Religion & Law

Out and About the Intertubes

By John Pieret

Talking Tautology:

Wilkins continues his series on the contention that the concept of Natural Selection is a tautology:

The tautology problem

tautology 1a: corrections

Tautology 1b: Butler

Tautology 2: The problem arises

Tautology 3: The problem spreads

Tautology 4: What is a tautology?

Twenty-six weeks into Suzanne Black's 10th-grade biology class in a Seattle suburb, she drops the bomb.

Evolution.

Black didn't purposely avoid the word before then, but in 25 years of teaching she's learned to minimize conflict by presenting information about evolution gradually.

Though the principles of evolution underlie biology from genetics to ecology, the religious beliefs of some students can make teaching the topic difficult. Experienced high school educators have learned to get past the controversy by working up to the important concepts and keeping lessons relevant to the students' lives. ...

"We start with evidence that's based in molecular biology and genetics and slide in the 'evolution' word later on," agrees Ann Findley, professor of biology at the University of Louisiana at Monroe. She teaches college students as well as high school seniors and high school biology teachers in an HHMI-supported summer course. "[Some students] have been misled to think it's something else, and they don't see what all the fuss is about."

The same day Black formally introduced the "E" word, a student asked a question about intelligent design.

"I explained that intelligent design is a religious viewpoint that says that some things are so complex that you can't explain them, and that it's not scientifically supported," she says. "The kids wanted to know what I meant, and I asked how we could design experiments to test the ideas behind intelligent design. And that was it."

Full post as published by Thoughts in a Haystack on August 26, 2009 (boomark / email).