Month: February 2011
E-mails in Gaskell Case Show That Darwin Skeptics Need Not Apply to the University of Kentucky
So many emails, so little time: the direct evidence of discrimination and intolerance at University of Kentucky in the Martin Gaskell case.
Survey Suggests Students Should Not be Allowed to “Make Up their own Minds” on Evolution
Incredibly, the new Science survey claims that teachers who “teach the controversy” will “fail to explain the nature of scientific inquiry.” The reality is precisely the opposite.
David Brooks’ Bizarre Evolutionary Psychology Misunderstands the Mind
How the unprepossessing three pounds of brain tissue confined within our skulls, like a vast intellectual black hole, absorbs the most searching forms of scientific inquiry.
Humility in the Classroom? What a Concept!
Cognitive psychologist Roger Taylor counsels educators that, rather than seeking to indoctrinate students with Darwinism, better to humbly allow them to judge and evaluate the evidence for themselves
Evolution Education Survey Underreports Darwin-Doubting Teachers
A new paper in the journal Science reports results of a survey of how science teachers cover evolution. Titled “Defeating Creationism in the Courtroom, But Not in the Classroom,” the paper laments that more teachers aren’t pushing neo-Darwinian evolution in a dogmatic fashion, even attacking one teacher who dared to suggest, “Students should make up their own minds” on evolution. The survey forces teachers to fit into 1 of 3 categories: “Advocates of evolutionary biology,” “Advocates of creationism,” or “Advocate of neither.” According to the survey, 28% of teachers are “Advocates of evolutionary biology,” 13% are “Advocates of creationism,” and a full 60% are “Advocates of neither.” (These are the percentages reported in the survey–odd how they add up to Read More ›