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Contents
K-12 Teaching
Tools
The American
Institute of Biological Sciences held a
special symposium at the NABT meeting in October 2005 on the
topic of Evolution and the Environment and Defending the Teaching of
Evolution. Presentations from the meeting are available online and
include the diversification of flowering plants, a curriculum study
workshop, and several other evolutionary topics.
ActionBioscience.org provides original
peer-edited lessons on evolution for high school and undergraduate
levels. The site’s resources are also available in Spanish
here.
The
National Center for Science Education
defends the teaching of evolution in public schools. The Center’s
Resources page offers a wealth of information.
The National Academy of Sciences has
issued a teacher’s
handbook called Teaching About Evolution and the Nature of
Science. The book offers help on selecting instructional
materials and suggests effective ways to engage in classroom
discussion on evolution. NAS also provides a list of
reports, statements, research papers, and other outside
resources on evolution which are free to download.
Former NAS President Bruce Alberts and Jay Labov have also published
an article in
Cell Biology Education on the topic of teaching the science of
evolution. It focuses on the Academies’ efforts to address
challenges to the teaching of evolution in the nation's public
schools and offers ways to combat these challenges.
The National Science Teachers Association
site has a
Q & A on the teaching of evolution, addressing why it is a
controversial subject and has become increasingly challenged, and
how to respond to questions from students on alternative theories of
biological evolution.
The National Association of Biology
Teachers has an
evolution page with links to various papers, resources, and
facts.
The American Geological Institute
offers an
interactive map detailing state by state challenges to the
teaching of evolution in the public classroom. The web site also
offers a comprehensive list of documents and articles relating to
the controversy of evolution vs. intelligent design.
The Society for the Study of Evolution
web site has various resources for educators, including an online
course for K-12 teachers hosted by Cal State–Fullerton and a list of
essays addressing evolution, intelligent design, and the works of
Darwin.
A web site funded by NSF,
Teach Evolution and Make It Relevant, offers resources
and materials for teachers at the pre-college level, including a
2-week classroom unit on applied evolution.
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)
has a well-developed site on evolution
here, including a list of evolution FAQs and lessons for
both students and teachers.
UC–Berkeley’s
Understanding Evolution web site is aimed at teachers. It
includes sections on how to avoid potential pitfalls in the
classroom, overcome roadblocks, and prevent confusion in students.
Sections on how evolution impacts everyday life, the evidence for
evolution, and the history of evolutionary theory are also helpful
tools.
Resources for
Scientists
Letter-writing tips from NCSE and tips for
testifying at school board meetings can be found online.
FASEB's
Communicating Science web page offers general advice on talking
to the public and Congress about science.
HHMI sponsored two lectures on new
discoveries that have transformed our understanding of how animals,
plants, and humans develop and evolve. Sean Carroll, PhD, and David
Kingsley, PhD, spoke Dec. 1-2, 2005, as part of the Holiday Lectures
on Science. The lectures are available through web cast and DVD.
Read an
interview with Massimo Pigliucci, professor of evolution and
ecology at SUNY-Stony Brook. He discusses evolution’s role in
agriculture and the environment and its importance to other
disciplines.
Selected papers and commentary on the
scientific basis of evolution are available on a site hosted by
Donald Forsdyke, who runs a laboratory of bioinformatics and
theoretical biology at Queens University in Canada.
Kenneth Miller, a professor of biology
at Brown University, operates a web page that compiles
evolution information, including articles on the failure of
intelligent design and his personal defense of evolution.
AAAS has a page dedicated to a
dialogue on science, ethics, and religion. Essays include “Does
God Play Dice? Divine Providence and Chance” and Ken Miller’s
keynote address, “Finding Darwin’s God: The New Battle Over
Evolution.”
PBS provides a round-up of frequently
asked questions about evolution
here.
Statements by
Scientific Societies
FASEB Statement Supports Evolution, Opposes Teaching Intelligent
Design.
The American Association for the Advancement of Science
(AAAS) has played a major role in fighting efforts to weaken the
teaching of evolution in public classrooms. In 2002 the Board
released a
resolution on intelligent design theory, urging policymakers to
oppose its teaching within science classrooms.
The American Institute of Physics (AIP)
Governing Board views with alarm the recent action taken by the
Kansas State Board of Education to remove biological and
cosmological evolution from the State Science Standards. The AIP
Governing Board endorses the American Geophysical Union Position
Statement on ‘Creationism is Not Science,’ and the “Statement of the
Society of Physics Students Regarding Science Education Standards,”
and the statement by Jerome Friedman, President of the American
Physical Society. The Council of the
American Physical Society opposes proposals to require “equal
time” for presentation in public school science classes of the
biblical story of creation and the scientific theory of evolution.
The
National Association of Biology Teachers firmly supports the
teaching of evolution. The group states, “Explanations or ways of
knowing that invoke non-naturalistic or supernatural events or
beings, whether called “creation science,” “scientific creationism,”
“intelligent design theory,” “young earth theory,” or similar
designations, are outside the realm of science and not part of a
valid science curriculum.
The
National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) strongly supports
the position that evolution is a major unifying concept in science
and should be included in the K-12 science education framework and
curricula. The group signed an
amicus brief in June 2005 in support of a recent U.S. District
Court decision, Selman v. Cobb County School District,
which ruled that the evolution “warning labels” required in Cobb
County, Georgia, public school textbooks were unconstitutional.
In August 2005, the
American Institute of Biological Sciences released a
statement expressing concern over the Kansas State Board of
Education vote to adopt a curriculum that questions evolution and
allows intelligent design to be taught.
The
American Society of Agronomy, the Crop Science Society of
America, and the Soil Science Society of America have adopted a
statement in support of teaching evolution, stating that
intelligent design is not a scientific discipline and should not be
taught in the K-12 curriculum. The societies note that at least 70
different scientific societies are united against intelligent
design.
The National Academy of Sciences issued
a
letter in March 2005 to NAS members asking to be alerted if the
teaching of evolution is challenged in their school districts.
The
American Association of University Professors issued a
statement denouncing efforts to require public teachers to make
students aware of intelligent design theory.
Other
Resources of Interest
The interim President of Cornell
University, Hunter R. Rawlings III, focused his
State of the University Address in October 2005 on what he
called “the challenge to science posed by religiously-based
opposition to evolution, described, in its current form, as
‘intelligent design.’” The brewing controversy is about the tensions
between science and belief, reason and faith, public policy and
private religiosity, said Rawlings, and it could have an effect on
what is taught in universities.
A
brief history of creationism from the Middles Ages to ‘Creation
Science’ is available on the NCSE web site. The site also contains a
news room which lists state-by-state activities related to
evolution, including antievolution proposals and legislation, op-eds,
and newspaper articles.
The New York Times has been
running a series of
articles on the debate between intelligent design and evolution.
Full access requires a subscription.
The Creation vs. Evolution Forum offers
a discussion
board for those interested in debating the controversy online.
The AAAS
Evolution press room is a catch-all resource with information
ranging from recent court decisions to historical AAAS resolutions
on evolution.
APS, the
American Physiological Society, has an online compilation of
resources for teaching evolution.
The American Society of Human Genetics
has an ongoing
series of essays describing the connection between genetics and
evolution.
The UC-Berkeley
Museum of Paleontology hosts a website version of a publication
called
This is Science! which describes how scientists do science,
different approaches to its study, and the science of evolution. A
good beginning piece for both scientists and non-scientists.
ASBMB offers
a symposium webcast of Teaching the Science of Evolution
here.
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