{"id":2857,"date":"2017-08-01T11:06:22","date_gmt":"2017-08-01T15:06:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/?p=2857"},"modified":"2017-08-01T11:06:22","modified_gmt":"2017-08-01T15:06:22","slug":"lots-of-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2857","title":{"rendered":"Lots of news"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>There’s all sorts of interesting news items related to science education lately! I’ll list them here by general topic …<\/p>\n

Instructional Materials Law<\/h3>\n

From the Gainesville Sun
\nCarl Ramey: State continues assault on public schools<\/a><\/p>\n

Equally problematic are the amendments enacted this year to Florida\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s education code; specifically, the section that permits challenges to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153instructional materials\u00e2\u20ac\u009d used by public schools. Previously, challenges were limited to parents with children in the school district. Now, any resident of the county with an axe to grind can challenge the appropriateness of anything (textbooks, videos, software, etc.) having \u00e2\u20ac\u0153intellectual content\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and used as a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153major tool\u00e2\u20ac\u009d for instruction.<\/p>\n

In short, a limited, parent-centric complaint procedure has been turned into an open-ended, highly accessible platform for sectarian pressure groups \u00e2\u20ac\u201d more interested in advancing a particular belief than how certain material might impact a particular child. It opens up the possibility of coordinated campaigns by groups seeking to ban material deemed objectionable on religious or political grounds (such as evolution and global warming).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

From the journal Bioscience, published by the American Institute of Biological Sciences
\nEvolution Education and State Politics<\/a><\/p>\n

A bill passed by the Florida legislature and signed into law by Governor Scott makes it easier to remove evolution education or any other \u00e2\u20ac\u0153controversial\u00e2\u20ac\u009d subject from a district’s curriculum. Any taxpayer who lives in the school district can file a complaint to the school board and will have the opportunity to argue why instructional materials are not \u00e2\u20ac\u0153objective, balanced, noninflammatory, current,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d or \u00e2\u20ac\u0153free of pornography.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Although Florida House Bill 989 did not specifically mention evolution, advocates cited the testimony of some supporters as evidence of the bill’s intentions. Some advocates for the measure wrote, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I have witnessed students being taught evolution as a fact of creation rather than a theory,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I have witnessed children being taught that global warming is a reality.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

From New Scientist
\nFeedback: Florida turns to crowdsourcing science classes<\/a><\/p>\n

The US has long been pioneering efforts to rejoin church and state. A recent innovation is found in Florida, where state governor Rick Scott signed into law legislation allowing any resident to challenge educational material used in public schools. Passed under the auspices of empowering parents, critics warn that the bill will allow people to target the teaching of evolution and climate change in classrooms.<\/p>\n

Feedback can only assume that the Sunshine State\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mathematics professors will soon have to find a way to make pi equal 3, sex educators teach the controversy over stork deliveries, and rockets blasting off from Cape Canaveral recalibrate for a geocentric model of the cosmos.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

From the Daytona Beach News-Journal
\nTextbook case: New law lets public challenge school materials<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Our concern is that school boards across the state will be forced to give a lot of time and effort and perhaps even some finances to field complaints from citizens that don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know a lot about science themselves,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said.<\/p>\n

Though his area of expertise is science, Haught expressed disappointment that educators in other disciplines haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t spoken out against the law.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Where are the history folks?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he asked. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Where are the civics defenders?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

From NPR’s Morning Edition
\nNew Florida Law Lets Residents Challenge School Textbooks<\/a><\/p>\n

Members of Florida Citizens’ Alliance have other concerns, including how some textbooks discuss Islam. Others take issue with science textbooks and how they deal with two topics in particular: evolution and climate change.<\/p>\n

Flaugh says the law, which was signed by the governor on June 26, is intended to make sure scientific theories are presented in a balanced way.<\/p>\n

“There will be people out there that argue that creationism versus Darwinism are facts. They’re both theories,” he says.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

From the Washington Post
\nFlorida\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s education system \u00e2\u20ac\u201d the one Betsy DeVos cites as a model \u00e2\u20ac\u201d is in chaos<\/a><\/p>\n

Gov. Scott also recently signed a new law that has alarmed people who care about science education. Known as H.B. 989 and targeted at the teaching of climate change and evolution, it empowers those who want to object to the use of specific instructional materials in public schools. Now, any resident can file a complaint about instructional material; it used to be limited to parents with a child in the schools.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Recruiting Teachers<\/h3>\n

From the Orlando Sentinel
\nCommentary: School districts tasked with filling math, science teacher shortage<\/a><\/p>\n

The numbers of first-time test-takers for high-school teaching certifications in biology, chemistry and Earth\/space science stayed constant or declined a bit during the same three-year period. In physics, that number dropped by one-third.<\/p>\n

The Colleges of Education at the state\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s universities aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even coming close to meeting the demand. According to an estimate in the Critical Teacher Shortage Area report for 2017-18 prepared by the Florida Department of Education, there were 214 vacancies for chemistry and physics teachers in Florida\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s public schools in 2016-17.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

From the Sun Sentinel
\nSouth Florida schools search for new ways to find teachers<\/a><\/p>\n

Palm Beach County schools are also considering some less obvious candidates: athletes.<\/p>\n

