The Orlando Sentinel’s education blog reports that the blatantly unscientific and pro-creationism garbage found on two pages of the marine science textbook Life on an Ocean Planet (see my previous post) will be removed. The reporter obtained an e-mail sent to the Department of Education from the book’s publisher that says:
“As a follow-up to the State Instructional Materials Committee meeting held on 14-16 September, 2010, we want to formally confirm that we, Current Publishing Corp., will remove the content that was sited at that meeting. Specifically the sidebar content located on pages 3-14 to 3-15 of the Life on an Ocean Planetstudent eBook (major tool) and the Life on an Ocean Planet student textbook (ancillary). We will also review all of the curriculum components and remove any content that refers to the information on these pages.
We are committed to providing up to date and accurate content that supports Florida’s high educational standards.â€
Well, that’s good news!
However, I’ve been doing some research on my own, too. The previous edition of this textbook is on the list of approved instructional materials right now. So, I tracked down a teacher who is currently using the book in a marine science class and the teacher confirmed to me that the two pages of creationism nonsense is in that edition that is currently in Florida classrooms right now.
What’s good about all of this is that the grossly unscientific passage has been publicly exposed and will be gone. What’s sad is that this wasn’t caught years ago, and that it will be a while before the old edition is phased out in favor of the new edition. Now I’m curious as to how the sidebar was inserted in the textbook in the first place. Whose idea was it to include it and why? I welcome your assistance and input on this.
Brandon, any info on the aprox date when this book was first introduced into the Florida school system? I just wondered if it was before, or after the new science standards?
Hi thanks for this nice and interesting post. But I still dont get the second part though!
Ivory:
It was before the standards were updated. See this list:
http://www.osceola.k12.fl.us/depts/2ndaryEd/AdoptedTextbooksHighSchool.asp
Emanuel:
There is a new, updated version of the textbook that is currently going through the adoption process. The older, 2006 version had been approved several years ago and is currently in use in the classroom. That old version has the same creationist language as was found in the new version. That older version managed to slip through the approval system without anyone raising any alarms.
Congrats to Dave for taking the time to serve on the textbook committee and ferret out inappropriate texts.