January 26, 2009
Slacktivist has an interesting plan for abstinence education:
Two things I've never been able to figure out about "abstinence only" sex education.
1. Isn't it necessary, at some point, to describe what it is, exactly (or even generally), that they're supposed to be abstaining from?
2. Since the…
January 23, 2009
The new science standards survived without reinserting "strengths and weaknesses." That phrase has been abused by creationists in the past, and its removal is a giant victory.
Disco. is trying to hustle a win out of some random changes to the evolution section of the Biology TEKS, but, as they say…
January 22, 2009
President GOBAMA! closes Gitmo, rebans torture, and says of the struggle against al Qaeda:
We intend to win this fight, and we intend to win it on our terms.
Damn straight.
January 22, 2009
An amendment by Cargill is being passed around. It changes ESS standards.
Will it change the age of the earth? Oh, I'm so anxious I could plotz.
Amendment is on the page listing "(4) Earth in space and time."
She says it adds qualifiers. Seeks "humility and tentativeness."
She wants to insert "…
January 22, 2009
Ecto crash cost me a liveblog. Leo offered BS amendments which don't do much ultimate harm, but do hurt treatment of evolution. Each part of biology 7 gets "analyze and evaluate" at the beginning of the standard. This makes some sections ungrammatical or irrelevant.
McLeroy passed an amendment…
January 22, 2009
Miller: Real science is debate. Praises standards writers. Votes against amendment.
Nuñez is still missing.
Knight: Allen said everything that should be said.
Craig: This doesn't restrict discussion, doesn't infringe rights. It does better at encouraging freedom than old lines.
As Cargill…
January 22, 2009
Agosto is playing for time. Praises energy on both sides. Says he's open-minded. Willing to listen to everyone.
He's the swing vote. Everyone's hanging on his every word.
"I echo Bradley's comments," about the amount of commentary, but will vote against the amendment. Standards are good,…
January 22, 2009
Mercer: Teach S&W of everything. It would be illegal to single out evolution. 6500 emails say keep S&W. He's been battered. This is a battle for freedom of speech. Teachers have a right to allow students to have questions. I note that teachers also have a right to maintain order in…
January 22, 2009
1:15 Dunbar just moved to amend the TEKS to restore the bogus S&W language rather than the language preferred by scientific and science education experts.
She's saying it will somehow stave off litigation. NO! It will bring litigation. Now she's saying other board members are disingenuous.…
January 22, 2009
Dunbar proposes that old TEKS be revise to say:
Analyze, evaluate, and critique scientific explanations by using empirical evidence, logical reasoning, experimental and observational reasoning and problem solving by examining scientific evidence supportive and not supportive of those explanations.…
January 22, 2009
Casey Luskin, Disco. Inst's attack caterpillar, posts an Epilogue on Dr. Meyer’s Texas Testimony: Stephen Meyer Demolishes Darwinist Personal Attacks:
The first question the Texas Darwinists asked was whether Dr. Meyer has a Ph.D. in biology. No, Dr. Meyer answered, he merely holds a Ph.D. in…
January 22, 2009
*chopper blades whirr, their flicker blending into the flickering of fluorescent lights in a vast chamber*
Austin… crap, I'm still in Austin. Every time I think I'm going to wake up back in the prairie. When I was in the hotel after the first day, it was worse. I'd wake up and there'd be nothing…
January 22, 2009
Forgot to post this last night.
He's back to claiming phylogenetics is circular.
Not fair to say that IDers are not there, or that their numbskulls.
He is insisting that he's not a creationist, and yet:
Q. Do you accept the general principle of common descent that all life is biologically related…
January 21, 2009
Leo: I know you won't defend your Cambridge PhD. Asks about Cambrian. Also, is Disco. creationist? Now she's getting pissy, and blithering about lots of topics.
Meyer: "Do you know what an argument from authority is?" Will you offer one now? Accuses experts of appealing to authority, rather…
January 21, 2009
It's worth noting something about Garner's statements. He claims that evolution is treated specially, but this is nonsense. The language in question is used everywhere. He claims that the standards related to evolution is somehow less in-depth, that evolution is less scrutinized.
