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> The May -June Issue of the Informal Learning Review has a very 
> interesting article  by Nancy Falxa-Raymond titled  "Why is there no 
> Evolution in Nature Films".

I was just re-reading Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv last night, and was looking through the chapter where he talks about the dearth of natural history education in secondary schools and universities. It seems to me that the traditional nature documentary, with its emphasis on obvious physical characteistics, showing different species in their environment and their behavior, is more in the cabinet museum tradition. Modern natural science education tends to be cladistic, focusing on relationships and frameworks rather than individuals and what seem, to unaugmented human senses, signifigant divisions.

This approach is powerful but counterintuitive and perhaps of limited utility to the average Joe or Josephine. Yes, humans and (other) chimps are closer genetically than rats and mice, but as a practical matter we are more different from chimps than rats are from mice.

> Another article, "The Conservation of 
> Evolution Education in Zoos" by Colin Purrington is a thought 
> provoking companion. It suggests to me that Creationism or ID has 
> (and is) a pretty successful underground movement in the control of 
> information, all under the guise of "not wanting to offend anybody".

Oh yes, it is. And not just in the Deep South and the midwest.

> As a side note:
> When I really think about the human condition and the horrendous 
> behavior humankind inflicts upon itself and the rest of the world, 
> well, it makes me wonder what exactly qualifies us as an intelligent 
> design? Do we rank up there next to, say, the Yugo?

Speak for yourself. Me, I'm that fly red motorcycle from Akira.

Marc Taylor
Coordinator, Andrus Planetarium
Hudson River Museum
511 Warburton Avenue
Yonkers, NY 10701
914 963 4550 x223
Fax 963 8558
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