like PZ<\/a>, give their takes on the bigger picture. But what I’m focusing on is how much of a role state science standards might have played in the results.<\/p>\nThe study used students from eight universities scattered across the country (Florida wasn’t one of them). The states these universities are in were carefully chosen based on a variety of criteria. One category was the states’ science standard’s handling of evolution. Four were considered strong and four were considered weak. Of course, other factors played a role in the results — for instance, consider why <\/em>the state might have strong or weak standards — but here they are for your consideration:<\/p>\nOf all recent public high-school graduates in strong standards states, 93% reported evolution instruction, but only 72% reported being taught that evolution is a credible scientific theory. By comparison, 89% of recent public high school graduates in weak standards states reported evolution instruction, but only 60% reported being taught that evolution is a credible scientific theory.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Wow! Only 60% were taught it is a credible scientific theory! That makes me itch to know what has been going on here in the Sunshine State the past decade. The study reflected a bit deeper, though. There is always more to the story (emphasis mine):<\/p>\n
However, when evolution is taught, it can also be presented as a concept lacking scientific credibility. Applying a logit regression analysis and holding constant states\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 partisan political preference and geographic location, the estimated odds were that respondents in weak standards states are three times as likely as those in strong standards states to receive instruction that evolution is not scientifically credible<\/strong> (P = 0.01). The frequency-based statistics account for much of this disparity, with 4% of strong states\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 respondents reporting that evolution was taught, but presented as a concept lacking scientific credibility, compared to 9% in weak states.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nHere’s the message I take away from that: We should be proud of what we did here in Florida! We definitely jumped from a set of weak standards to very strong ones. That increases the chances that our students will be exposed to sound science in the correct context.<\/p>\n
Now, ummmmm, could someone tell me what “logit regression analysis” means? \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
With the fight over including evolution in the state science standards here in Florida now over the hump, we now need to ask ourselves: what did we win? As several news articles have pointed out, in many school districts across … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","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":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[4,7],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcZNLl-7N","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1178,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1178","url_meta":{"origin":483,"position":0},"title":"New study: How do Florida teachers feel about evolution?","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"March 17, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Florida science teachers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 jobs are in jeopardy if they dare challenge biological evolution in the public school classroom, claimed state senator Ronda Storms when she filed her Academic Freedom bill in 2008. The bill says that \"in many instances educators have experienced or feared discipline, discrimination, or other adverse consequences\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 6 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 6 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1178#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":444,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=444","url_meta":{"origin":483,"position":1},"title":"More support for evolution in science standards","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"February 15, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Thank you, Volusia County! A local newspaper, The Beacon, polled the members of the school board to see where they stood on the issue of evolution in the state science standards. All of them were in agreement that science belongs in the science classroom, separate from religious beliefs. Just to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Our Science Standards"","block_context":{"text":"Our Science Standards","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":353,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=353","url_meta":{"origin":483,"position":2},"title":"More about Pinellas mess","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"December 18, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday, the St. Petersburg Times teased in their education blog today's story about the Pinellas County school board's creationist majority. The board members are confused. They worry that students will have a tough time meshing the scientific theory of evolution with their personal and family religious beliefs. And it would\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Alert"","block_context":{"text":"Alert","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=6"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":408,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=408","url_meta":{"origin":483,"position":3},"title":"Heads-up: Anti-evolution heads south to Highlands County","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"January 25, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"The Tampa Tribune (Highlands Today) reports that Highlands County school board members need to learn their science. This is the first county that's not in north Florida to have this discussion. They haven't done a resolution yet, but they want to: SEBRING \u00e2\u20ac\u201d Four of five members of the School\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "In the News"","block_context":{"text":"In the News","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":317,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=317","url_meta":{"origin":483,"position":4},"title":"Last night’s science standards meeting","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"November 16, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"The Orlando Sentinel reports that several people attended last night's meeting in Orlando about the new draft science standards with the objective of promoting intelligent design and complaining about evolution. But several people who spoke Thursday urged state Department of Education officials to allow schools to teach intelligent design and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Our Science Standards"","block_context":{"text":"Our Science Standards","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3184,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3184","url_meta":{"origin":483,"position":5},"title":"Clay County superintendent: “In no way, shape or form do our textbooks or will our textbooks ever reflect evolution as a fact …”","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"February 3, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"This year school districts across Florida are adopting new science textbooks. In many of those districts the process is pretty far along, with committees already having looked at the options and made their selections. Then the materials are offered to the public for viewing and comments. For instance, I know\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":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483"}],"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=483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}