{"id":809,"date":"2008-11-30T10:59:14","date_gmt":"2008-11-30T14:59:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/?p=809"},"modified":"2008-12-29T21:38:25","modified_gmt":"2008-12-30T02:38:25","slug":"getting-ready-for-the-e-word-in-the-treasure-coast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=809","title":{"rendered":"Getting ready for “the e-word” in the Treasure Coast"},"content":{"rendered":"

A newspaper article turned up today <\/a>concerning the schools in the Treasure Coast getting ready to incorporate evolution into the classroom lessons. There really isn’t much newsy to the story, but the online reader comment flamewars are certainly entertaining. This story will also likely spark a series of letters to the editor, so be on the lookout for them. You may even want to throw in your own two cents if you are living in that area. One thing you can set the record straight on is this tidbit:<\/p>\n

The controversy is creationism as opposed to evolution, said Fran Adams, Indian River County assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction.<\/p>\n

“It’s pretty clear-cut in the textbooks,” Adams said. “(Evolution) is presented as one of many theories, but they don’t get into the other theories.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I think Adams is on the right track concerning the fact that some folks with literal belief in a religion’s creation story have problems with the science of evolution. But then Adams trips over the word theory, thus confusing the issue a bit. I wonder how the textbooks he is referring to actually phrase the bit about “other theories.” Fact: there are no other scientific theories competing with evolution. None. There are other beliefs and ideas, based in religion, but no other theories. This site gives a good, easy-to-understand explanation<\/a> concerning the confusion over the word theory (or the intentional misuse of the word).<\/p>\n

Scientific theories are explanations that are based on lines of evidence, enable valid predictions, and have been tested in many ways. In contrast, there is also a popular definition of theory \u00e2\u20ac\u201d a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153guess\u00e2\u20ac\u009d or \u00e2\u20ac\u0153hunch.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d These conflicting definitions often cause unnecessary confusion about evolution.<\/p>\n

Definition: in science, a well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There is another concern that is a serious and valid one that only gets a brief mention in the article:<\/p>\n

But wording in a new education law passed last spring requires the Board of Education to adopt new academic standards by 2011. The Florida Department of Education won’t say if this means revisiting the debate on teaching evolution.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Here is my past post on this subject<\/a> that goes into much more depth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A newspaper article turned up today concerning the schools in the Treasure Coast getting ready to incorporate evolution into the classroom lessons. There really isn’t much newsy to the story, but the online reader comment flamewars are certainly entertaining. 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":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcZNLl-d3","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1238,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1238","url_meta":{"origin":809,"position":0},"title":"Florida candidate for Congress tries to dodge evolution questions","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"October 22, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"An Orlando Sentinel article headlined Sandy Adams dismisses evolution in favor of 'the Biblical teachings' seems to me a bit overblown. Adams is running against incumbent U.S. Rep. Suzanne Kosmas in Florida's 24th District. The reporter latched onto Adams' attempts to dodge a citizen's question about the teaching of evolution:\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 3 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 3 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1238#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":432,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=432","url_meta":{"origin":809,"position":1},"title":"Story on Highlands County meeting","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"February 7, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Print this article out. Save it. It's a good one. Supporters of good science education made an outstanding showing! James Broen said he has a Ph.D. in microbiology and is a parent of three students in the school district. ... Concerning the proposed resolution and the teaching of alternative theories,\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 91 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 91 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=432#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1266,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1266","url_meta":{"origin":809,"position":2},"title":"Senator Wise and the “non-evolution” “theory of whatever”","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"March 13, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Tampa Tribune reporter Elaine Silvestrini finally got someone to speak on behalf of the new antievolution bill filed in the state senate (SB 1854): Senator Stephen Wise himself (Story: Legislator's challenge to evolution has some alarmed). Senator Wise doesn't say much of substance other than to sing the same old\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "\"Critical Analysis\" bills '11"","block_context":{"text":"\"Critical Analysis\" bills '11","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=29"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":417,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=417","url_meta":{"origin":809,"position":3},"title":"Article on Nassau County","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"February 1, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I had already called a couple of days ago to confirm the Nassau County had in fact passed their anti-evolution resolution. But now their act is further confirmed in this news story. Board members voted unanimously Thursday to adopt the resolution recommended by Schools Superintendent John Ruis. The resolution opposes\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":2106,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2106","url_meta":{"origin":809,"position":4},"title":"Going Ape in the news","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"April 19, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"A story about me and my new book was published in the Daytona Beach News Journal today. The piece also features quotes from Florida Citizens for Science president Jonathan Smith and Florida Family Policy Council president John Stemberger. John Stemberger, president of the Orlando-based Florida Family Policy Council, said he\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 2 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 2 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2106#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":300,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=300","url_meta":{"origin":809,"position":5},"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":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809"}],"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=809"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}