On June 8, pre-service, in service, and post-secondary educators from across Nebraska attended "Evolution: Science in an Atmosphere of Controversy." Held in the Downtown Lincoln Holiday Inn, the conference was hosted by the Center for Science, Mathematics, and Computer Education and funded by the Dwight D. Eisenhower Professional Development Program.

The event helped teachers to study the science behind evolutionary theory, to understand the increasingly political nature of this issue, and to increase the number of strategies they have to teach high quality science.

In addition, participants in the conference had the opportunity to develop a network with other science educators, including those from the university and college level.

Discussions during the conference enabled participants to respectfully address differing viewpoints and to better define the nature of scientific inquiry. "The conference was very enlightening and it helped me to see the growing special interest pressures on public school science," said Bart Wormington of Russell Middle School in Millard.

Speakers for the conference included Dr. Alan Kamil, Professor of Biological Science and Psychology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Steven Lopes, President of Kansas Citizens for Science; and Carl Zimmer, an award-winning science writer and author of the book Parasite Rex. In his presentation, Dr. Kamil distinguished "belief" from other forms of knowledge, and explained what scientists mean when they say, "Evolution is a fact." Lopes talked about the Kansas State Board of Education's decision to de-emphasize evolution in state science standards.

As an introduction, he traced the historic tensions caused by scientific inquiry, beginning with Copernicus and Galileo through Darwin and the present evolution controversy. Moving to the present, Lopes noted how media reporting shapes the dialogue of this "political issue." He urged scientists to work toward communicating better with the public. In his talk entitled, "Telepathic Tapeworms and Walking Whales: Telling the Stories of Evolution," Zimmer shared a presentation on evolutionary activity in nature. When looking at animal physiology and behavior, he asks, "How did they get here?"

In addition to the speakers, participants attended two of five interactive workshops. These were led by Andrea Bair, geoscience graduate student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Dan Carpenter, science educator with the Lincoln Public Schools; Steve Ferris, science educator with the Lincoln Public Schools; Harry McDonald, science educator with Blue Valley High School, Stilwell, Kansas; and Sara Toren, science educator with the Lincoln Public Schools.

For more information contact Cindy Larson-Miller at (402)472-8965 or clarson@unlserve.unl.edu.