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Diana,

In my work with teachers in both urban, suburban, and rural districts alike,
here in PA, I find that the problem is not the teaching of creationism as
much as it is the lack of effective teaching of anything about evolution.

Teaching creationism in public schools is illegal.  The Supreme Court has
said so and the lower courts have not backed off in the face of the recent
ID challenge.  If your school district is actually teaching creationism, you
don't need a storyteller, you need a good lawyer.

What creationists have succeeded at, however, is creating a climate of fear
among teachers so that many teachers teach a highly descriptive form of
biology, largely devoid of the unifying coherence of evolution.  Since some
of the major concepts of evolution easily succumb to misconception, a lack
of coherent and deep teaching about them does mean that the population holds
many views that align with creationist doctrine, even if they wouldn't
consider themselves biblical literalists.  They are the ones susceptible to
the "teach the controversy" argument, which seems so reasonable to them as
they see their own science background saying nothing at odds with their own
misconceptions or the distortions of the creationists.

Dave Smith, Da Vinci Science Center, Allentown, PA


On 5/29/07, Diana Issidorides <[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.
>
> *****************************************************************************
>
> While agreeing with the comments of both Nina Simon and Alan Friedman
> on storytelling and the need for our institutions to promote
> fascinating narratives on evolution, I can't help but feel this is
> fighting the symptoms instead of  the disease.  As long as
> creationism is sanctioned by  the formal educational system and spoon-
> fed to children at school, attempts  to counterbalance this
> brainwashing via our exhibitions are but a drop in the ocean, however
> commendable. Children taught from a young age to see the world
> through the eyes of creationism will not see the light because they
> visited our exhibition, project, or programme on evolution. Our
> energy must primarily be aimed at  the root of the problem: lobbying
> both congress and senate to stop endorsing creationism as an
> alternative to the teaching of evolution in schools.
>
> Diana Issidorides
>
> – –
> Dr. Diana C. Issidorides
> Senior Scientist & Exhibition Developer
> Science Center NEMO
> P.O. Box 421
> 1000 AK Amsterdam
> The Netherlands
> T: +31205313201
> [log in to unmask] / [log in to unmask]
> www.e-nemo.nl
>
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-- 
David L. Smith
Allentown, PA
[log in to unmask]

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For information about the Association of Science-Technology Centers and the Informal Science Education Network please visit www.astc.org.

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