The school district has been attending job fairs that colleges host for student athletes. Their dreams may be to play in the NFL or NBA, but until that happens, they may want to teach in Palm Beach County, La Cava said.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153A lot of them have degrees in math and science and we can help them get certified,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d La Cava said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153There are opportunities for them to teach and be coaches.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Good News about Science Education<\/h3>\n

From the Panama City News Herald
\nRockettes and CSI: FSU PC camps foster love of physics<\/a><\/p>\n

Across a walkway in the Holley Center, Sonya Livingston Smith, a retired Rockette, and Denise Newsome, a teacher at Deane Bozeman School, were working to convincingly disguise a physics lesson as a dance class. While dancers practiced their turns and pli\u00c3\u00a9s, Newsome used motion sensors to track how their arm motions increased or decreased the velocity of their spins.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a great way to help the students not be scared of physics,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Newsome, who describes herself as a science nerd with a dancing background.<\/p>\n

This is the first year FSU PC has held a Physics of Dance camp, and Newsome hopes to grow the two-day offering into a full week in the future.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And let’s not forget we here at Florida Citizens for Science are running a fundraising campaign to help teachers obtain needed science supplies.
\n4th Annual science education fundraiser LAUNCH!<\/a><\/p>\n

FCS launched its 4th annual fundraising campaign today by creating a Giving Page at Donors Choose<\/a>. On that page you can choose from several projects across the state to help fund. FCS will match dollar for dollar total donations up to $700, essentially doubling your gift. This is on top of similar offers from corporations like Orkin and Tom\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s of Maine highlighted on some of our chosen projects\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 pages.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A few donations have come in these first few days of the campaign, which is awesome! But we need a lot more if we hope to get all of the selected classroom projects funded before students start walking in the classroom doors. Please help us out.<\/p>\n

If the above items sound familiar to you, then it’s probably because you follow us on Facebook<\/a> and Twitter<\/a>. We’re posting the newest news items there nearly every day. It’s well worth liking and following us!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There’s all sorts of interesting news items related to science education lately! I’ll list them here by general topic … Instructional Materials Law From the Gainesville Sun Carl Ramey: State continues assault on public schools Equally problematic are the amendments … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[25,3,32],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcZNLl-K5","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2397,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2397","url_meta":{"origin":2857,"position":0},"title":"Florida Citizens for Science News Release","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"January 11, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"News Release Lawmakers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Instructional Materials Proposal: Costly Headache for School Boards Jan 11, 2016 Florida Citizens for Science Florida Citizens for Science opposes companion bills filed in the Florida House and Senate, HB899 and SB1018, both entitled \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Instructional Materials for K-12 Public Education.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d We assert that these bills are in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Instructional Materials bills '16"","block_context":{"text":"Instructional Materials bills '16","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=31"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3471,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3471","url_meta":{"origin":2857,"position":1},"title":"Book-Banning bill update 3\/30","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"March 30, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Another week has slipped by in Florida's annual legislative session and so far the issues we here at Florida Citizens for Science are most concerned about are stalled or defanged. What was the most dangerous bill on our radar, HB 855 -- which had been dubbed the book-banning bill --\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/sciencetextbookswarming.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/sciencetextbookswarming.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/sciencetextbookswarming.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2567,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2567","url_meta":{"origin":2857,"position":2},"title":"It’s baaaaack: Instructional Materials bill filed","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"February 23, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Last year, Florida Citizens for Science voiced our opposition to bills filed in the Florida legislature that would have made significant changes to how textbooks and other instructional materials are selected and reviewed at the local school district level. The good news is that the bills died. The bad news\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Instructional Materials bills '17"","block_context":{"text":"Instructional Materials bills '17","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=32"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3147,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3147","url_meta":{"origin":2857,"position":3},"title":"The Florida House’s bad textbook bill now has a Senate companion","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"January 6, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Florida House Bill 827 (Instructional Materials), filed in November by Rep. Byron Donalds in preparation for the 2018 state legislative session proposes changes to several of our laws that govern the review and selection of instructional materials used in our public schools. It didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have a Senate companion bill for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Textbooks"","block_context":{"text":"Textbooks","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=26"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2917,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2917","url_meta":{"origin":2857,"position":4},"title":"Brevard County asking for help with science materials selection","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"October 11, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Thanks to an alert Florida Citizens for Science friend, we now know that Brevard County is looking for the public's input about what science instructional materials to adopt for their school district. Read this pdf listing the dates and events: Community Involvement Opportunity. Brevard Public Schools (BPS) is inviting parents\/community\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Textbooks"","block_context":{"text":"Textbooks","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=26"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2741,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2741","url_meta":{"origin":2857,"position":5},"title":"Nature notes one bad bill; no one notices the other","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"May 12, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The science journal Nature published an article about antiscience bills that have cropped up across America, with a special focus on our very own Sunshine State:\u00c2\u00a0Revamped 'anti-science' education bills in United States find success. The piece focuses on the instructional materials bill that pretty much sailed through the state House\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Instructional Materials bills '17"","block_context":{"text":"Instructional Materials bills '17","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=32"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2857"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2857"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2857\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2860,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2857\/revisions\/2860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}