Science Is Constantly Evolving
Discover the latest in climate change and evolution education news.
I spent a lot of years studying the 1918 influenza virus. I was part of the team that deciphered the genetic sequence of the virus from preserved lung samples. These samples came from U.S. soldiers who died of the flu and from a native Alaskan woman buried in permafrost who died when the virus…
Over 20 years ago, I first read the book Teaching About Evolution and the Nature of Science, published by the National Academies Press. While I had already been a teacher for several years, my teaching lacked coherence, which I immediately recognized as I studied this book. Even though I…
Why teach evolution? This is a wonderful question to ask about any topic in science. The curriculum has always been crowded, so it is vital that science classes focus on important subjects of interest and importance, always pruning and adding to the syllabus.
As other writers in this series point…
“What does evolution have to do with anatomy?” This was a regular question from the students in my introductory anatomy classes. We used a textbook by Kenneth Saladin, which is one of the very few that provides any evolutionary context at all for human anatomy and physiology. Saladin’s book lists “…
The first thought that popped into my head when starting to answer the question “Why teach evolution?” was how would you teach biology without teaching evolution? Or any life science for that matter? I began to consider this possibility further and examined my own yearly lesson plans from when I…
Rhode Island's House Resolution 7471 would, if approved, express the support of the House of Representatives for increased environmental and climate education in the state's public schools — and the NCSE/Penn State study of climate change education is cited as evidence of the need for the increase…
Connecticut's governor Ned Lamont declared February 12, 2020, Charles Darwin Day in the state of Connecticut, citing the need to protect "the advancement of science and courageous free inquiry," including "the study of the impacts of climate change." Darwin was described as developing "the…
The Idaho House Education Committee voted 10-5 on February 5, 2020, to repeal the state's science education standards, according to Idaho Ed News (February 5, 2020), despite the fact that the majority of public testimony heard by the committee favored retaining the standards.
Although the specific…
The theologian John C. Whitcomb Jr. died on February 4, 2020, at the age of 95, according to the young-earth creationist ministry Answers in Genesis (February 5, 2020). Whitcomb was the coauthor, with Henry M. Morris, of The Genesis Flood (1961), which popularized "flood geology" — the…