Science Education
Category archives for Science Education
Texas Textbook Controversy on Nightline
Posted by Greg Laden on March 12, 2010 Fundamentalist Christian dentist promotes drastic curriculum change. Click here then click “Texas Textbook Controversy part way down the middle column.
First Annual Upchucky Awards Announced!!!
Posted by Greg Laden on March 3, 2010 Which creationist was the most nauseating? From the NCSE:
Every child is a casualty…
Posted by Greg Laden on February 14, 2010 … when it comes to Creationist Home Schooling.
There is a small difference between Har Mar and Har Har
Posted by Greg Laden on February 10, 2010 Har Mar is a funny little shopping mall in Roseville Minnesota. It is the home of the annual Twin Cities Creation Science Science Fair. Sometimes we visit the science fair, but it is not to laugh at the students….
Courts allow University of California to reject credit for Creationist High School courses
Posted by Greg Laden on February 7, 2010 A federal appellate court has ruled against a Christian school in Murrieta which had sued the University of California over its refusal to accept high school courses that rely on the Bible as the unerring source of truth. Details here. Next step: Homeschoolers! (Hat tip: August Berkshire)
2010 Home School Science Fair
Posted by Greg Laden on February 1, 2010 Is scheduled!
Will Minnesota Standards Allow Creationism in the Classroom?
Posted by Greg Laden on January 26, 2010 The following story is current, but the issue is not new. But interesting. … Science standards for Minnesota schools are about to be set for the next six years. Is the battle to keep pseudoscience out of our classrooms over? Sadly the door has been cracked open for intelligent design, an idea with no real…
Are the Skepchicks too sexy? (UPDATED)
Posted by Greg Laden on January 22, 2010 I recently posted an appeal to support the upcoming skeptical track at the Minneapolis CONvergence organized by The Skepchicks, a group of hip female skeptical activists and some guys. The first comment on that post was a stern admonition that one might not want to support “understanding of science and scepticism” by donating to this…
Religion and Science: The Non Debate
Posted by Greg Laden on January 19, 2010 There is an interesting conversation developing on The Intersection (What Should Science Organizations Say About Religion? Answer: A Lot) to which this is my response: The conversation you have modeled here (people talking past each other … see the original post) is very close to what actually happens in an NCSE like conversation, except that…
#scio10 Science Online 2010 recollections and reflections on the sessions I attended
Posted by Greg Laden on January 18, 2010 Last weekend I attended Science Online 2010, which is a conference of science communicators with a heavy mix of bloggers, many journalists and others from the print industry, an increasingly large number of book authors, and OpenX (X=access, notebook, science, or whatever) advocates and practitioners.
Unscientific America by Chris Mooney and Sheril Kirshenbaum: A review.
Posted by Greg Laden on January 13, 2010 Unscientific America: How Scientific Illiteracy Threatens our Future by Chris Mooney and Sheril Kirshenbaum tries to make several different points. The central framework of the book, on which all the arguments are hung, is that science has a status, a place, in American culture, politics, and economy, and that this status has changed over time.…
What to do with Bible thumping students (a repost)
Posted by Greg Laden on January 5, 2010 …. Have you ever had this happen: You are minding your own business, teaching your life science course, it’s early in the term. A student, on the way out after class (never at the beginning of class, rarely during class) mentions something about “carbon dating.” This usually happens around the time of year you are…
Empowering the individual does not equal ensmartening the individual
Posted by Greg Laden on December 14, 2009 Imagine the following scenario. Two guys are walking down the street, in different cities. Guy A has two PhDs, one in quantum physics with a focus on dimensionality dynamics, the other in astrophysics with a focus on relativistic aspects of gravity and black holes. She has published dozens of peer reviewed papers on both topics…
Are you a real skeptic? I doubt it.
Posted by Greg Laden on December 10, 2009 I mean, you might be, but I’m certainly not going to take your word for it….
Bergman vs. Myers Debate: Should Intelligent Design be Taught in The Schools?
Posted by Greg Laden on November 17, 2009 Bergman gave the argument FOR Intelligent Design, and Myers gave the argument AGAINST.
