Join Executive Director of the National Center for Science Education, Eugenie C. Scott, and polar explorer and Minnesota native Will Steger for a free public forum as they share their experiences and perspectives on climate change education. In early 2012, NCSE launched its climate science initiative to support the teaching of climate science in public schools. Steger has traveled tens of thousands of miles by kayak and dogsled over 45 years, leading teams on some of the most significant polar expeditions in history. Steger has been an educator and authored several books on his expeditions and environmental issues, including climate change.

Event is part of the conference
Climate Science in Schools:
the Next Evolution
sponsored by the
Will Steger Foundation
and the
Humphrey School of Public Affairs
Center for
Science, Technology and Public Policy

In a session on "Communicating Earth Science to the Public," Rosenau will discuss the importance of the nature of science for uprooting creationist and climate change-denying misinformation.

Abstract: Discussing science as a process rather than simply presenting it as a collection of facts helps avoid common pitfalls in science education and science communication. Integrating key ideas about the nature of science into science communication and science education makes it easier for students and audiences to relate to new scientific ideas and to avoid seeing these ideas through the lens of social controversy. Providing the context of how scientists test their ideas provides the narrative drive that turns dry statistics into a thrilling story on film or in the classroom. By helping audiences see how scientific ideas are tested and become accepted by the scientific community, science communicators can guide audiences past social controversies surrounding scientifically uncontroversial topics like evolution and climate change.

This paper explores two theological dimensions of the ongoing conversation about extraterrestrial life. In the spirit of moving beyond books, it contrasts the theology of ET life with portrayals of the subject through the art form of late modernity: film.

Numerous questions are raised by the evolution of rational life on chemically suitable planets within the habitable zone of suitable stars. If a religious response to the universe arises with consciousness, is belief in God a product of evolution? Since God became incarnate as Jesus at particular time in terrestrial evolutionary history, could the “Christ principle” become incarnate elsewhere in the universe as well, perhaps multiple times? If “the Christ” became incarnate a million years ago on Planet X, would the members of an expedition from that planet recognize Jesus of Nazareth as God incarnate? Is God necessarily triune, or is that an artifact of our own religious experience in a mono-solar cosmology? How might God be conceived of in a binary star system?

Hollywood’s portrayal of extraterrestrial life is too often blunt and two-dimensional. Aliens are portrayed either as malign or monstrous (Alien, Independence Day, Galaxy Quest) or as benign or angelic (E.T., Starman, The Day the Earth Stood Still). It is more likely that extraterrestrial life that has evolved (like Homo sapiens) within an ecological web of predator-prey relationships will reflect an evolutionary morality, moral ambiguity within a widening circle of ethical inclusion. Theologically such a species would likely be like us − "simuliustus et peccator" − at the same time justified and sinners.

Twenty-two lucky members will raft the Grand Canyon from Marble Canyon to Diamond Creek, experiencing one of the most beautiful and majestic natural features on the planet.

Of course, as Eugenie Scott, NCSE's executive director, will inform the rafters, the whole Colorado plateau was laid down by the receding waters of Noah's Flood about 4,300 years ago, and the Grand Canyon itself was gouged catastrophically in a matter of days. Geologist Steven Newton will present the standard geological history of Grand Canyon to the rafters — and "they can make up their own minds."

NCSE's "Creation/Evolution Grand Canyon Raft Trip" is a wonderful way to learn about the creationism/evolution controversy in a fabulous natural setting.

It has been 25 years since Edwards vs. Aguillard, the famous Supreme Court case that declared the teaching of “creation science” to be unconstitutional. What has changed and what has remained the same in the creationism and evolution controversy since 1987? How might the legal landscape evolve in the future, and how will this affect science education – and science literacy?

A presentation at
The Amazing Meeting (TAM)
sponsored by the
James Randi Educational Foundation

The National Center for Science Education (NCSE), in Oakland, California, works to defend the integrity of science education. Peter Hess will talk about his own commitment to this cause and relate some of his experiences. He believes that at the heart of many attacks on science lies a questionable metaphysic of “human exceptionalism”—the common but unacknowledged assumption that Homo sapiens is exempt from biological constraints.

Talk is a presentation in the
"EnlightenUp"
Speaker Series
"Christians talking about their work and their passion"

Science denial is prominent in many areas of expertise. When individuals deny health and medical information, consequences can be serious. Anti-vaccination sentiment has increased and led to outbreaks of preventable disease. In this session, attendees will learn how to communicate risk effectively to the general public; to understand why individuals do not accept scientific evidence; and to work with physicians to facilitate increased understanding.

Kitzmiller v. Dover, the 2005 case establishing the unconstitutionality of teaching intelligent design creationism in the public schools, was a pivotal event in the history of the creationism/evolution controversy in the United States. Why was Kitzmiller the effective end of the second phase of antievolution strategy? And what is the third phase going to be like? NCSE's deputy director Glenn Branch discusses these questions —and more — with the University of California, Davis, Science Policy Journal Club.

Mark McCaffrey will discuss NCSE’s just-initiated efforts to promote climate change education via resources that it has developed in the areas of “Climate Change 101″, “Teaching Climate Change”, “Climate Change Denial”, and “Taking Action”.

This is a Forum Program presented by the
Humanists in Silicon Valley

Admission to the
3rd Annual Orange County Freethought Alliance Conference
is by paid registration only.