creationism
mikethemadbiologist | September 26, 2010For those who don't know, Texas is very important in determining what is found in U.S. textbooks due to its large purchasing power. While keeping anti-science wackaloons off of school boards is a good thing anywhere, it goes double in Texas. Sheril Kirshenbaum explains:
There are two, local races, where every penny goes to work, that have big implications for science education all over the country. The outcome of either contest could tip the balance away from anti-science extremists who seized control of the schoolboard to professional educators with the students' best interests in mind.…
pharyngula | September 25, 2010It's one of the oldest, most ridiculous canards creationists use: "Why aren't monkeys still evolving into humans?" And here's Christine O'Donnell thinking it's a valid argument.
I think she was also about to claim that Darwin retracted his theory, before she got cut off…and that's another creationist lie.
Maher also misses the point in his answer. This isn't an issue of evolution being too slow at all; it's a creationist misconception that evolution is directed towards a goal, and that that goal is humanity. Monkeys are evolving into monkeys, not people.
Maher is also astonished that…
gregladen | September 24, 2010A sidebar in a marine science textbook recommended for approval in Florida is "packed with good ol' fashioned creationist language," Florida Citizens for Science charges. The text in question, Life on an Ocean Planet (Current Publishing, 2011), was recently recommended for state approval by the state's instructional materials adoption committee on a 7-2 vote, according to the education blog of the St. Petersburg Times (September 22, 2010). But as FCFS's president Joe Wolf wrote to Florida Department of Education Commissioner Eric Smith, the sidebar on "Questions about the Origin and…
pharyngula | September 24, 2010I don't know how they do it. The Texas BOE has a new 'controversy' to fret over:
At a three-day meeting that started Wednesday, the board is scheduled to consider a resolution that would require it to reject textbooks that it determines are tainted with teaching "pro-Islamic, anti-Christian half-truths and selective disinformation," a bias that it argues is reflected in current schoolbooks.
I really missed the public school education in Islam — we never learned much of anything about anything outside the borders of the US, I'm afraid. And I rather doubt that in the current political climate…
tfk | September 23, 2010Not to reopen raw wounds, but reposting my talk from Netroots Nation reminded me of two other sessions I attended, both on the theme of snark and satire. Unfortunately, video from the one I want to talk about today is not yet online.
As you'll recall, sciencebloggers and skeptics were really bored over the summer, and to pass the time they got into a fight over whether it was good or bad to be dickish. Those who said "no," generally argued that there's no particular evidence that such behavior is effective at convincing people to join your cause and the peer reviewed literature found dickish…
gregladen | September 22, 2010NCSE's executive director Eugenie C. Scott was invited to debate Ray Comfort, a creationist in the news recently for his plans to distribute copies of the Origin of Species with his own introduction, on the God & Country blog of U.S. News & World Report. Comfort began the debate on October 29, 2009; Scott replied on October 30, 2009; Comfort responded on November 2, 2009; and Scott replied on November 3, 2009. The debate, according to Dan Gilgoff, who maintains the blog, elicited "more feedback than any other issue on this blog has received over any similar stretch in its not-quite-…
pharyngula | September 22, 2010I sometimes teach a course in scientific writing, in which we instruct students in the basics of writing a paper: citing the literature, the conventions of the standard science paper (introduction, methods, results, discussion), all that sort of thing. We also discuss research topics and coming up with a reasonable rationale for doing the work, and "the instructor told me to do it" or "I like turtles" isn't adequate — that one of the results of researching a topic should be the discovery of genuine problems that warrant deeper analysis. A science paper is a story, and it always begins with a…
pharyngula | September 21, 2010Then you can read the Belorussian translation of my Expelled post.
Hmmm. I wonder if a Belorussian translation of that ghastly movie is in circulation out there right now…
pharyngula | September 21, 2010The Institute for Creation Research has a "museum", and they're having an open house on Saturday, 25 September, from 9-5. I think it would be lovely if smart, science-minded people were to crash the event, either to politely protest outside of it, or quietly enter and offer rational commentary on the exhibits — your choice.
Here's the address:
Creation and Earth History "Museum"
10946 Woodside Ave
Santee, CA
Send me accounts and pictures if you go!
gregladen | September 21, 2010It is very common, across the U.S., for science teachers to dread the "evolution" unit that they teach during life science class.
As they approach the day, and start to prepare the students for what is coming, they begin to hear the sarcastic remarks from the creationist students. When the day to engage the evolution unit arrives, students may show up in the classroom with handouts from anti-science sites like Answers in Genesis, to give to their friends. They may carry a bible to the lab station and read it instead of doing the work. If there is a parent conference night around that…
pharyngula | September 19, 2010That Irish crank who had a technology minister on his side had his book launch, and the Irish Atheists were there. It sounds like May was laughable.
While being filmed for a documentary about his book, the author says he was asked about Lucy and whether this discovery did not provide evidence for evolution. May dismissed it as a hoax, saying that it was made from a pig's jawbone and that this was a well-known fact. At this early stage, this bizarre comment was mostly greeted with rolled eyes and suppressed giggles. As May continued presenting "facts" of this calibre, the objections from the…
gregladen | September 17, 2010This is why we love Genie Scott:
The NCSE now has a channel on You Tube, and at this time you can see most, probably all, of Genie's testimony in Texas. It is very instructive.
GENIE SCOTT IS A MACHINE!!!
tfk | September 17, 2010As far as I can tell, the new Disco. blogger I discussed yesterday made a mistake in her post's title. "Nature: I used to love her, now I'll have to kill her," sure seems like a reference to the classic Guns 'n' Roses song: "I used to love her." But the lyrics go:
I used to love her, but I had to kill her
I used to love her, but I had to kill her
I had to put her
Six feet under
And I can still hear her complain
And so forth.
Aside from misquoting a line repeated at least 8 times in the song, I still don't see the connection between that sentiment and the article's theme. But since the…
gregladen | September 17, 2010Amy Binder and John H. Evans, associate professors of Sociology at the University of California at San Diego, have written a piece on efforts to force religion in the guise of Intelligent Design and Creationism down the throats of children in Texas.
a repost
A proposal before the Texas Board of Education calls for including the "strengths and weaknesses" of evolution in the state's science curriculum. This initiative is understood by supporters and opponents to be a strategic effort to get around First Amendment restrictions on teaching religion in science class. The proposal is a new round…
gregladen | September 16, 2010The 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.
a repost
a repost
Teachers are often exhorted by creationists to "teach the controversy." Although such encouragement sounds on the surface like a proposal for critical thinking instruction, the history of the creationist movement in North America belies this claim. Rather than teach students to analyze and evaluate actual scientific controversies, the intent of "teach the controversy" exhortations is to…