3 vote on January 24, 2017, despite the opposition of the state's educational communities, according to the Sioux Falls Argus-Leader (January 24, 2017).

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Glenn Branch
01.20.2017

Antiscience resolution in Indiana

Indiana's Senate Resolution 17, introduced and referred to the Senate Committee on Education and Career Development as of January 23, 2017, would, if adopted, ostensibly urge the state department of education "to reinforce support of teachers who choose to teach a diverse curriculum." But the teaching of evolution is the specific target of the bill.

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