You said one thing wrong, therefore everything you ever said is also wrong
Posted by Greg Laden on November 9, 2009 In lecturing about behavioral biology (in any of a number of classes) it has been hard for me to avoid the lion story and the languar story. Both involve infanticide and selfish strategies by individuals. In both cases, females do things that are unexpected from the middle class heternormative Caucasoidowestern perspective. Babies die. For all…
Major News: Genie Scott joins Scientific American Team
Posted by Greg Laden on October 19, 2009 NCSE Executive Director Eugenie Scott has joined the Board of Advisors for Scientific American.
How To Get Away With Teaching The Controversy
Posted by Greg Laden on October 16, 2009 The following is an abstract from an article by Eugenie Scott of the National Center for Science Education called ?WHAT’S WRONG WITH THE “TEACH THE CONTROVERSY” SLOGAN?? available here.
What is Wrong with the American System of Education?
Posted by Greg Laden on October 15, 2009 Roughly half of the people in the United States reject one or more fundamental tenets of science (most commonly evolution), while a larger percent, perhaps more than 80 percent depending on how we measure, would fail a basic science test. A strong majority of those American citizens who would claim to have strong feelings about…
Science and Islam: A model for framing vs. popular science
Posted by Greg Laden on October 12, 2009 17th century Arabic anatomy drawing, from the Advances of Islamic Sciences web site. In some Islamic sects, drawing living things is not allowed. As a very practical matter, this excludes students from taking part in certain activities in science classrooms. During the Bell Museum Slapdown panel last week, Myers brought up differences between countries in…
How to teach evolution in the college classroom
Posted by Greg Laden on October 9, 2009 An item from the NCSE:
Massachusetts Bill To Push Creationism Into Schools?
Posted by Greg Laden on October 9, 2009 This just in from the NCSE:
Genie Scott Wins Major Award!!!
Posted by Greg Laden on October 8, 2009 This just in: Eugenie Scott, Executive Director of the NCSE, has won the California Academy of Sciences Fellows Medal. This is somewhere between an Oscar and a Nobel. Congratulations Genie!!! Details…
How the evidence for evolution was made up by Satan.
Posted by Greg Laden on October 5, 2009 hat tip: Rebecca
Saudi Cleric: Drop Evolution from the Curriculum
Posted by Greg Laden on October 2, 2009 The Medieval Religious State of Saudi Arabia has a school called King Abdullah’s University of Science and Technology, which is co-ed (that is an extraordinarily progressive idea for Teh Kingdom) and very science oriented. The idea, obviously, is for Saudi Arabia to maintain it’s old patriarchal relgious-oligarchic ways but at the same time not get…
The Importance of Scientific Literacy
Posted by Greg Laden on September 25, 2009 “At least once a week, if not once a day, we might each ponder what cosmic truths lie undiscovered before us, perhaps awaiting the arrival of a clever thinker, an ingenious experiment, or an innovative space mission to reveal them. We might further ponder how those discoveries may one day transform life on Earth.” ~Neil…
A former animal researcher speaks out
Posted by Greg Laden on September 22, 2009 Dario Ringach used animals in his research in neuroscience. When extremist animal rights activists tried to blow up his house in 2006, and accidentally almost blew up the wrong person’s house (in characteristic fashion, they got the address wrong, and the bomb did not function) Ringach got spooked and quit using the animals. Recently, Ringach…
Poll: Should educators be fined or jailed for offering prayer in public schools?
Posted by Greg Laden on September 18, 2009 WPTV.COM has a poll asking “Should educators be fined or jailed for offering prayer in public schools?” and the possible answers are “yes” and “no.” Which I guess means they are not really asking an “either/or” question although it is worded that way. Anyway, this relates to THIS STORY about people who work for a…
Why are most Americans creationists?
Posted by Greg Laden on September 17, 2009 We know there is a link between education, church going behavior, and the inability or unwillingness to accept that evolution is real and that humans evolved. But what exactly is the relationship? I think the following diagram includes the correct answer, but I’m not sure which one it is:
The Blogginheads.tv Controversy
Posted by Greg Laden on September 7, 2009 Since the bloggingheads “diavlog” with David Dobbs and me was the first science-oriented installment to come out (more or less) since the repudiation of Bloggingheads.tv by Carl Zimmer and Sean Carrol, and now Phil Plait and PZ Myers, I think I should say something about why I did it and what I think about the…
, which is now available for the 
