OKLAHOMA EVOLUTION/CLIMATE CHANGE NEWS–OCTOBER 2023
1. More PRAGERU in Oklahoma information and Oklahoma textbook problems
2. Pro-/anti- science education legislation in other states
3. Tired of aggressively amorous males? These female frogs play dead
4. OU project aims for more efficient, sustainable energy future
5. Chimpanzees Go Through Menopause, Too
6. Asteroid dust caused 15-year winter that killed dinosaurs
7. October videos
MORE PRAGERU IN OKLAHOMA INFORMATION AND OKLAHOMA TEXTBOOK PROBLEMS
Concerns from Americans United: National advocates for the continued separation of church and state in the U.S. have launched an inquiry into State Superintendent Ryan Walters’ push for PragerU curriculum in Oklahoma classrooms.
Americans United for the Separation of Church and State says it believes the online catalog of right-wing videos, lesson plans, worksheets, and online books and magazines that Walters has encouraged Oklahoma social studies teachers to use is “often-misleading propaganda … that undermine the country’s foundational principle of church-state separation and advance the myth that America was founded to be, and must remain, a Christian nation.” More at Tulsa World.
Also, see the account at WFSU in Florida and Oklahoma Voice. Also see this article “Yes, Prager U Wants to Indoctrinate Your Kids. But That’s Not Really the Point” at the Nation.
Textbook publishers withdraw from Oklahoma as fight over classroom content grows
An increasingly politicized fight over what is taught in public schools has caused growing alarm that Oklahoma, as a result, could be losing out on quality textbook publishers and curriculum providers, including one of the few companies that tailors its materials to the state’s academic standards.
Already eight companies have withdrawn from consideration ahead of an expected vote on math materials next month by the Oklahoma Textbook Committee. The committee must select the approved list of math textbooks for schools to use over the next six years.
Former state officials who were part of the textbook adoption process say the number of vendors withdrawing this year is remarkably high. More from Oklahoma Voice here and here.
PRO-/ANTI-SCIENCE EDUCATION LEGISLATION IN OTHER STATES
Texas–Official and independent reviewers have given proposed new science textbooks in Texas passing marks, while opponents of teaching about climate change are objecting to the textbooks under consideration by the State Board of Education.Last month, West Texas Congressman August Pfluger, R-San Angelo, criticized the proposed Grade 8 science textbooks for complying with the current science standards, describing their inclusion of climate change as an attempt to “brainwash our children.”
“The state board must decide whether science textbooks and our public schools should teach the truth about climate change or lie to students about a critical challenge they will inherit,” said Rocío Fierro-Pérez (she/her/ella), interim political director of the Texas Freedom Network. “As Texans struggle with a changing climate and a fragile power grid, the state board must reject the efforts of those who seek to play politics and censor the education of our kids.” More at NCSE.
Writing for Scientific American (October 13, 2013), Katie Worth not only reviewed the ongoing controversy over the treatment of climate change in science textbooks submitted for adoption in Texas but also took a look at the textbooks herself — and NCSE is prominently featured.
The stakes are high, she explains. “Because Texas is among the largest textbook markets in the U.S., the state has had long-standing influence over textbooks published nationwide. That means content written with Texan politics — and the state’s fossil-fuel industry — in mind winds up in classrooms across the country. Textbooks often have a long shelf life, so the approved materials will likely be read by children into the 2030s.” More at NCSE.
California–California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 285, a measure to support climate change education in the Golden State’s public schools, into law on October 8, 2023, according to a legislative update from his office.
The new law requires the California course of study for grades 1-6 and grades 7-12 to emphasize the causes and effects of climate change and methods to mitigate and adapt to its effects. Additionally, appropriate coursework including such material is required to be offered as soon as possible, no later than the 2024-2025 school year. More at NCSE.
Montana–PragerU, the right-wing advocacy group that produces videos aimed at schoolchildren, is now the subject of controversy in the Big Sky state, following its registration as a “bonded textbook dealer” with the Montana Office of Public Instruction, according to the Montana Free Press.
