Florida Citizens for Science

The Tampa Tribune, specifically Hernando Today, has a story out this morning about an evolution lesson that had apparently gone awry. The story is a bit confusing, though. The problem didn’t actually involve evolution, but rather some mentions of religion. A sixth-grade student from  Explorer K-8 in Hernando County told mom about things she heard in science class that day concerning reincarnation and the Catholic Church. Mom got upset because the weird things the girl heard were inaccurate and certainly odd things to pick up during a lesson on evolution.

A further reading of the story reveals that the teacher, David Liptak, wasn’t trying to push any particular religion or even express an opinion on the matter. But the general classroom conversation just grew its own wings and took off. I can understand that.

But why did religion come up in the first place?

Explorer’s principal, Dominick Ferello, said the teacher stuck to the textbook lesson about creation, then went on to explain that there are other beliefs, as well.

“He told students there are other (beliefs), and everyone chooses what to believe,” Ferello said. “He mentioned the others, then told them to talk to their parents for anything further when the kids started asking questions.”

A textbook lesson about creation? That sounds familiar. In 2006 FCS had kept an eye on a biology textbook selection process in Brevard County. The school board was looking at Biology: The Dynamics of Life, which contains an out-of-context reference to divine origins and intelligent design in two paragraphs at the end of a chapter on the history of life. Here’s an old post of mine about it, and another one. Here’s a 2006 editorial in the St. Pete Times on the general subject. Brevard County eventually apopted an edited version of Biology: The Dynamics of Life. Take a look at page five of the March 2006 school board meeting minutes. Some of the wiser board members predicted there would be problems if the original text was approved:

Bea Fowler stated she is concerned that discussion will be held in science class led by science teachers and not by comparative religion teachers.  This subject should be taught by trained comparative religious teachers and not science teachers.

The questionable text in the book was two paragraphs:

“Common to human cultures throughout history is the belief that life on Earth did not arise spontaneously. Many of the world’s major religions teach that life was created on Earth by a supreme being. The followers of these religions believe that life could only have arisen through the direct action of a divine force.”

“A variation of this belief is that organisms are too complex to have developed only by evolution. Instead, some people believe that the complex structures and processes of life could not have formed without some guiding intelligence.”

My guess is that Hernando County took the opposite road of Brevard and adopted the original version of the textbook with those paragraphs intact, and now that decision has come back to haunt a poor science teacher.

If anyone is in or near Spring Hill, could you do a bit more digging and learn the facts that were left out of the newspaper story? It looks to me like the reporter or editor wasn’t clear on what the story should have focused on. Quite a few paragraphs detail evolution’s new role in the state science standards, but that has little, if anything, to do with what happened in the classroom. It looks to me like this was a case of a bad textbook tripping up an otherwise standard biology lesson. What did evolution have to do with anything?

Florida Citizens for Science was under a time crunch to get a letter out to the Brevard County school board about science textbook selections. The letter could have benefitted from another round or two of rewrites, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do to get the letter out in time.

There are five letters to the editor here. As can be expected, some are good and some are wide of the mark. Here are a couple of excerpts from the bad ones:

To teach the theory of evolution as fact, and not even address the possibility of intelligent design or other theories, is another attempt by the liberals in the media to impose their agenda on the American people and our children.

…

The short two-paragraph reference to life forming under a guiding intelligence only acknowledged the fact that many cultures and world religions hold this belief to be true.

…

Having these few paragraphs included in the text is not pushing religion on any student studying science.

It is an introduction to a widely held theory that can then be further discussed in social-study classrooms teaching world religions, cultures and philosophies.

Each of those excerpts can be slapped down by pointing out one glaring problem. From a previous post here:

But the issue has crossed into the district, because publishers like Holt have changed textbooks over the years while under pressure from such groups as the Discovery Institute.

…

Dan Quinn of the Texas Freedom Network, a nonprofit agency that has monitored the Texas textbook adoption process for a decade, said Holt kowtowed to conservatives with its Florida biology book.

