T. Ryan Gregory has announced that you can now read the inaugural issue of Evolution: Education and Outreach, which includes his own article.
This is the new journal set up by Niles and Gregory Eldredge (father and son) to “provide direct linkage between the worlds of scientific
research and the K-16 classroom.” It is definitely one every science teacher should be watching.
Every teacher, period, I say. Especially in the humanities. Then I we could get rid of the loopier ideas about literature. :-(
I just discovered a journal at my school entitled Science and Christian Belief from the UK. I really won’t have time to check this thing out until finals are over but I couldn’t resist looking at its review of The God Delusion:
It seems that Dawkins is right to object to unexplained organised complexity in God, especially given the Darwinian atheist alternative. Darwinism does not explain everything, but neither does suggesting that God is eternal. To claim that God exists of logical necessity has attractions but is problematic. The believer’s best response seems to be to argue that God is completely unlike an organism or a Boeing 747.
Well, well. How refreshing, at least.
PZ:
Thanks for publicizing this. We science teachers need all the help we can get.
Kristine:
Believe it or not, the web site and journal of the ASA (American Scientific Affiliation) often shows the same even-handedness, even though it is largely populated by evangelicals who assent to a statement of faith. They also maintain an on-line archive going back nearly 50 years that is a tremendous resource for those interested in the creo/evo wars, etc.
In fact, one of my stock tricks is to refer evolutionary doubting Thomases who use the ‘no transitional forms’ arguments to ASA, specifically to the articles published by Keith Miller, a paleontologist and evangelical Christian, that demonstrate unequivocally the existence of transitional forms. No relation to Ken Miller, BTW.
May I just cheerlead you science educators for a second? It’s great to see teachers being leaders on environmental and biodiversity issues. There’s a really terrific example that was announced today. The association of biology teachers is lining up with Amphibian Ark to take on the fight to save hundreds of endangered species of frogs and other amphibians. Jeff Corwin’s video thanking them, and a link to the news release, are posted on my frog blog:
http://frogmatters.wordpress.com/2007/11/29/jeff-corwin-video-thanks-biology-teachers-for-hopping-on-board/
This is really important. Consider the sheer, numerical power of the partnership:
•There are 6,000 biology teachers that are in the association…
•And let’s say each of them has 100 students…
•And each of those students has a sibling, and 1.5 parents, and 2 grandparents, and 2 close friends — and tells them all about the crisis
•That’s 6,000 teachers, 600,000 students, another 600,000 sisters and brothers, 900,000 parents, 1.2 million grandparents, and another 1.2 million friends — all informed, spreading the word, demanding and taking action
Like a frog jumping into a pond, the ripple effect of biology teachers rallying behind Amphibian Ark can be transformational for this cause. So I salute the teachers, and Jeff Corwin for doing all he can to raise awareness. You’re making a huge difference.
Looks very good, from my once-over.