Creation Science
gregladen | January 26, 2008This is a repost of an item from my old blog.
The Twin Cities Home Schooling Creationist Science Fair at Har Mar Mall in Roseville, Minnesota happened last month. The organization that (at least partly) sponsors this event (Twin Cities Creation Science) usually posts photographs of the science fair, but this year they got into a tizzy about it for some reason and removed the photographs from their web site.
I was at the science fair, and I snapped a couple of photos, and I think there are interesting points of discussion that are lost with the TCCSA dropping the ball. Unfortunately, many…
gregladen | January 26, 2008This is a repost of an item from my old blog.
The fear of God is the beginning of knowledge.
Proverbs 1:7
This is an Absodoodly-don't miss event!
Har Mar Mall, Rosedale District
Roseville Minnesota
Feb 17 and 18 2007
Exhibits must be set up between 8:30 and 10:00 am Saturday and will remain up until 4:00 pm Sunday
Judging begins at 10:00 am and finishes at about 12:30 pm Saturday
According to Russ McGlenn (the dapper gentlemen in the photo, shown here at the Har Mar Mall during a previous Creation Science Fair), of Adventure Safaris (facilitator and coordinating agency of the Home…
gregladen | January 26, 2008I'm serious. You can't see this post until you put down your coffee and make sure your airways are clear. Then you can click on the heading and laugh, and cry, and everything...
This is a repost of an item from my old blog.
OK, I think this is fake, it can't be real. This was spotted on Pharyngula, and PZ Myers is a smart guy, but maybe this time he was fooled.
I'm talking about the "Twin Citeis Creation Science Association 2007 Home School Science Fair" planned for February 17th and 18th.
Here is the link if you want to see their site.
The following are my favorites form a list of 114…
gregladen | January 25, 2008"This is the story of a battle between faith and knowledge..."
The first in a series from the BBC
Next in the series
gregladen | January 25, 2008From the NCSE newsroom:
At least nine county school boards in northern Florida have adopted resolutions calling for the state board of education "to revise the new Sunshine State Standards for Science such that evolution is not presented as fact, but as one of several theories," according to a January 23, 2008, report from Florida Citizens for Science. These resolutions represent a backlash to a draft set of new state science standards, which are presently undergoing revision in response to comments from the public. The state board of education is expected to consider the revised draft set of…
gregladen | January 23, 2008Check out Tangled Up in Blue Guy's LOL creationist school board yahoo, here.
gregladen | January 21, 2008For your amusement, a selection from the public comments on the fight over science standards in Florida.
"How is anyone's life improved by believing in evolution?"
"I will not allow you to teach my child this no matter what you put in your curriculum. I stand for Christ and his creation."
"To teach only one theory is communistic."
"This is unacceptable, unless Biblical Creationism is taught alongside evolution."
"I strongly disagree with the term 'evolution' being used in kindergarten or any grade level. I would change the term 'evolution' to a more user friendly term such as 'adaptations…
gregladen | January 20, 2008Florida State Board of Education (Panda's thumb)Ignorance By Design: Florida School Board Resolutions (Panda's Thumb)What's your school board like? (Pharyngula)Where did those anti-evolution resolutions come from? (Panda's Thumb)
gregladen | January 20, 2008Apropos the fight over excellent science education (as opposed to creationism) in Florida schools, is it OK for a church, which I presume has religious non profit status, to engage actively in an attempt to sway elected officials?
Regarding the State Board of Education meetings to discuss this issue in Florida ...
Also present at the Tampa SBOE meeting was Terry Kemple, member of Bell Shoals Baptist Church in Brandon where he is a leader of the church's Community Issues Committee. Kemple told the Witness his church has been informing its members about the science standards and encouraging…
gregladen | January 19, 2008This is Part 1 because there is more than one part. But I'm only going to do one of them, so it is Part 1 of 1. There is more than one "kind" of home schooler, home schooling parent, home schooling family, etc., and thus there are multiple attitudes. But a good chunk of the home schooling population, represented by these excerpts from their own rhetoric, are more than a little annoying, and are the reason why we should always be suspicious of home schooling and home schoolers until we see their credentials.
