| 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. |
