Science Education
gregladen | January 20, 2008The National Science Board this week said leading science and engineering indicators tell a mixed story regarding the achievement of the US in science, research and development, and math in international comparisons.
For example, US schools continue to lag behind internationally in science and math education. On the other hand, the US is the largest, single, R&D-performing nation in the world pumping some $340 billion into future-related technologies. The US also leads the world in patent development.
Details here.
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 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…
gregladen | January 13, 2008It is science fair season! Elmer's Inc is cranking out the three-part display boards, Office Max is stocking up on its colored paper and glue sticks, and thousands upon thousands of kids are working out the fine details of the hypothesis they want to test using an experiment that can be demonstrated in the Science Fair.
Pretty boring, actually.
Unless you focus on the Christian Creationist Science Fairs. They are Always so much fun. And remember, Greg Laden's Blog here at scienceblogs.com is your Christian Creation Science Creationist Science Fair Center! Keep checking back!
For now, I…
clock | January 12, 2008OK, this may not be very new, but for all of you taking a look at science in North Carolina next week due to the focus on the Science Blogging Conference, The Scientist has published a number of essays looking at every aspect of Life Science in the state - check it out: The State of Life Sciences.
For the latest news on life science in North Carolina, visit the Bioscience Clearinghouse, a very useful website hosted by The North Carolina Association for Biomedical Research.
gregladen | January 11, 2008The latest on the Florida fight over the use of the actual word "evolution" in the classroom. (Or, more specifically, in the science standards)
A panel of education experts just wrapped up three days of meetings at the state Department of Education to hammer out new standards. The state Board of Education will have the final say next month.
The way science is taught in Florida public school classrooms could soon change. Right now, the state science curriculum uses the words "biological changes over time" instead of "evolution".
Biology teacher Nicholas Daigle believes the current standards…
clock | January 11, 2008From an e-mail from the Science Communicators of North Carolina:
At noon on Friday, January 18, the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent) in Durham will host a seminar by Josh Rosenau, the Public Information Project Director at the National Center for Science Education. Rosenau, who is in town for the Science blogging conference, will opine on the subject of "Talking to the Media about Evolution and Creationism." The discussion is sure to be lively.
gregladen | January 11, 2008Here's a novel idea for creationists: Be honest!
As you know, the Institute for Creation Research is trying to get an online Masters Degree in "science education" approved in Texas. A faux committee comprised of nincompoops and creationists has approved the degree at the first stage, and it is now being considered by the Texas higher education commission. (Details here)
A recent report indicates that the Texas Commissioner of Higher Education has chimed in on the suggestion that this degree simply be called a "degree in creation studies." Interesting solution.
Apparently, one of the…
gregladen | January 11, 2008... will be featured on Science Friday with Ira Flatow, today (Friday), January 11th. Details are here.
Thanks Sheril for the info.
clock | January 11, 2008If you look at the Program page on the wiki for the Science Blogging Conference, you will see, for the Saturday program, there are 12 excellent sessions, a panel and a talk. Each has a discussion page which you should edit to add your own thoughts, ideas and questions.
One of the sessions I expect to have a big draw, particularly with so many science teachers at the conference, is the session on Teaching Science: using online tools in the science classroom, led by a real pro on the topic - David Warlick. David already has an ongoing discussion of the session on his own blog where you are…
sporte | January 10, 2008We often see memorials written about famous scientists, but we rarely see them about the people who work in the background to help people learn the science in the first place. Ron was one of those people whose work inspired teachers and helped spark excitement in science students throughout the world.
I just learned last week that Ron passed away and I'm still in a state of shock.
I met Ron ten years ago at the first BIO teachers' conference. I was a conference volunteer, working on the teachers' program planning committee and representing Bio-Link. BIO 99 was the first time that the…
evolgen | January 10, 2008There's a large element of "chance" in all biological systems. Whether it's a biochemical process within a cell, the movement of cells throughout an organism, or the evolution of the those organisms, stochasticity plays a large a part in biology. Unfortunately, this is often missed by most students of biology -- either because they fail to grasp the concept or it is never even presented to them.
Yann points us to an article in PLoS Biology on teaching students how to appreciate the importance of randomness (I prefer to call it stochasticity) in biology:
Klymkowsky MW, Garvin-Doxas K (2008)…
gregladen | January 5, 2008Christian Creationists are accusing scientists of being defensive, ignorant, reprehensible, and troubling. They might be right.
The NAS just published the latest version of its book on Evolution and Creationism (free, by the way: Your tax dollars at work) and we are now seeing the trickle of reaction from the largely creationist Christian community turn from a trickle to a drizzle.
I myself think it is a good book, but I believe they made two very important (and closely linked) errors. First, they should not have discussed creationism at all. It should be a book about evolution, with a…