Dr. Eugenie Scott

As science educators are increasingly reporting attacks on climate change education, the National Center for Science Education (NCSE) is announcing that they will also be defending climate change science in public school science education.  Join us as Dr. Eugenie Scott explains this new initiative for NCSE by adding climate change to their portfolio in defending good science education.

Links:

• National Center for Science Education
• “US Teachers Offered Support for Climate Change Lessons” (the Guardian)
• Episode 15 – Expelled Exposed
• NCSE: “A New Poll on Evolution and Climate Change”
• NCSE: “Teachers Feeling the Heat Over Climate Change”
• Dr. Eugenie Scott Interview with “Flock of Dodos” filmmaker Randy Olson, October 2010 (YouTube)
• “Plate Tectonics is a Hoax!”

To listen to this episode, download the mp3 directly, find us on iTunes, or use the player below.

Dr. Eric Plutzer

This week we discuss evolution education with Dr. Eric Plutzer, co-author of “Defeating Creationism in the Courtroom, But Not in the Classroom” – a recently published article in Science Magazine.  Dr. Plutzer discusses the paper, and what the results reveal about how much evolution is actually being taught in biology classrooms across the nation.

The Cautious 60:

The cautious 60% may play a far more important role in hindering scientific literacy in the United States than the smaller number of explicit creationists. The strategies of emphasizing microevolution, justifying the curriculum on the basis of state-wide tests, or “teaching the controversy” all undermine the legitimacy of findings that are well established by the combination of peer review and replication. These teachers fail to explain the nature of scientific inquiry, undermine the authority of established experts, and legitimize creationist arguments, even if unintentionally (Berkman and Plutzer, “Defeating Creationism in the Courtroom, But Not in the Classroom”, Science: 28 January, 2011).

Links:

• Dr. Eric Plutzer, Penn State
• Defending Science Education in the Courtroom, but not in the Classroom, Science (January 28, 2011)
• Evolution, Creationism, and the Battle to Control America’s Classrooms (Amazon.com)
• Evolution, Creationism, and the Battle to Control America’s Classrooms (Google Books)
• Bad Science Education in the U.S. (Pharyngula)
• NCSE (National Center for Science Education)
• NABT (National Association of Biology Teachers)

Direct download: LOL59.mp3

Dr. Eugenie Scott

In response to the movie Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, we decided to talk with someone who has invested her life defending evolution. Dr. Eugenie Scott, Director for the National Center for Science Education, talks to us about the movie, the NCSE response, and the place of evolution in science education.

• National Center for Science Education
• Expelled Exposed: Flunked, Not Expelled – What Ben Stein isn’t telling you about Intelligent Design
• Ben Stein: “Science Leads you to Killing People”
• Doonesbury Comic regarding medicine and Intelligent Design
• The Post-Crescent: It’s Your Call

• PZ Myers (Pharyngula) gets expelled from Expelled
• Boston Globe: No Intelligence Allowed in ‘Expelled’
• Scientific American: Expelled Explained
• Expelled Producers Accused of Copyright Infringement

Direct download: nstalol15.mp3