Dealing with Darwin
On Saturday, the New York Times ran a fascinating story about a Florida science teacher's struggles to teach evolution to students raised on the biblical story of creation. (For the first time this year, the Florida Department of Education began requiring all public schools to teach evolution.) That teacher's struggles no doubt mirror struggles faced by thousands of teachers across the country.
Laws on evolution in public school classrooms will continue to swing back and forth as intelligent design advocates and their creationist kissing cousins keep pressing their case with policymakers. In the meantime, teachers simply have to make do without strong--and scientifically sound--guidance on how best to survive in this environment.
In 2002, Charles Haynes of the First Amendment Center offered some thoughts on a way forward.
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Great posting
Thanks, John--
Cody offers a very compelling description of his own methods. Here's a permalink to his remarks, for those who are interested: http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/living-in-dialogue/2008/08/teaching_evolution_in_oakland.html
Faith and the scientific method
Thanks for highlighting this story. Some science teachers (I suspect quite a few) aren't waiting for "strong--and scientifically sound--guidance on how best to survive in this environment" but are applying their pedagogical skills to the dilemma.
Science teacher Anthony Cody, whose blog Living in Dialogue appears at the Teacher Magazine website, has an interesting "teacher lens" view of the seemingly endless debate over, as he puts it, "the central organizing principle that guides our understanding of living things on Earth." Cody describes his own technique for anticipating and transmuting questions from students like "are you saying we came from monkeys?"
"Teaching Evolution in Oakland"
http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/living-in-dialogue/
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