[Taxacom] Fwd: evolution education

[m.egger at comcast.net]

Well, I'm a secondary Biology teacher in an admittedly supportive region (Seattle), but I teach an extensive evolution unit and rarely have push-back from parents or students (much less school boards.)  I'm up front about what I teach from the start, saying that the vast majority of scientists regard evolution as a fact, debated 150 years ago but now proved beyond reasonable doubt, and that, while there will be many viewpoints in the class, I expect each of them to at least have a clear understanding of the present state of our knowledge of how it works and the evidence scientists in many fields have documented that make evolution the dominant organizing principle in the biological sciences.  I also teach evolution in the center of my curriculum, after general cell chemistry and morphology and immediately after the genetics unit, so that the nature of evolution as essentially a genetic process is apparent. I think a significant problem in teaching evolution at my level relates to the whole red state/blue state schism in our country, so that it's very politicized in places like Oklahoma, but much less so in other regions less prone to fundamentalist zealotry. Also rural vs. urban. Another problem is inadequate teacher training and in some districts inappropriate teacher selection, with the hiring of people as teachers who are clearly unqualified for and even hostile to the teaching of evolution. In those cases, I'd actually be happy if they skipped evolution completely! I have a great advantage in teaching in a supportive region and in being a botanist myself, so that I can include examples of evolutionary concepts and process directly from my own studies. 

Mark 


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John Grehan" <jgrehan at sciencebuff.org> 
To: taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu 
Sent: Thursday, February 3, 2011 6:31:04 AM 
Subject: Re: [Taxacom] evolution education 

So what, in your view, are the principles of evolution and what is so 
hard about them to teach and what is so difficult about the concept 
compared to other science concepts? 

John Grehan 

-----Original Message----- 
From: fautin at ku.edu [mailto:fautin at ku.edu] 
Sent: Thursday, February 03, 2011 9:27 AM 
To: John Grehan 
Cc: taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu 
Subject: Re: [Taxacom] evolution education 

Of course it is -- we all do.  The puzzlement to us -- at least speaking 

for those with whom I have discussed this extensively -- is those who 
love 
nature yet deny evolution. 


Daphne G. Fautin 
Professor, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology 
Curator, Natural History Museum and Biodiversity Research Center 
Haworth Hall 
University of Kansas 
1200 Sunnyside Avenue 
Lawrence, Kansas 66045-7534  USA 

telephone 1-785-864-3062 
fax 1-785-864-5321 
evo user name fautin 
website www.nhm.ku.edu/~inverts 

       direct to database of hexacorals, including sea anemones 
               newest version released 22 December 2010 
         ***http://hercules.kgs.ku.edu/Hexacoral/Anemone2*** 


On Thu, 3 Feb 2011, John Grehan wrote: 

> 
> -----Original Message----- 
> From: taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu 
> [mailto:taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu] On Behalf Of fautin at ku.edu 
> Subject: Re: [Taxacom] evolution education 
> 
> "And a final reason teachers skipped (and still skip) that last 
> chapter and do not put everything in an evolutionary context is that 
> they 
> themselves are uncertain about the principles of evolution (as I like 
to 
> 
> say, it's not rocket science -- it's harder!!;" 
> 
> It is? 
> 
> 
> "evolution is a difficult 
> concept to understand at a level that allows one to teach it 
> effectively)," 
> 
> Really? 
> 
> "having had a deficient scientific education, which they blithely pass 
> on. 
> It is certainly possible to love nature and deny evolution." 
> 
> And it's also possible to love nature and accept evolution. 
> 
> John Grehan 
> 
> 
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