And here’s a post I compiled a while ago that has a lot of real good information about the whole textbook deal.

A South Florida Sun-Sentinel review of both textbook finalists — Glencoe’s book and Holt’s Holt Biology — found that the publishers had edited explanations of Darwin’s evolution theory under pressure from Christian conservatives.

The publisher caved in to pressure! This is not some “innocuous” cultural reference. This is not a nod of acknowledgement for some new scientific theory bursting onto the scene. Those two paragraphs were “wedged” in there by a group with an agenda. It’s not the liberals trying to impose anything; it’s just the opposite!

I’m wishing that mentioning this fact about the textbook’s history had made it into our letter to the school board. Maybe next time …

Joe Wolf, president of Florida Citizens for Science, sent the following letter to Brevard County school board members today in reference to yesterday’s post:

Dear (name of School Board Member),

It has recently come to my attention that one of your Board members, Amy Kneessy, has suggested the biology text, “Biology: The Dynamics of Life,” published by Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, for adoption. The book contains an out-of-context reference to divine origins and intelligent design in two paragraphs at the end of a chapter on the history of life. Our group, Florida Citizens for Science (http://www.flascience.org) strongly opposes the adoption of this textbook with those two paragraphs included. “Intelligent Design” is another label for creationist arguments that have been ruled unconstitutional by the U.S Supreme Court (Edwards v. Aguillard, 1987). The notion that these paragraphs put the study in a ’social or historical context’ is absurd and does not shield the school district from previous court rulings.

If you wish to learn more on this subject, I suggest that you read the decision in the US District Court for the Middle District Pennsylvania by Judge John E. Jones III on the Dover PA. School Board case. In his rebuke against the Dover school board, this conservative Republican appointed by President Bush wrote a very complete description of “Intelligent Design” and its legal implications. The text of the decision is available at
http://www2.ncseweb.org/kvd/all_legal/2005-12-20_kitzmiller_decision.pdf. If downloading that text is inconvenient, I am sure the District administration can get you a copy.

Judge Jones ruled that “intelligent design’ is creationism and thus it is unconstitutional to have it included in the classroom. In the aftermath of the trial, all eight school board members up for election were defeated. This also reflects the experience of the community in Darby, MT, whose school board proposed introducing “intelligent design” into the science curriculum. The primary difference between Dover and Darby was that in Darby, the election occurred before the policy could be implemented; the school board members in favor of the “intelligent design” policy were defeated.

In the Dover case, the school board ignored the advice of its counsel and proceeded with their “intelligent design” policy. By choosing outside counsel to represent the school district, the Dover school board lost any insurance coverage they might have had, exposing the school district to a significant liability. In fact, the plaintiffs’ legal team submitted a bill for $2.5 million dollars, which was reduced in negotiation with the new school board to an even $1 million dollars. Proceeding with policies to advocate creationist argument in school classrooms is both irresponsible and ill-advised.

“Intelligent design” and other labels for creationist arguments, such as “teach the controversy”, are an establishment of religion. The arguments themselves are anti-science, and foster misapprehensions of what the scientific method is and a mistrust of scientists and the results of scientific investigation. They have no positive effect on pedagogy, so there can be no successful claim that their instruction meets a secular purpose.

Science and faith are not incompatible. This is perhaps best shown by the over-10,000 U.S. clergy who have signed the internet Clergy Letter Project. These clergy of many faiths and denominations have signed a letter stating that science and faith are compatible, and teaching science effectively is in our best interests. The letter itself is too long to include here but can be found at http://www.uwosh.edu/colleges/cols/religion_science_collaboration.htm.

Sincerely

Joseph Wolf
President
Florida Citizens for Science

Folks in Brevard County need keep an eye on this textbook issue. It’s not a done deal yet as school board member Amy Kneessy makes clear.

