NCSE Evolution Education Update for 2010/07/02
Submitted by Peter Burns on Fri, 2010-07-02 14:37.
National Center for Science Education
(by NCSE Deputy Director Glenn Branch)
Dear Friends of NCSE, A special issue of Evolution: Education and Outreach in honor of Eugenie C. Scott's sixty-fifth birthday is published, and Creation is now available on DVD.
A SPECIAL JOURNAL ISSUE HONORS NCSE'S SCOTT The latest issue of Evolution: Education and Outreach (volume 3, number 2) is in honor of -- if a few months in advance of -- the sixty-fifth birthday of NCSE's executive director Eugenie C. Scott. Edited by NCSE's deputy director Glenn Branch (who contributed "Three wishes for Genie" by way of introduction), it contains essays by Nicholas J. Matzke, Robert T. Pennock, Barbara Forrest, Raymond Arthur Eve with Susan Carol Losh and Brandon Nzekwe, Lawrence M. Krauss, Robert M. Hazen, Kevin Padian, Jay D. Wexler, Kenneth R. Miller, Brian Alters, and Carl Zimmer. Plus there's a biographical appreciation by Andrew J. Petto, a bibliography compiled by Adam M. Goldstein and Glenn Branch, and a reflection on the importance of "Listening to Teachers" by Scott herself. Additionally, NCSE's Louise S. Mead and Scott offered a further installment in Overcoming Obstacles to Evolution Education, NCSE's regular feature in Evolution: Education and Outreach. Entitled "Problem Concepts in Evolution Part II: Cause and Chance," their column discusses how the concepts of cause and chance are often confusing to students and suggests "how to address these specific challenges to understanding evolution in light of recent research." And NCSE's Steven Newton reviewed Ralph O'Connor's The Earth on Show: Fossils and the Poetics of Popular Science, 1802-1856 (University of Chicago Press, 2007), which, he writes, "presents a wide-ranging view of how geology, in its earliest days, appealed through drama and spectacle to an exclusive portion of the public." Originally, Evolution: Education and Outreach was freely available on-line. Now, as Niles Eldredge and Gregory Eldredge explain in their editorial, "After a temporary hiatus, ... we are poised to come back free online -- the better to serve our educational outreach mission." Past issues will soon begin to appear on-line at the National Institutes of Health's PubMed Central. But there's no need to wait to read the articles by Matzke, Padian, and Scott, which were published through Springer's Open Access program and are already freely available. Moreover, NCSE members will have the opportunity to receive a printed copy of the issue, which will be offered as a gift premium in the fall fundraising letter. And if you're not a member of NCSE, what are you waiting for? Join today. For information about Evolution: Education and Outreach, visit: http://www.springer.com/life+sciences/evolutionary+%26+developmental+biology/journal/12052 For Matzke's, Padian's, and Scott's articles (all PDF), visit: http://springerlink.com/content/7910v5m6865g9026/fulltext.pdf http://springerlink.com/content/47021mlr4766u146/fulltext.pdf http://springerlink.com/content/71t5725301u2l857/fulltext.pdf For information about becoming a member of NCSE, visit: http://ncse.com/membership CREATION DEBUTS ON DVD Creation, the 2009 film about Darwin starring Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connolly, will be available on DVD and for digital download on June 29, 2010. In her review of Creation at The Panda's Thumb blog, NCSE's executive director Eugenie C. Scott described it as "a thoughtful, well-made film that will change many views of Darwin held by the public -- for the good." Among the extras on the DVD version are, unsurprisingly, a commentary by director Jon Amiel and a making-of-the-film documentary featuring Amiel, Bettany, and Randal Keynes, a great-great-grandson of Darwin, on whose book Creation was based. "Digging Deeper Into Darwin" discusses the film's treatment of seven topics in Darwin's life. Two further extras are somewhat unusual. "Debating Darwin" features a young-earth creationist as well as two distinguished British biologists -- Lewis Wolpert and Denis Alexander -- discussing issues related to the film; "Pollard on Film on Creation" is a review-cum-reflection produced by a non-denominational Christian organization in the United Kingdom. For information about Creation, visit: http://creationthemovie.com/ For Scott's review, visit: http://pandasthumb.org/archives/2009/09/eugenie-scott-r.html Thanks for reading! And don't forget to visit NCSE's website -- http://ncse.com -- where you can always find the latest news on evolution education and threats to it. -- Sincerely, Glenn Branch Deputy Director National Center for Science Education, Inc. 420 40th Street, Suite 2 Oakland, CA 94609-2509 510-601-7203 x310 fax: 510-601-7204 800-290-6006 branch@ncse.com http://ncse.com Subscribe to NCSE's free weekly e-newsletter: http://groups.google.com/group/ncse-news NCSE is on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter: http://www.facebook.com/evolution.ncse http://www.youtube.com/NatCen4ScienceEd http://twitter.com/ncse NCSE's work is supported by its members. Join today! http://ncse.com/membership
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