Home Schooling Is a Good Choice for Christian Parenting
If you want to impart a…
gregladen | January 19, 2008Today's St. Petersburg Times has a letter from Bill Foster. Foster was the outgoing city councilman who wrote a letter to the school board opposing the teaching of modern Evolutionary Biology, or at least, the teaching of modern science without wrapping it in a medieval blanket of Christian Inquisitorial reasoning. Let's have a look at Bills latest letter.
On Jan. 2, I spent my last day as a St. Petersburg city councilman. I was heralded by my colleagues and received a key to the city from the mayor. After almost 10 years of service, I was forced out of office due to term limits. Many nice…
gregladen | January 19, 2008Sorry, this is not as fresh and current as I would like, but you will still find it interesting. The National Center for Science Education has a news release covering a number of topics:
DECISION ON ICR'S GRADUATE SCHOOL DEFERRED
The Institute for Creation Research's quest for Texas certification of its
graduate school, which would offer a master's degree in science education,
is on hold, at the ICR's request. A preliminary assessment of the ICR's
facilities described the educational program as "plausible," adding, "The
proposed degree would be generally comparable to an initial master's…
gregladen | January 19, 2008Education committees are beginning to review the science standards for Texas Schools this month. There are indications that efforts will be made to weaken the standing of evolution, or insinuate creationism, creation science, or intelligent design into the standards.
The current Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills standards includes a statement that sudents must learn "the theory of biological evolution." The standards also specify that students must apply critical thinking, address "strengths and weaknesses" in theories.
This does not sound like a bad idea, but it is exactly the kind of…
gregladen | January 19, 2008First, from the standard news sources in Jacksonville:
Despite impassioned opposition from science experts, teachers and some clergy, Clay County School Board members unanimously resolved Tuesday night that evolution should be presented as a theory, and not fact, in the classroom.
The board passed a resolution, proposed by Superintendent David Owens, asking the Florida Department of Education to reword its newly proposed state standards, which presents evolution as "the fundamental concept underlying all of biology and is supported in multiple forms of scientific evidence."
Baker County…
gregladen | January 19, 2008From the Texas Citizens for Science:
In an email message to its friends, the Institute for Creation Research proposes The Disjunctive Duality of Science Distinction, a new argument to support its effort to obtain Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board approval for its masters degree program in science education. The argument is actually an old one. It posits that two types of science exist, "experimental" science and "forensic, historical, or orgins" science. Only the first is real science, while the second--which, needless to say, includes evolutionary biology--is not a reliable science…
gregladen | January 18, 2008[Post Revised]
According to one story:
After a public hearing Thursday evening to discuss a possible change in the way science courses are taught in public schools, the Clay County [Florida] School Board voted unanimously to support a change in the state science curriculum that would use the word evolution in the classroom.
The state Board of Education will scheduled to vote Feb. 19 on the change, which would require more in-depth teaching of evolution and other scientific topics while setting specific benchmarks for students to meet.
Source is here.
But according to other sources, things…
gregladen | January 16, 2008From the National Center for Science Education:
Science, Evolution, and Creationism, the new book from the National Academy of Sciences and Institute of Medicine designed to give the public a comprehensive and up-to-date picture of the current scientific understanding of evolution and its importance in the science classroom, is receiving wide attention -- and, what's more, praise both from the scientific community and newspapers across the country for its uncompromising endorsement of the necessity of including evolution in science education.
Stories about Science, Evolution, and Creationism…
gregladen | January 15, 2008Texas higher education officials announced today that they have postponed action on a Bible-oriented group's proposal to offer a master's degree in science education.
The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board had been scheduled to consider the proposal by the Dallas-based Institute for Creation Research at a meeting Jan. 24.
But Eddy Miller, dean of the institute's graduate school, said in an e-mail to the coordinating board Monday that the school needs more time "to do justice to the concerns you raised," according to a news release issued by the coordinating board. Miller asked the…
gregladen | January 15, 2008If you follow the creationist news stories from around the country, you get a lot of the same exact thing over and over again, and it is hard to identify the novel or persistent elements in the flow of information. But increasingly it is clear that Bill Foster of St. Petersburg Florida is somewhat novel and starting to look persistent.
Foster was a relatively typical family values fiscal conservative kind of city council member. Term limits have forced him out of his job, which is too bad because maybe he would have just continued along that course minding his own business and not doing…