{"id":401,"date":"2008-01-19T10:42:00","date_gmt":"2008-01-19T15:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/?p=401"},"modified":"2008-08-05T20:52:24","modified_gmt":"2008-08-06T00:52:24","slug":"interview-with-a-science-standards-writer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=401","title":{"rendered":"Interview with a science standards writer"},"content":{"rendered":"

The St. Petersburg Times did an interview with a science standards writer from the local area. Kathryn Bylsma seems a little bit muddled<\/a> in her response to the questions about evolution. She correctly states that “In the science community, this is the information that we have.” But then she muddies things up by saying that evolution is not a law. Yes, she’s right that it’s not a law, but the context of the statement makes it sound like the general public has a right to be saying evolution is “just a theory.” In other words, she just wasn’t clear or precise. And what is with that part where she says that one shouldn’t say that most <\/strong>scientists accept evolution? I don’t get that. I get the impression that she is uncomfortable with the subject, and perhaps she also just didn’t interview well.<\/p>\n

However, one significant part that needs to be highlighted whenever we talk about the science standards and evolution’s place in the standards, is that other, world class, standards were used as guides.<\/p>\n

How did you consider all the public comment?<\/p>\n

We were instructed first and foremost last summer to create, to form, world-class standards. … We used the PISA standards that rated Finland first and foremost in almost every area. The Singapore standards were very high as well, internationally. Then we were instructed to use Massachusetts and Indiana, the National Academy of Sciences. We used a lot of world-class standards. Then we took into account developmentally appropriate data. Taking Science To School, an awesome text from the National Academy. … It’s been a long process.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

[Edited to add: the paper’s education blog<\/a> has an extended version of the interview, including some discussion of climate change! See, evolution isn’t the only controversial issue in the public. Also, the folks in the comments make some very good points concerning Bylsma’s reluctance to be firm about evolution in this interview.]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The St. Petersburg Times did an interview with a science standards writer from the local area. Kathryn Bylsma seems a little bit muddled in her response to the questions about evolution. She correctly states that “In the science community, this … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","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":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[3,7],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcZNLl-6t","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":26,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=26","url_meta":{"origin":401,"position":0},"title":"Can our teachers rely on the science standards?","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"June 27, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Florida's public school science standards are not in need of a tweak or pretty makeover. They need to be overhauled. The Thomas B. Fordham Institute gave Florida an ugly ol' F for its science standards. In part, the review says: Life sciences and evolution are given shorter shrift than any\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Our Science Standards"","block_context":{"text":"Our Science Standards","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":425,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=425","url_meta":{"origin":401,"position":1},"title":"Another lawmaker, the same old lawyer, and a theory","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"February 4, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"An Associated Press article popped up on the Orlando Sentinel website this evening. The state Board of Education was having a conference call with state legislators concerning class size stuff when a panhandle lawmaker couldn't resist the urge to say a few words about evolution in the state science standards.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Alert"","block_context":{"text":"Alert","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=6"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":385,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=385","url_meta":{"origin":401,"position":2},"title":"New chancellor’s response to evolution question","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"January 13, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"New Florida K-12 chancellor Frances Haithcock was interviewed by the St. Petersburg Times education blog The Gradebook. In the course of that interview, Haithcock was hit with the dreaded evolution question. I do have to ask you about the exciting debate over evolution and where you stand on that one,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Our Science Standards"","block_context":{"text":"Our Science Standards","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2352,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2352","url_meta":{"origin":401,"position":3},"title":"A spark","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"September 18, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"An interesting situation is percolating in Volusia County. A mother of an 8th grade student recently found a science assignment in her son\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s binder that upset her. The part that really stood out to her is: \"Next time someone tries to tell you that evolution is just a theory, as\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 4 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 4 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2352#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":518,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=518","url_meta":{"origin":401,"position":4},"title":"Morning news dump","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"March 27, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Palm Beach Post: 'Evolution Act' passed by panel \"You cannot simply call a religious belief scientific information and thus open the door to teaching it in our scientific classrooms,\" said Courtenay Strickland, the daughter of a Baptist minister and a science teacher. Strickland spoke on behalf of the American Civil\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "\"Academic Freedom\" bills '08"","block_context":{"text":"\"Academic Freedom\" bills '08","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=23"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":336,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=336","url_meta":{"origin":401,"position":5},"title":"It’s hitting the fan now","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"December 6, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"The issue of evolution in the state science standards, and the fate of those standards because of evolution, made the headlines today. Florida Citizens for Science members and the National Center for Science Education were very busy yesterday with interviews for these stories. The main strategy being used here by\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "In the News"","block_context":{"text":"In the News","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401"}],"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=401"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}