Blogging about Evolution
I received an email today from a Professor who wants to connect with public school teachers who are teaching evolution. Here’s the request…
Dear Steve,
Just poured over your blog, and have bookmarked it for fun stuff for my kids. I am trying to find blogs of teachers in public schools, and who are trying to teach evolution. There seem to be a lot people willing to discuss chemistry, physics, and every other topic _except_ evolution…but I’m sure there is some brave soul out there who is talking about their successes/failures. If you have leads, I’d be grateful to hear about them.
Sincerely,
Colin Purrington
Department of Biology, Swarthmore College
http://www.swarthmore.edu/NatSci/cpurrin1/index.html
Please post a comment if you know of someone who might be able to help.
Thanks Steve!
steve,
my question is off, topic, sorry. but i have to ask before x mas.
what is the actual compound of insta- snow made of? this has been bugging me for weeks.
thank you
Insta-Snow is a patented superabsorbent polymer (say that fast three times). You can find out more by clicking on the link below:
https://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiment/00000137
CP-
This is an extremely good point. Science teachers should *not* be afraid to touch apon touchy subjects. It tends to lead to interesting discussions, ones that spark the minds of students. Unfortunately, I do not personally (or non-personally) know anybody who is/was teaching evolution, unless they haven’t told me, but Google is always a good friend when searching for something.
-JT
I am teaching Living Environment in NY. I started evolution before the holiday break. I have not posted anything about my experiences with evolution but reading this post will motivate me to share how its going. While I started the year with one student commenting that he didn’t believe dinosaurs ever existed most students seem interested in sorting things out.
biology.modiolus.net/leblog
Steve, thanks a million.
Chris, I look forward to reading your thoughts.
If you hear of others, please keep me and my e-mail in mind. Happy New Year.
-Colin
I’m not a teacher, but I am a parent of a 9th grade Biology student. She knows of a student at her school who is trying to have it removed from the curriculum. I told her she should explain it this way. God created everything in six of HIS days, not ours. When you are infinite, a day is sure to be thousands of years long for us. Therefore, even the creation of man could have been thousands of years long. Even my father, the man who was raised strict Seventh-Day Adventist and went to church boarding schools his whole life, believes in evolution.
As a side note, my daughter says most of the kids in her biology class (and please note we are in the bible belt of Texas) believe evolution is possible.
I hope this at least provides some encouragement for the science teachers out there.
Why do science teachers even care whether or not they teach evolution in schools? I can’t see one way that learning about evolution has benefitted me whatsoever. Also, it is interesting that it does come down to a matter of beleif. I wonder why it is even treated as a theory (actually, most of the teachers I have had treated it as fact) instead of as a religion. Something to ponder.
In response to BA, I wonder how a thoughtful, educated person cannot understand the benefits of learning and expanding our meager understanding of the world and universe we live in.
I’m a Christian and a science educator (in elementary school). The theory of evolution is based on FACTS and the theory of creation is based on BELIEFS. My belief in the Bible (not written to impart scientific facts) is NOT threaten by evolution. Simply put I believe God uses evolution and we humans will probably never fully understand how this works. BUT to deny hard facts of science is to go back to the Dark Ages and insist the the Sun and all the planets revolve around the Earth. That theory was held by the Catholic church because the Bible says that God fixed the Earth in the sky, implying we don’t move so everything revolves around Earth. Happily Galileo endured excommunication to prove that Earth revolves around the Sun. Think! It opens up worlds!
I have taught school for 27 years and have never taught evolution. I am a Christian and know that the only way this world came into existance was by a higher power (God). Think about it. If I took apart my watch and put it into a bag and shook it for thousands of years and then opened it up. . . would I have a running watch? No, I would still have the watch in pieces.
So it is with the world and all therein. God is the creator of all.
