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There was a publication, I'll take some time to dig it out of my many drives, that showed that biology teachers  were no more knowledgeable  (accepting of ?) about evolution than non biology teachers. Is this because of belief systems or a history of lousy instruction along the way.

I am concerned that it is not the "cutting edge molecular/genetic biomedical research" where the problem is.  After all Darwin deduced what was going on without 
knowing about genes. And most of our evidence of evolution before the understanding of DNA was fossils and morphology. There is no need to understand "cutting edge molecular/genetic biomedical research" in order to teach evolution on the elementary or high school level or to appreciate it on a personal level. Admittedly some of the best evidence of evolution given the sparsity of the fossil record is from molecular and genetic research.

Martin


On Feb 8, 2011, at 3:52 PM, Barry Aprison wrote:

> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
> *****************************************************************************
> 
> Evolution was never taught in my 1-yr high school biology course in
> Indianapolis. (so i wonder how many of us were taught evolution in high
> school!)  One of the best, easy reads about evolution is Sean Carroll's "The
> Making of The Fittest. DNA & the Ultimate Forensic Record of
> Evolution"..this excellent book was published in 2006. NOVA's "What Darwin
> Never Knew" is a fairly good (but long!) evolution video produced in 2009...
> www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/evolution/darwin-never-knew.html...there are a couple
> of other good books and interactive media/online sources.  But as the
> Science article indicates, the problem is basically with the high school
> science teachers...“the cautious 60 percent,” who avoid controversy by
> endorsing neither evolution nor its unscientific alternatives. In various
> ways, they compromise." Recently published college biology textbooks have
> evolution throughout their core curriculum. Fyi...cutting-edge
> molecular/genetic biomedical research is all about evolution, among other
> things...
> 
> Barry
> 
> On 2/8/11 2:48 PM, "Charlie Carlson" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
>> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
>> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
>> *****************************************************************************
>> 
>> Hey Martin,
>> I'm sure you're right!  And it's so unfortunate.  One thing I've long thought
>> is that evolutionary theory should be included in any discussion of biology or
>> life.  It probably ought to be a routine part of any discussion about viruses
>> and bacterial diseases as well–which speaks to a greater inclusion in medical
>> training.
>> C
>> On Feb 8, 2011, at 12:32 PM, Martin Weiss wrote:
>> 
> 
> 
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__________________
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Martin Weiss, PhD
Science Interpretation Consultant
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