Rick Agosto was…
January 21, 2009
Charles Garner, creationist chemist from Baylor: Are there weaknesses in theories? Sez we can substitute explanations or hypotheses, but these are not interchangeable. Claims theory is being redefined, which is nonsense. Can be weaknesses. Gets into origins of life, beginning with proteins,…
January 21, 2009
Ron Wetherington, a professor of anthropology at Southern Methodist University: Praises draft standards. Allows publishers to stick to facts. "Partisans are generating doubt about evolution with disingenuous phrases." People lack understanding of key concepts.
What are weaknesses? Common in…
January 21, 2009
In brief, Skoog points out that science ed. in Texas is behind other states, and that the circuitous path to critical analysis via S&W is less effective than just teaching critical analysis.
Seelke discussed his bogus research, which doesn't make sense and won't make sense to Board members, but…
January 21, 2009
Stephen Meyer, Disco. Inst. veep and author of Explore Evolution.
He insists that the new standards treat evolution in a special way, ignoring critical evaluation. I note in passing that the new standards more accurately reflect the practice of science, including for evolution.
Then he talks about…
January 21, 2009
Steve Lyons, parent, grandparent: Words mean things. Otherwise things would be nonsense. This is a coup d'etat. Theory is redefined, treated as if they were facts. S&W gives all sides. Teach good science.
Daniel Bolnick, professor at UT: 1500 members of 21st Century Coalition. Don't…
January 21, 2009
In November, the Texas Board of Education met to consider their new science standards. As I've mentioned a major point of contention is a reference in the current standards to "strengths and weaknesses" of scientific explanations, a concept only ever applied to evolution, and without any clear…
January 21, 2009
Peter Johnston, parent, fmr. SBOE candidate, lawyer: Teach S&W. History of science shows that we aren't all objective. "Powers that be in science … resist change." Difficult to see outside the box. Maundering on Kuhn.
Dunbar: "Mrs. Scott." It's "Dr.," dammit. What's the deal with…
January 21, 2009
Some dude who cut in line, science prof.: Keep the language unchanged. How many conformists got patents or Nobel Prizes? Key element of college readiness is crit. thinking. Quote Nietzsche, to no clear end. Campbell and Reece disparages anything but evolution.
C&R is a college text.
Leo:…
January 21, 2009
You can listen along with me at: http://at1.tea.state.tx.us/sboeaudio
As before, board comments are in blue.
Rose Banzhas, speaking for herself but also an environmental educator: Environmental education matters. As an outdoor educator, I know this matters.
McLeroy keeps asking people if they're…
January 21, 2009
I'm here in Austin, watching people speak out about the science Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS). Board questions are in red. Bored comments will be interspersed. As always, as a blogger I don't speak for NCSE, and have been known to work blue.
8:33: First up, Sharon Sparlin, a…
January 20, 2009
Martin Cothran, who never met a logical error he didn't like, has a question about the inauguration:
If this isn't a Christian nation, then why are presidents (including this one) sworn in using a Bible, rather than, say, the Koran or Bagavad-Gita?
For the same reason it wasn't a White nation just…
January 20, 2009
I'm in Austin, preparing to watch the Texas Board of Education consider new science standards.
The old standards got an F from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a conservative-leaning education think tank which reviewed the science standards in all 50 states in 2005. The reviewers found the…
January 20, 2009
Dr. President Obama,
Let me start by saying that there are few things I've done in my life that I'm prouder of than helping to get you elected. The community of people I met here in California, in Nevada, and spoke with on the phone across the nation, was astonishing and a source of constant…
January 20, 2009
From the President's Inaugural Address:
For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act -- not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and…
January 19, 2009
For once I tried to think ahead about a major anniversary, and I'm still casting about for original thoughts on what would have been Martin Luther King Jr.'s 80th birthday.
Obviously, there's the significance of MLK Day being followed by President Obama's inauguration. That's a connection so…