In response to Janet C., I said that learning about evolutionary theory hasn’t benefitted me whatsoever, and I have never heard of an example of it benefitting anyone else. Also, I base my bias toward creation theory not only on beliefs, but on facts as well, just like someone who belives in evolution bases their bias on facts and beliefs. You use the word fact to try and make it seem that evolutionary theory is a proven fact. IT IS A THEORY. If the evidence were conclusive, it would cease to be theory. Hence you BELIEVE in evolution. You’ve been indoctrinated.
Being an European, this discussion truely amaze me. In most Western countries, this is a religious topic and has nothing to do in the science curriculum. We teach evolution in science and alternatives does not exist, because there is no evidence to contradict this theory. Creation is something left to be taught in Religion, which is still taught in some European countries, while others has abandoned religion in school and leave it to the parents to teach their own children.
An good report on this topic was published in Science not long ago:
J. D. Miller, E. C. Scott, S. Okamoto, Public Acceptance of Evolution, Science, August 11. 2006, vol 313, no 5788, p 765 – 766.
A shorter version can be read at: http://special.newsroom.msu.edu/aaas/europeans.html
I do not believe in evolution. I believe what God says about creation. When reading what He says, I found that he told us in the Bible that each item created was made to have seeds in it, OF ITS OWN KIND. And would propogate INTO ITS OWN KIND. This concerns man, animal and trees. To say that a monkey could become a man, goes against the plan in “nature”, the Plan of God. Another thought I have is that if animal (fish or cells, etc) could be born one way, then gradually turn into another special altogether, we would see the 1/2 way point, and there is no proof of any of that. Science teachers claim there is evolution of one species into another, but there is no part man/part fish ever found in whatever stage it could be in. And some science teachers base a whole teaching on one tooth, saying it was enough proof of evolution. In one case, the famous tooth turned out to be a tooth of a pig.
A species can change within its own species, but one species cannot change into another species. A tree will always be a tree; a fish a fish; a monkey a monkey; a turkey a turkey, a lizard a lizard. No matter what changes regarding height, length or change of skin, leaf or bark, it will always remain within its own species.
I am a christian and believe in God. If evolution is true, then how come when babies are born, the dont come out as apes and gradually turn into people. And why are apes and other animals still those and not evolving?
I’ve found this site helpful, especially the section for teachers: http://www.evolution.berkeley.edu
This site also tells us why studying evolution is important, to homeland security, for example: http://www.evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/ellington_01
B.A.,
A knowledge of evolution has not benefitted you?? Perhaps you should crawl out from under your Bible and pay attention. Ever had a flu shot? Ever wonder why you need to get a different one every year? It’s because the virus is constantly evolving, which requires a new vaccine to help our bodies build new antibodies (a defense system which, by the way, has EVOLVED over millions of years to provide our species with a means of survival). Why are physicians so concerned about over-prescribing anti-biotics? Because certain mutations of bacteria that are unaffected by antibiotics are, of course, surviving to reproduce more, therefore they wreak havoc on our population. This is known as EVOLUTION. It is NOT a dirty word, nor does it go against any certain religion’s beliefs. It is not merely a guess, a hypothesis, or a loose idea. It is a scientific THEORY, which is an inference based upon so many facts that it is hardly disputed in the scientific community. It is a theory in the same way that germ theory is a theory – so many scientists recognize the facts surrounding it that it is no longer disputed. I don’t really even understand why this is a debate – most major religions accept evolution as fact. Check out the Catholics, Protestants, Jews, etc. If you doubt it, talk to your pastor. And as a side note, evolution does not say we came from monkeys. Again, please do some reading and educate yourself on this point. Fossil evidence and our current knowledge of the human genome shows that we share a common ANCESTOR. This means we are very distant cousins, not children of apes. There is a big difference.
In an era where bird flu and other diseases threaten to become pandemics, it’s not a good idea to stop teaching the very mechanism on which all cellular biology is based. I’m not willing to take that chance with my kids. Are you?
