{"id":422,"date":"2008-02-03T09:37:38","date_gmt":"2008-02-03T14:37:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/?p=422"},"modified":"2008-08-06T10:36:57","modified_gmt":"2008-08-06T14:36:57","slug":"whats-happening-in-the-classroom-no-one-really-knows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=422","title":{"rendered":"What’s happening in the classroom? No one really knows."},"content":{"rendered":"

The St. Petersburg Times has been the only newspaper in Florida I’ve seen that really puts a lot of attention on the evolution in the state science standards issue. A story in today’s paper<\/a> attempts to peek into the science classroom. That’s where the actual teaching happens, after all. But it was difficult for the reporter to get an accurate sense of what’s going on when it comes down to teacher and student interaction. Note that the reporter tried to reach 50 teachers, but only got 17 to respond. The opening paragraphs get right to the point of what’s going on:<\/p>\n

Sometimes, Allyn Sue Baylor doesn’t teach evolution in her science class, even though the state requires it. She knows of other teachers who duck the issue, too.<\/p>\n

They fear a backlash.<\/p>\n

“There are cases when parents have gotten really upset,” said Baylor, who teaches at Palm Harbor Middle School in Pinellas County. “It’s scary. You can lose your job.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It’s sad that someone can be in fear of losing his or her job for doing the job. That’s essentially what the above quote says. Can you imagine a dentist being in fear of teaching patients how to properly floss? I sure can’t, but that’s what is happening in some Florida science classrooms. Evolution is not just part of biology, it is biology. And yet the teacher feels that teaching the subject is fraught with danger. Why is that?<\/p>\n

“In short, there are too many biology teachers who won’t, or don’t, or can’t teach evolution properly,” according to an editorial in the January edition of the American Biology Teacher.<\/p>\n

Some may be glossing over the subject because of their faith. A 1999 survey of biology teachers in Oklahoma, for example, found that 12 percent wanted to omit evolution and teach creationism instead. A similar survey in Louisiana found that 29 percent of biology teachers believed creationism should be taught, while in South Dakota, it was 39 percent.<\/p>\n

Others may fear being dragged into a battle over belief. In a 2005 survey by the National Science Teachers Association, 31 percent of respondents said they had felt pressured by students, parents, or administrators to include creationism, intelligent design or other faith-based alternatives to evolution in their curriculum. Thirty percent said they felt pressure to de-emphasize or omit evolution.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is one heck of a vicious circle. First, a vocal, passionate group of people don’t have an understanding of basic science education, as evidenced by the the constant cry of “it’s not a fact, it’s a theory” or “it’s just a theory.” This group raises such a stink, based on their lack of science education, that they suppress current science education through fear. That in turn fosters a new generation of future students who don’t have an understanding of basic science. This horrible cycle will continue until enough people have the courage to break it.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Do you have that courage?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The St. Petersburg Times has been the only newspaper in Florida I’ve seen that really puts a lot of attention on the evolution in the state science standards issue. A story in today’s paper attempts to peek into the science … 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":[2,3,7],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcZNLl-6O","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":300,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=300","url_meta":{"origin":422,"position":0},"title":"Article on science standards\/evolution in The Ledger","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"October 24, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"The Ledger ran an article today about the new draft science standards and predictably focused entirely on the inclusion of evolution. As I've mentioned before, I think that is irresponsible and sensationalist. I understand that evolution garners high interest, but the real story is that the standards are being improved\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Analysis\/Commentary"","block_context":{"text":"Analysis\/Commentary","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=4"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":26,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=26","url_meta":{"origin":422,"position":1},"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":418,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=418","url_meta":{"origin":422,"position":2},"title":"Loose lips and all that","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"February 1, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"The Florida Citizens for Science membership has been debating the authority of one school district\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s order for its science teachers to stay mum when it comes to the media calling and asking about evolution. The Gradebook mentions that St. Petersburg Times reporters have been trying to collect teachers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 opinions about\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "In the Classroom"","block_context":{"text":"In the Classroom","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":293,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=293","url_meta":{"origin":422,"position":3},"title":"News article about draft science standards","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"October 21, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Florida Citizens for Science president, Joe Wolf, had an excellent quote in an Orlando Sentinel story this weekend about the new draft of the state science standards. He did a great job of playing down this \"controversy\" over evolution by putting it into realistic perspective. Thanks, Joe! On the other\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":[]},{"id":341,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=341","url_meta":{"origin":422,"position":4},"title":"Florida evolution opinion roundup","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"December 9, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"St. Petersburg Times columnist Howard Troxler does a decent job putting the so-called debate over evolution and intelligent design into perspective. The only thing I see that he leaves out is when people have a strict, very literal view of the Bible or other religious text. This comment left here\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Analysis\/Commentary"","block_context":{"text":"Analysis\/Commentary","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=4"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":445,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=445","url_meta":{"origin":422,"position":5},"title":"Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s talk about theories","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"February 15, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Joe Wolf, president of Florida Citizens for Science, had heard that the Department of Education was shopping around the idea of inserting the word \u00e2\u20ac\u0153theory\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in the new draft of the state science standards wherever evolution is mentioned. I believe that they also said that they would apply \u00e2\u20ac\u0153theory\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Analysis\/Commentary"","block_context":{"text":"Analysis\/Commentary","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=4"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422"}],"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=422"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}