NCSE Evolution Education Update for 2011/10/21
Submitted by Peter Burns on Fri, 2011-10-21 13:20.
National Center for Science Education
(by NCSE Deputy Director Glenn Branch)
Dear Friends of NCSE, A new issue of RNCSE for your reading pleasure. NABT issues a 2011 update of its statement on teaching evolution. And a well-deserved honor for long-time NCSE member James Krupa.
RNCSE 31:5 NOW ON-LINE NCSE is pleased to announce the fifth issue of Reports of the National Center for Science Education in its new on-line format. The issue -- volume 31, number 5 -- features Lorence G. Collins and Barbara J. Collins's article "Pleistocene Continental Glaciers: A Single Ice Age Following a Genesis Flood or Multiple Ice Ages?" and David Morrison's feature "Science Denialism: Evolution and Climate Change," arguing, "There are some interesting common elements in these two cases of science denialism." For his regular People and Places column, Randy Moore discusses the impresario of the Scopes trial, George Rappleyea (1894-1966). Plus a host of reviews of books on the history of science: J. David Archibald reviews Olivier Rieppel's Evolutionary Theory and the Creation Controversy; John W. Geissman reviews Doug Macdougall's Nature's Clocks; Sara B. Hoot reviews Sheila Ann Dean's Charles Darwin: After the Origin; Sherrie Lyons reviews Natural Selection & Beyond: The Intellectual Legacy of Alfred Russel Wallace, edited by Charles H. Smith and George Beccaloni; Aubrey Manning reviews Sean B. Carroll's Remarkable Creatures, and A. Bowdoin Van Riper reviews Sherrie Lynne Lyons's Species, Serpents, Spirits, and Skulls All of these articles, features, and reviews are freely available in PDF form from http://reports.ncse.com. Members of NCSE will shortly be receiving in the mail the print supplement to Reports 31:5, which, in addition to summaries of the on-line material, contains news from the membership, a regular column in which NCSE staffers offer personal reports on what they've been doing to defend the teaching of evolution, a new regular column interviewing NCSE's favorite people -- members of NCSE's board of directors, NCSE's Supporters, recipients of NCSE's Friend of Darwin award, and so on -- and more besides. (Not a member? Join today!) For the table of contents for RNCSE 31:5, visit: http://reports.ncse.com/index.php/rncse/issue/current/showToc For information about joining NCSE, visit: http://ncse.com/join NABT RENEWS ITS VOICE FOR EVOLUTION The National Association of Biology Teachers recently issued a 2011 update of its statement on teaching evolution. Like its predecessors dating back to 1995, the statement affirms the scientific and pedagogical necessity of teaching of evolution: *** Just as nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution, nothing in biology education makes sense without reference to and thorough coverage of the principle and mechanisms provided by the science of evolution. Therefore, teaching biology in an effective, detailed, and scientifically and pedagogically honest manner requires that evolution be a major theme throughout the life science curriculum both in classroom discussions and in laboratory investigations. *** A new addition is the insistence that evolution "should not be misrepresented as 'controversial,' or in need of 'critical analysis' or special attention for any supposed 'strength or weakness' any more than other scientific ideas are." The NABT's statement is now reproduced, by permission, on NCSE's website, and will also be contained in the fourth edition of NCSE's Voices for Evolution. For NABT's statement, visit: http://www.nabt.org/websites/institution/index.php?p=92 For Voices for Evolution, visit: http://ncse.com/voices CONGRATULATIONS TO JAMES KRUPA NCSE is delighted to congratulate James Krupa on being named the 2011 winner of the Four-Year College & University Section Biology Teaching Award from the National Association of Biology Teachers. The award honors a four-year college faculty member who demonstrates creativity and innovation in his/her teaching. According to a press release from the University of Kentucky, "Krupa's lesson on the ivory-billed woodpecker was considered by the awards committee to be particularly useful in covering evolution with non-biology majors. ... In teaching Darwinian foundations of evolution and the scientific method to his students, there are few stories that Krupa is more passionate about than the ivory-billed woodpecker." Vincent Cassone, the chair of the University of Kentucky's Department of Biology, was quoted as saying, "This award from fellow biology educators is a testament to the quality of instruction Dr. Krupa is inclined to give ... He challenges students' sensibilities and predispositions often, particularly when it involves evidence for evolution, biodiversity and public policy, and sometimes students don't like it. However, this is what a university education is all about -- to challenge people's preconceived notions; and this is what we cherish in the Department of Biology." Krupa is Associate Professor of Biology at the University of Kentucky. For the press release, visit: http://uknow.uky.edu/content/uk-biology-professor-wins-teaching-award 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 x305 fax: 510-601-7204 800-290-6006 branch@ncse.com http://ncse.com Read Reports of the NCSE on-line: http://reports.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/join
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