EVOLUTION
Is intelligent design religion or science?
Intelligent Design vs Evolution in the classroom.
Teaching Evolution or Creation Debate
Evolution • Fun • Dover • Monkey Trials • U.S. Fathers • Church v State Previous • Next |
Galileo - who started it all, and paid the price - had "a wonderful way" of separating the supernatural from the natural. There are two equally worthy ways to understand the divine, Galileo said. "One was reverent contemplation of the Bible, God's word," "The other was through scientific contemplation of the world, which is his creation.
" Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away " ~ Philip K. Dick
Hominids diverged from the chimp branch of the family tree roughly six million years ago, producing a
series
of evolutionary dead-ends before the ultimately successful genus Homo emerged. H. neanderthalensis and H.
sapiens grew out of the same line at different times.
The Neanderthals' ancestors diverged first, and they left Africa a couple of hundred thousand years
ahead
of ours. Homo sapiens arrived in Europe about 50,000 years ago. The two species overlapped for perhaps
20,000
years before the Neanderthals went extinct. Scientists still aren't sure why. A detailed analysis of
human
and chimp DNA suggests the lines finally diverged less than 5.4 million years ago. [1]
Who is Teaching Science in K12 Schools?
New Jersey is the fourth state so far to reject the $800,000 abstinence education money, after California, Pennsylvania and Maine.
Teachers have the lowest IQs of any college graduate group. Local school boards are elected. What are their qualifications? ANSWER
They have almost complete latitude to set the content of the curriculum! It is their decision that would have an unconstitutionally religious purpose and effect.Most K12 State Science Standards Don't Make the Grade.
SCIENCE TEST SCORES FALL FOR HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS 2006
The first nationwide science test administered in five years shows that achievement among high school
seniors
has declined across the past decade, even as scores in science rose among fourth graders and held steady
among
eighth graders, reported the Education Department. The drop in science proficiency appeared to reflect a
broader trend, in which some academic gains made in elementary grades and middle school have been seen to
fade
during the high school years. The science results came from the National Assessment of Educational Progress,
a
comprehensive examination administered in 2005 by a branch of the Department of Education to hundreds of
thousands of students in all 50 states. The science test, which was administered during the first months of
2005, covered the earth, physical and life sciences, writes Sam Dillon. Some teachers blamed the decreasing
amount of time devoted to science in schools, in part because of the No Child Left Behind Law, whose
requirements for annual testing in reading and math during the elementary grades have led many schools to
decrease the time spent on science or to abandon its teaching altogether.
"The State of State Science Standards 2005" the first comprehensive study of science academic standards conducted since 2000 -- appraised the quality of each states K-12 science standards as they are rushing to meet the No Child Left Behind Acts mandate for testing in this critical subject. The results are mixed. Nearly half of the fifty states surveyed received grades of "D" or "F" in a new review of statewide academic standards for primary-secondary school science. Every state received a letter grade based on how well its standards met a set of rigorous criteria, including:
- Do the standards contain clear and fair expectations by grade level for students?
- Are the standards organized in a sensible way, both showing logical progression from grade to grade and easily navigated so teachers, parents, and the public can understand?
- Is there an appropriate amount of science content, and if so, do the standards outline the best approach to share that content?
- Are the expectations outlined specific enough, yet set high aims that will equip students with the science skills they need for college?
- Are the standards appropriately serious, or do they incorporate pseudo-scientific fads or politics?
CHRISTIAN
RIGHT
"STRIKINGLY UNSUCCESSFUL" IN SCHOOL BOARD EFFORTS
During a period in which the Christian Right wielded a great deal of influence in the federal and state
political spheres, it appears to have been strikingly unsuccessful in its long-term efforts to push state
and
local school boards to adopt science curricula that include questioning the theory of evolution and teaching
intelligent design as a legitimate alternative theory of creation, according to a Connecticut College
researcher. Kimberly Trebbi Richards found that the Christian Right's initial short-term successes
occurred through exceptionally effective development of interest group organization and lobbying techniques
focused on electing or re-electing supportive officials. However, the more permanent reversals of those
short-term successes came through growing counter-organization by opposing groups and through court
decisions.
Richards examined case studies from three major state or local areas where the Christian Right was initially
successful in influencing science education at the elementary or high school levels: Kansas, Georgia and
Pennsylvania.
University of Calif. Sued Over Creationism
A group representing California religious schools has filed a lawsuit accusing the University of California
system of discriminating against high schools that teach creationism and other conservative Christian
viewpoints.
The Association of Christian Schools International, which represents more than 800 schools, filed a federal
lawsuit Thursday claiming UC admissions officials have refused to certify high school science
courses
that use textbooks challenging Darwin's theory of evolution. Other rejected courses include
"Christianity's Influence in American History."
According to the lawsuit, the Calvary Chapel Christian School in Murrieta was told its courses were
rejected because they use textbooks printed by two Christian publishers, Bob Jones University Press and A
Beka Books.
Wendell E. Bird, a lawyer for the association, said the policy violates the rights of students and religious
schools.
"A threat to one religion is a threat to all," he said.
UC spokeswoman Ravi Poorsina said she could not comment, because the university had not been served with the
lawsuit. Still, she said the university has a right to set course requirements.
"These requirements were established after careful study by faculty and staff to ensure that students
who
come here are fully prepared with broad knowledge and the critical thinking skills necessary to
succeed,"
Poorsina.
K - 12 PUBLIC EDUCATION
PROJECT STEVE
NCSE's "Project Steve" is a tongue-in-cheek parody of a long-standing
creationist tradition of amassing lists of "scientists who doubt evolution" or "scientists
who
dissent from Darwinism." (For examples of such lists, see the FAQs on the web site at
http://www.ncseweb.org/article.asp?category=18
Creationists draw up these lists to convince the public that evolution is somehow being rejected by
scientists, that it is a "theory in crisis." Most members of the public lack sufficient contact
with
the scientific community to know that this claim is totally unfounded. NCSE has been exhorted by its members
to compile a list of thousands of scientists affirming the validity of the theory of evolution, but although
we easily could have done so, we have resisted such pressure. We did not wish to mislead the public into
thinking that scientific issues are decided by who has the longer list of scientists!
Project Steve mocks this practice with a bit of humor, and because "Steves" (and Stephanies) are only about 1% of scientists, it incidentally makes the point that tens of thousands of scientists support evolution. And it honors the late Stephen Jay Gould, NCSE supporter and friend. As of 2/19, the Steveometer was 244 and rising. To join the list, write Skip Evans at evans@ncseweb.org.
Lawrence Krauss Talk of the Nation
audio
*Ambrose Swasey professor of physics and chairman of the physics department at Case Western Reserve
University
Director of the Center for Education and Research in Cosmology and Astrophysics at Case Western Reserve
University
The Complete Works of Charles Darwin Online