Jen,
Why do you have such a hostile tone with B.A.? Why is it that you feel so threatened? The FACT is that none of us were there at the beginning. Both of these worldviews, evolution and creation, require faith.
i agree with harly. and jen, about ” Fossil evidence and our current knowledge of the human genome shows that we share a common ANCESTOR”, can u put a link to show me some proof?
What fossil evidence?
Of course, I can give you a million links containing evidence for evolution. I’ll list just one; it is a short, concise explanation. Interestingly enough, why did you not ask any of the religious zealots for “proof” of their ideas? Because the only “proof” that exists for creationism is in one document that contains no hard evidence or data that can be corroborated by many reliable sources. *sigh* Anyway, here is one of the links:
http://www.mnh.si.edu/anthro/humanorigins/ha/primate.html
Since this is a Smithsonian website, the information can be deemed reliable. DNA doesn’t lie.
And by the way, an understanding of evolution doesn’t require faith; it is based on evidence. Religions are based on faith, not evidence. Science attempts to answer the questions of “how” and “when”; it is the purpose of whatever particular religion to which you ascribe to answer the question of “Why.”
This discussion makes me so sad.I teach science in an Episcopal school. I teach science. Our religion teachers teach religion. The universes, ours and others, are so vast, so complicated, our little minds can only begin to understand them. I pity those who must latch on to a 6 “day” creation and an ark that had dinosaurs on it. By the way, a “tree” is not a species, jerrilynn. There are hundreds of tree species that evolved to suit changing environments. Those who must interpret the Bible literally are cheating themselves out of the true wonder of God’s world. I can observe a butterfly for hours because of its exquite beauty and its totally amazing development from a caterpiller to a closet of chemicals, then to its final metamorphosis. How many butterfly species are there? Were they all on the ark 6000 years ago? Creationists are stamping out science in the name of God. Pitiful. I teach the wonder of it in the name of God. Stand by me, science teachers.It is time we spoke up.
The arrogant tone from evolutionists is highly offensive. If intelligent design were not a bona fide scientific theory, there would be no debate. But let’s face it, this debate will never go away. There is a body of evidence out there. Great scientists everywhere disagree about which theory best explains the evidence. Instead of fighting and resorting to name-calling (i.e.- “religious zealots”), it’s time we start comparing the competing theories in light of the evidence. This particular discussion has rekindled my interest in the subject of origins. You’d be amazed at what you can learn just by googling “Cambrian explosion” or “molecular biology” for example. Also, there is a new textbook out called “Explore Evolution” which dissects arguments for AND against Neo-Darwinism. Truly open-minded people will welcome this unbiased approach. Evolutionists fervent and many times mean-spirited opposition to the intelligent design theory really makes me wonder.
As a church-attending believer and an acceptor of the vast evidence of evolutionary “theory,” I find that the truly open-minded people are not the creationists, but the biologists. Creationists are certain of their one truth as explained in Genesis. No body of evidence will shake their faith in their literal interpretation.
In my discussions with fundmentalists, their anger and name-throwing assures that no amount of sane, calm presentation of facts will put a chink in their biblical armor. As someone else said, this is so sad. I hear that at the new $30 million creation museum, we are told that only juvenile dinosaurs were on the ark, or is that elephants? I guess the newly discovered, Chinese dino that was 6 floors tall couldn’t make it.
The typical Biology textbooks certainly seem to include plenty of evolution theory. I would assume that teachers have been prepared for the topic very well in their university studies.
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We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age…. who are coming to nothing. No, we speak of God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began………
“No eye has seen,
no ear has heard,
no mind has conceived
what God has prepared for those who love [believe in] him” (1 Corinthians 2:6-9)
… faith is being “sure” of what we hope for and “certain” of what we do not see (Hebrews 11:1)
With Love & Sincerity,
A Believer
Here is a good site proving evolution is a religion. It is interesting that satanists, Nazis and witches find comfort in the religion of evolution.
http://www.evolutionareligion.com
http://www.scienceversusevolution.com/
http://www.creationfoundations.org