Textbook debate still evolving

Brevard County School Board member Amy Kneessy wants the school district to adopt a biology textbook that includes passages on divine creation and intelligent design, going against a district committee’s unanimous recommendation.

“It’s so innocuous,” she said of the text. “To me, those two paragraphs belong there.”

The school board is scheduled to vote Tuesday to adopt new elementary and secondary science textbooks, which were recommended by a committee of teachers, administrators and parents who spent months reviewing dozens of state-approved books.

…

But Kneessy said choosing curriculum and textbooks are among board members’ top responsibilities.

She thinks the passages in question simply provide cultural context, integrating social studies and science without promoting alternatives to evolution. Her position doesn’t go as far as recommending that Biblical creation or intelligent design be taught, she said.

“We need to stop being so hypersensitive about this subject,” she said. “We’re making the subject taboo, and I think that’s wrong.”

Here is Kneessy’s information should you wish to express your concern about her comments.

DISTRICT 3 — Amy Kneessy — (2004-2008)
285 Satellite Avenue, Satellite Beach, FL 32937
779-8198/631-1911 ext. 412
kneessya@brevard.k12.fl.us

Intelligent choices
Brevard School Board should toss aside textbooks that undermine scientific learning

Here’s a good editorial that gives me hope that there are, in fact, voices of reason out there.

There’s no debate in legitimate scientific circles that evolution is the bedrock biological principle and should be taught to public school students.

Indeed, two studies just published in the journal Nature offer even more evidence that species can and have evolved from common ancestors.

Crusaders who fear scientific knowledge may discredit religious belief, however, want to seed doubt about evolution in the minds of students by introducing unsubstantiated claims about the origins of life into biology class.

A federal judge in Dover, Pa., recently ruled that an attempt to mix faith-based intelligent design theory with hard science in the Dover school district was unconstitutional.

But Florida Education Commissioner John Winn ignored that message when he put a version of “Biology, the Dynamics of Life” that includes a section on divine origins on the list of state-approved science textbook choices.

The Brevard County school district is now reviewing those choices, with textbook committee recommendations to be presented to the School Board on Feb. 28.

We trust district officials to make curriculum decisions that best help students gain needed scientific literacy. That means tossing aside books that undermine the teaching of evolution by discussing intelligent design.
Beliefs about supernatural beginnings of life can be discussed in other courses, such as world cultures, but they have no place in biology class.

Pinellas textbooks won’t mention intelligent design

Pinellas County biology students will find no mention of intelligent design in their new science textbooks next fall.

With four biology books to choose from - one of which included a description of the idea that life was produced by an unidentified intelligent agent - the district’s science teachers picked Prentice Hall Biology, Florida Edition. That book was co-written by a Brown University professor who testified recently against the teaching of intelligent design during a trial in Dover, Pa.

“I feel very confident that our science teachers looked the books over from cover to cover,” said Robert Orlopp, the K-12 science supervisor in Pinellas. “I don’t think anyone voted for or against that particular book because of that passage.”

Teachers Opt For Texts Without Intelligent Design

Don’t go looking for any mention of intelligent design in high school biology textbooks in Hillsborough County.

When science teachers voted to adopt new textbooks last week, they could have chosen a book that included a brief reference to the belief that life is so complex that some guiding intelligence must be behind it.

The teachers opted for a different book, though, one that doesn’t touch on intelligent design.

Nancy Marsh, high school science supervisor for the Hillsborough County School District, said teachers based their decision on which book would best meet state science standards and prepare students for the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test.

That one potential textbook - “Biology: Dynamics of Life” published by Glencoe/McGraw-Hill - included a reference to intelligent design was irrelevant.

“That topic did not come up in any of our discussions,” Marsh said.

Science supervisors in Pasco and Pinellas counties don’t think intelligent design will become an issue for them either when they choose their science textbooks.

“We’re going to find the best books for Pasco County,” said Kim Davis, who oversees that district’s science curriculum. “I’m not foreseeing any issues.”