Jack Kirkley of the University of Montana Western told the Montana Free Press that he first learned about PragerU’s videos from NCSE’s monthly newsletter. Investigating, he found videos offering “characterizations of green energy and climate change that, as an educator and scientist, Kirkley found troubling. He described one that focused on how birds — Kirkley’s professional speciality — are negatively impacted by wind turbines. In his view, the lesson overstated those impacts when compared to the mortality rates caused by roads, cell towers and lead poisoning.” Kirkley added, “It’s a sociopolitical spin that they have here, and they don’t hide it.” More at NCSE.
New Jersey–When the New Jersey state board of education voted 6-4-1 on October 4, 2023, to adopt revised state standards for mathematics and English language arts, it completed the incorporation of climate change throughout New Jersey’s state education standards, as NJ Spotlight News reported.
In 2020, New Jersey revised the majority of its standards to include references to climate change. In the case of mathematics and English language arts, however, references to climate change were included in appendices, pending scheduled revisions to those standards. More at NCSE.
TIRED OF AGGRESSIVELY AMOROUS MALES? THESE FEMALE FROGS PLAY DEAD
Spring is a dangerous time to be a female European common frog. After a winter-long hibernation, these amphibians congregate in shallow ponds to mate and lay eggs. The gatherings can turn ugly fast; male frogs, which vastly outnumber females, will regularly harass, intimidate, and coerce their counterparts into mating.
Scientists have long assumed the females have little means of defending themselves. But they may be less helpless than previously thought. In Royal Society Open Science, researchers report that female European common frogs (Rana temporaria) have a few tricks to escape unwanted mating, including duping a ribbiting Romeo into thinking he’s encountered another male, wriggling out of his grasp, or even playing dead. More at Science, Science News, Popular Science, and New York Times. Original paper in Royal Society Open Science.OU PROJECT AIMS FOR MORE EFFICIENT,
SUSTAINABLE ENERGY FUTURE
The University of Oklahoma has been assigned an important role in developing new technology to benefit the environment while at the same time improving energy storage efficiency.
The U.S. Department of Energy recently asked OU to take the lead in a project to pioneer a new generation of “reversible electrochemical cells.” The cells have potential to revolutionize energy storage by integrating seamlessly with fossil fuel assets, OU said in a news release.
For the project, researchers at OU will collaborate with colleagues at Kansas State University. They’ll conduct an extensive study aimed at developing an energy storage technology capable of efficiently converting carbon dioxide emissions captured from fossil fuels into valuable fuels, such as methane.
Pejman Kazempoor, a professor in the OU School of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering in the Gallogly College of Engineering, is the local project lead. More at Journal Record.
CHIMPANZEES GO THROUGH MENOPAUSE, TOO
For biologists, menopause is baffling. If natural selection favors genes that produce more descendants, why don’t women remain fertile their entire lives? What’s the evolutionary benefit of living for so many years without having more babies?
The mystery has only deepened as scientists have looked for menopause in mammals in the wild and found clear evidence of it only in a few species of whales. “It is very, very rare,” said Kevin Langergraber, a primatologist at Arizona State University.
That rarity has led some researchers to argue that menopause played a crucial part in the evolution of humans. Perhaps, they proposed, it was a crucial ingredient in raising children whose big brains need lots of time — and parental support — to fully develop.
But a study published by Dr. Langergraber and his colleagues challenges this view. After decades of observations in a rainforest in Uganda, they discovered that some chimpanzees go through menopause, too. More at New York Times, phys.org, Science News, Nature, Science, and Popular Science. Original paper in Science.
ASTEROID DUST CAUSED 15-YEAR WINTER THAT KILLED DINOSAURS
Around 66 million years ago, an asteroid bigger than Mount Everest smashed into Earth, killing off three quarters of all life on the planet—including the dinosaurs.
This much we know.
But exactly how the impact of the asteroid Chicxulub caused all those animals to go extinct has remained a matter of debate.
The leading theory recently has been that sulfur from the asteroid’s impact—or soot from global wildfires it sparked—blocked out the sky and plunged the world into a long, dark winter, killing all but the lucky few.
However research based on particles found at a key fossil site reasserted an earlier hypothesis: that the impact winter was caused by dust kicked up by the asteroid. More at phys.org and Slashdot. Original paper in Nature Geoscience.
OCTOBER VIDEOS
Darwin and the Standing Dead Compartment
Professor Anthony Edwards on RA Fisher
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