American Physiological Society

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Bioscience Briefing

For info about biomedical funding, animal research and other bioscience issues, click here.

Science Policy Announcements

For the latest news from the APS Science Policy click here.

Resource Book Now Available

Click here for more info on The APS Resource Book for the Design of Animal Exercise Protocols.

APS Supports Science Education in Texas

The APS has signed on to a statement by the National Center for Science Education asking the Texas State Board of Education to “support accurate science education.” The letter is signed by over fifty associations and societies “representing hundreds of thousands of scientists and teachers,” according to NCSE. Below is a copy of the statement and a list of signatories.

A Message to the Texas State Board of Education

The undersigned scientific and educational societies call on the Texas State Board of Education to support accurate science education for all students by adopting the science standards (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills or TEKS) as recommended to you by the scientists and educators on your writing committees.

Evolution is the foundation of modern biology, and is also crucial in fields as diverse as agriculture, computer science, engineering, geology, and medicine. We oppose any efforts to undermine the teaching of biological evolution and related topics in the earth and space sciences, whether by misrepresenting those subjects, or by inaccurately and misleadingly describing them as controversial and in need of special scrutiny.

At its January 2009 meeting, the Texas Board of Education rightly rejected attempts to add language to the TEKS about “strengths and weaknesses”—used in past efforts to undermine the teaching of evolution in Texas. We urge the Board to stand firm in rejecting any such attempts to compromise the teaching of evolution.

At its January 2009 meeting, the Board also adopted a series of amendments to the TEKS that misrepresent biological evolution and related topics in the earth and space sciences. We urge the Board to heed the advice of the scientific community and the experienced scientists and educators who drafted the TEKS: reject these and any other amendments which single out evolution for scrutiny beyond that applied to other scientific theories.

By adopting the TEKS crafted by your expert writing committees, the Board will serve the best educational interests of students in Texas’s public schools.

52 signers (as of Mar 23, 3:30 pm PST)

1. American Anthropological Association
2. American Association of Physical Anthropologists
3. American Association of Physicists in Medicine
4. American Association of Physics Teachers
5. American Astronomical Society
6. American Geological Institute
7. American Institute for Biological Sciences
8. American Institute of Physics
9. American Institute of Professional Geologists
10. American Physiological Society
11. American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
12. American Society for Cell Biology
13. American Society for Investigative Pathology
14. American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
15. American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists
16. American Society of Naturalists
17. American Society of Plant Biology
18. American Society of Plant Taxonomists
19. Association for Women in Geoscience
20. Association of American Geographers
21. Association of College & University Biology Educators
22. Association of Earth Science Editors
23. Biological Science Curriculum Study
24. Biotechnology Institute
25. Botanical Society of America
26. Clay Minerals Society
27. Council on Undergraduate Research
28. Ecological Society of America
29. Federation for American Societies for Experimental Biology
30. Federation of American Scientists
31. Human Biology Association
32. National Association of Biology Teachers
33. National Association of Geoscience Teachers
34. National Earth Science Teachers
35. National Science Teachers Association
36. Natural Science Collection Alliance
37. Paleontological Society
38. Scientists and Engineers for America
39. Society for American Archaeology
40. Society for American Archaeology
41. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles
42. Society for Developmental Biology
43. Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology
44. Society for Sedimentary Geology
45. Society for the Study of Evolution
46. Society of Economic Geologists
47. Society of Systematic Biologists
48. Society of Vertebrate Paleontology
49. Southwestern Association of Naturalists
50. The Biophysical Society
51. The Helminthological Society of Washington
52. The Herpetologists’ League

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