Debunking and Responding to Science Denial Josh Rosenau National Center for Science Education rosenau@ncse.com @JoshRosenau

ALCOHOL HOMOSEX GENETIC ENGINEERING MOM/CHILD LIB HARD ROCK TERRORISM

Education doesn’t matter alone > Education doesn’t matter

Audience Research Selected Findings Strongest messages in both rounds of research Invoke the role of evolution in making advances in medicine and curing diseases The compatibility of religious faith and acceptance of evolution One’s personal religious viewpoints should not be imposed on public school students A key framing point Science class should help students to understand how science works and how scientists do their jobs. Evolution is a core scientific principle that is foundational to many areas of science and helps scientists make technological developments, like curing disease. Courtesy of Jay Labov, National Academy of Sciences

Make political controversy political Separate science and nonscience Make political controversy political Make religious controversy religious

Don’t be afraid of emotion

Opinions don’t differ on the shape of the Earth.

Shift to a real scientific debate (Were dinosaurs warm-blooded, not evolution vs. creationism)

Science is a process http://understandingscience.org