{"id":2751,"date":"2017-05-31T19:13:18","date_gmt":"2017-05-31T23:13:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/?p=2751"},"modified":"2017-05-31T19:13:18","modified_gmt":"2017-05-31T23:13:18","slug":"unfortunate-students-stuck-in-the-middle-of-a-debate-they-dont-understand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2751","title":{"rendered":"Unfortunate students stuck in the middle of a debate they don’t understand"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"wnyc_square_logo\"<\/a>New York’s flagship public radio station WNYC recently broadcast\/published stories about conflicts over teaching evolution and climate change in classrooms across the country. I spent quite a long time talking with a reporter about the situation here in Florida, especially in relation to the Religious Liberties and Instructional Materials bills approved by our state legislature and awaiting the governor’s signature. The first couple of stories went live today.<\/p>\n

One story is on a show called The Takeaway:\u00c2\u00a0New Law Would Let Citizens Fight to Get Climate Change, Evolution Out of Florida Classrooms<\/a>. It’s an interview with Glenn Branch from the National Center for Science Education. Overall, it’s a good, informative story. But I feel some nuance was missed, as indicated in the story’s title. Even those who promoted the bill have said it’s not about getting subjects they don’t like out of the science classroom, but rather trying to balance them with other views. And the bill doesn’t directly impact the curriculum but rather just the instructional materials, such as textbooks. I’m not sure if the reporters who I’ve talked with aren’t understanding that or they are choosing to simplify the topic for their audiences.<\/p>\n

\"upset-student\"<\/a>The other story is on a show called\u00c2\u00a0The United States of Anxiety:\u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Would you debate gravity?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d: climate change in the classroom<\/a>. The main story can be played right at the top of the page, but there are several other audio clips further down the page, including mine roughly halfway down. My clip features some fumbling pauses in the beginning because I was trying to think of the best way to tell my story without providing too much detail that might identify and embarrass or upset the story’s subjects if they were to happen to hear it. The main point I was trying to make was that some poor students find themselves stuck in the middle between a teacher and his\/her family. The student brings a question to me but as I delve deeper into the question with the student it becomes clear that the student is just relaying it\u00c2\u00a0from a parent and doesn’t even understand the question.<\/p>\n

But there was more that I told the reporter that didn’t make it into that 28 second clip. I said that’s a horrible situation for the student and I refuse to use the child as a messenger. Instead, I decline to answer the question, explaining that I want to hear questions that the student comes up with, not the parent. What I teach is a very basic foundation and this is probably the first time students are hearing about climate change in an academic setting. The questions the parents come up with are full of misleading inaccuracies and outright false information that would take forever to try to explain to a child who has just learned for the first time from me what the greenhouse gases are (other than carbon dioxide) and what the albedo effect is. Honestly, I think the students are relieved that I take that stance.<\/p>\n

With that in mind, I want to point out that if the instructional materials bill is signed into law by the governor, we’re going to see the situation I described much more often.<\/p>\n

I was told that more clips from my long interview might be used in other stories still to come.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New York’s flagship public radio station WNYC recently broadcast\/published stories about conflicts over teaching evolution and climate change in classrooms across the country. I spent quite a long time talking with a reporter about the situation here in Florida, especially … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcZNLl-In","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1930,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1930","url_meta":{"origin":2751,"position":0},"title":"Evolution,Climate-Change makes the grade.","author":"Jonathan Smith","date":"July 9, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"A recent issue of Science Magazine, highlights the\u00c2\u00a0National Science Standards (NGSS). It\u00c2\u00a0opens.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0Five US states have adopted science education standards that recommend introducing two highly charged topics \u00e2\u20ac\u201d climate-change science and evolution \u00e2\u20ac\u201d into classrooms well before high school.\u00c2\u00a0 It also mentions this.\"In the past two months, education officials in\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 1 comment","block_context":{"text":"With 1 comment","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1930#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2623,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2623","url_meta":{"origin":2751,"position":1},"title":"“Nowhere in the material is a balanced discussion of the biblical explanation.”","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"March 22, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The instructional materials bill in the Senate has now been scheduled for a hearing in the education committee March 27th. Last year the bills didn't make it on to any committee calendars. So this is an unfortunate step forward for them them this year. Call education committee senators now. Refer\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Instructional Materials bills '17"","block_context":{"text":"Instructional Materials bills '17","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=32"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/textbookskulls-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3274,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3274","url_meta":{"origin":2751,"position":2},"title":"Press Release: Balancing Evolution & Creationism in Schools Unconstitutional","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"May 13, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Florida Citizens for Science News Release (May 13, 2018) --------------------------------------------- BALANCING EVOLUTION AND CREATIONISM IN SCHOOLS UNCONSTITUTIONAL Attempts to alter science textbooks in Collier, Martin and Nassau Counties are a waste of school boards\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 time, money and could lead to costly lawsuits --------------------------------------------- Contact: Brandon Haught \/\u00c2\u00a0bhaught@flascience.org \/ www.flascience.org Citizens\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2910,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2910","url_meta":{"origin":2751,"position":3},"title":"Eugenie Scott, Brandon Haught, Bertha Vazquez in Orlando this month","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"October 3, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm reproducing here an edited notice that the National Center for Science Education sent out recently about a central Florida event coming up: NCSE's founding executive director Eugenie C. Scott will be speaking on \"Race, Science, and Society\" at 4:30 p.m. on October 21, at the FREEFLO Freethought Florida Conference,\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3371,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3371","url_meta":{"origin":2751,"position":4},"title":"Florida is once again ground zero for antiscience","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"November 3, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"M.I.T.'s online magazine Undark recently published a deep dive story about efforts to undermine the teaching of global warming facts in public schools:\u00c2\u00a0In America\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Science Classrooms, the Creep of Climate Skepticism: Conservative groups are working hard to challenge the teaching of mainstream climate science in schools. In Florida, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve found\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/sciencetextbookswarming-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3431,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3431","url_meta":{"origin":2751,"position":5},"title":"News Roundup 2\/9\/19: Sen. Baxley takes a pounding","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"February 9, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Several opinion pieces were published since my last news roundup just one week ago. Every one of them tears into state senator Dennis Baxley's bill that attacks so-called \"controversial theories\" in science classrooms. If you need a primer about this bill, check out our issues page:\u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Controversial Theories\/Rigorous Standards\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Bills 2019.\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/eastman.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2751"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2751"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2751\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2755,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2751\/revisions\/2755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}