Creationist efforts to pull one of the nation’s best biology textbooks were crushed when the school board voted, 9 to 7, to keep using the book. Continue reading Ding Dong: South Carolina Textbook Fight Over
Tag Archives: Science Education
More on the Christian Reaction to the NAS
Christian Creationists are accusing scientists of being defensive, ignorant, reprehensible, and troubling. They might be right.
Continue reading More on the Christian Reaction to the NAS
Presidential Candidates on Science
Indeed, in science. The current issue of Science reviews the positions of each of the major presidential candidates in the area of science.
Continue reading Presidential Candidates on Science
Likely Voters Prefer Evolution Over Creationism
It is common knowledge that most Americans are creationists, and prefer creationist stories of human origins and evolution in general over the findings of evolutionary biology. But this is only true if you ask the questions a certain way, and a new study shows very different results. Continue reading Likely Voters Prefer Evolution Over Creationism
Genetic Diversity Video
Capturing the Elusive Streaming Video
How to convert a YouTube or Google streaming video into a file that you can put in your pocket and carry around with you.
The Problem: Streaming Video is not enough.
Do you need to save a Youtube or Google video into a file? I’m not sure about the legality or practicality of doing this, so anything you read here could break your computer or get you arrested, that’s up to you.
I know I do this some times for a very good reason. My wife is a school teacher, and schools are run by reality-blind bureaucrats who come up with things like “zero tolerance” policies … so of course, most schools seem to have blocking of almost all useful Internet content, especially and including Google Videos and Youtube. So, if Amanda wants to show some useful video to her students, she can’t. The bureaucrats are happy, the students are uneducated. Whatever.
Geek the Vote
Popular Mechanics (one of those magazines that genteel people refuse to admit they read, but that is actually a blast) has published a thing called “Geek the Vote.” According to an email from PM, this is:
…an online guide to all the candidates’ stances on issues related to science and technology including energy policy and climate change, gun control, science education and infrastructure investment. The full chart, which can be navigated by candidate or issue, is [provided]
The site is here.This is apparently in response to (maybe not, but there is evidence to suggest this) the Science Debate 2008 initiative (see this). Continue reading Geek the Vote
The ICR Master’s of Creation Research: An On Line Teaching Degree
The Texas Based Institute for Creation Research would offer an online degree in Science Education. Approved by a State Advisory Board yesterday, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board will consider the degree in January.
Continue reading The ICR Master’s of Creation Research: An On Line Teaching Degree
Mark Borrello on John West
You will remember our blogospheric reactions to John West’s talk at UMN (John West can Play the Violin But Not the Fiddle on my blog, and John West at the McLaurin Institute on Pharyngula for Scienceblogs.com, as well as In Which I Meet John West at Tangled Up in Blue Guy and here at Amused Muse).
Well, the brilliant and tenaceous Mark Borrello, a key operative with the Minnesota Citizens for Science Education, has written an excellent editorial on the topic on the MnCSE site, entitled Dancing with the Disco Institute.
Ohio School District: WTF????
This is an amazing story, and unfortunately, it is probably being repeated again and again across the country. It begins with a parent who does not want his daugther exposed to science, which is pretty common, but leads to a startling revelation about the local school board. Startling, but I’m afraid, probably not at all uncommon either. Continue reading Ohio School District: WTF????
Have you seen Yahoo answers?
The two most annoying kinds of “hits” from an internet search are:1) When you find a site with your question rephrased exactly as it should be, and the first few sentences of the answer you need, but to continue … to be able to read the answer … you must register, and possibly even pay; and 2)When all you can find is the answer on Yahoo Answers.
The blockbuster success of Yahoo! Answers is all the more surprising once you spend a few days using the site. While Answers is a valuable window into how people look for information online, it looks like a complete disaster as a traditional reference tool. It encourages bad research habits, rewards people who post things that aren’t true, and frequently labels factual errors as correct information. It’s every middle-school teacher’s worst nightmare about the Web.
Indeed. Not only are the answers often wrong, but it is generally not possible to tell if something is wrong by looking at it.Read this thoughtful critique of Yahoo Answers on Slate.com
Frankenstein’s Spider Goat Teaching Video
If they are so OK with the spiders, why are they all wearing protective face-wear?Anyway, this is a potentially useful video for teaching genetics. Captivating, good graphics, a balance of the icky and the cute, etc.
$5,000 per error. Glad this does not apply to blorgs. Er, blogs.
A new bunch of math text books slated for implementation in Texas was werefound to have 109,263 errors. Apparently, in Texas, the publishers are fined $5000 per error. That comes out to $546,315,000.The publisher, Houghton Mifflin, is working hard to correct the errors….[source]
Fun with Complex Biochemical Processes
Wiley has a cool web page with “interactive concepts in biochemistry” animations. Check it out.
Overheard in Minneapolis
Question: In science, in reference to probability, how come what you predict is not always what you get?Answer from 12 year old:Because experimental and theoretical probability are not the same.Answer from Hight School student:Because everyone has their own opinions, views,concepts, and interests, and no one wants to believe they are wrong about what they are saying. Well, what these many people have to say forms into predictions. Then, someone who is a couple of steps higher in level and who actually studies the topic can tell you the actual answer….What is going on here is obvious. The middle school student is talking about probability. The high school student is talking about the blogosphere.