The Center for Science and Culture
WACO — Thanks to a nearly $500,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF), public school teachers, and ordinary citizens, are now able to access online a generally helpful guide to evolutionary theory. Called Understanding Evolution: An Evolution Website for Teachers, it is the result of a collaboration between the National Center for Science Education, a private organization, and the Read More ›
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE APRIL 6, 2004 SEATTLE, APRIL 6 — CNN is being urged to correct the record after airing a false report about proposed legislation in Missouri it claimed “would fire teachers who refused to teach alternatives to evolution.” In fact, the provision cited by CNN is no longer part of the Missouri bill. “Its whole story about legislation to Read More ›
The National Center for Science Education (NCSE) is on the front lines of the battle to keep religion out of the nation’s science classrooms. A group whose self-described mission is “Defending the Teaching of Evolution in the Public Schools,” the NCSE routinely condemns anyone who wants to teach faith-based criticisms of evolutionary theory for trying to unconstitutionally mix church and Read More ›
Are you a parent or a school board member interested in improving the teaching of evolution in your local schools? Below are resources you will find helpful as you try to do this, including materials you can print out and submit to your school board. These materials and resources describe why teaching “the full range of scientific views” about evolution Read More ›
Want to teach the scientific controversy over evolution but aren’t sure what is allowable? This short video clearly and concisely summarizes the legal framework for teaching about evolution. A great resource for teachers, school board members, and parents, this video features interviews with scientists and legal scholars and explains how to teach the controversy over evolution in a legally responsible Read More ›
In their recent Opinion article in TREE1, Eugenie Scott and Glenn Branch argue that teaching students that there is a scientific controversy about the ‘validity of evolution’ is ‘scientifically inappropriate and pedagogically irresponsible’. In so doing, Branch and Scott assume that they have critiqued my position on the teaching of evolution. But they fail to define their terms and engage the Read More ›
How about some very good news, to brighten your day?
Recently, I told you that the academic freedom of high school students and teachers in Ohio was in serious jeopardy. At stake was the adoption of a groundbreaking new science curriculum, that allows for the “critical analysis” of evolutionary theory—a basic freedom that scientists themselves take for granted.
But many American science organizations oppose the Ohio curriculum and lobbied hard against it. They said—falsely—that it brought religion into the science classroom.
Well, on March 9, despite heavy pressure, the Ohio State Board of Education voted 13 to 5 to adopt the new curriculum. And that’s very good news.
In fact, this good news could make a difference right where you live. People in other states like Minnesota are considering doing what Ohio did. And don’t forget the Santorum amendment to the federal education law, which encourages this very thing.
Let me give you a good resource in this effort, a new book just published by Michigan State University Press, Darwinism, Design, and Public Education. It is edited by John Angus Campbell and Stephen Meyer, and the book promotes an educational proposal that Campbell and Meyer call “teaching the controversy.”
Read More ›COLUMBUS, OH, MARCH 9 — Discovery Institute called it a victory for students, academic freedom, and common sense when the Ohio state board of education today voted 13-5 to adopt a model lesson plan on the “Critical Analysis of Evolution.” “The board’s decision is a significant victory for students and their academic freedom to study all sides of current scientific debates Read More ›
MARCH 8 — Thirty Ohio scientists, including seven professors from The Ohio State University and eight biologists, have endorsed the state’s proposed model lesson plan on the “Critical Analysis of Evolution” being considered for final adoption by the State Board of Education on March 9. At the same time, a national statement by 300 scientists disputing a key claim of Read More ›