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The question of God is not the issue. Science has nothing to say about God's
existence, does it? nor do I think it is a question of confrontation or
agreement. Isn't the point of biology how do we explain the life history and
inter-relationships of all the organisms on, or who have ever been on,
Earth?  Evolution is a testable theory and you can, as a teacher,  offer to
discuss any other testable theories. I really think that questions of God's,
 existence or non existence, which I love to discuss, belongs in a religion
or philosophy class.

We just developed, a bout a year ago, an exhibition about evolution for
younger visitors. The question of a title came up and there were two views
one with the word evolution and the other without. I and others felt that
evolution had to be in the title not only to draw a line in the sand but use
a very good descriptive word that would describe to visitors what the
exhibition was about. They could make the choice to enter or to avoid it but
no one would be fooled by an exhibition that said something like Change Over
Time and find out it was about evolution. If children are to learn science
they have to learn science.m Sorry I am hard about this.

Martin

On Fri, Feb 11, 2011 at 2:21 PM, William Katzman <
[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.
>
> *****************************************************************************
>
> Martin,
>
> I would argue that each teaching situation may call for something
> different...  With some audiences you could start out saying let's learn
> about evolution.  With other audiences using that as a starting point will
> eliminate any further dialogue (you are starting at a point of opposition
> instead of at a point of agreement).  Then you may be able to teach the
> whole concept of evolution while avoiding the trigger word "evolution" until
> the end.
>
> The real question is do you start at a point of opposition, or at a point
> of common ground.  And the answer depends on what result you want.
>
> -William
>
> PS.  This answer is from a guy who just fielded the question:  is it true
> that you guys are trying to prove that there's not a god?  That was one of
> my visitor's questions this morning - curious and engaged, but at a point
> closer to opposition.
>
>
> On Feb 10, 2011, at 3:16 PM, Martin Weiss wrote:
>
> > ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
> > Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
> institutions.
> >
> *****************************************************************************
> >
> > William
> >
> > Yes, there are different terms you can use—variation, adaptation, time,
> > heredity and selection—to introduce natural selection as a mechanism for
> e .
> > . . n and in extreme situations maybe that's  the way to go. However, by
> not
> > introducing this concept you'll deprive students of the beauty
> > and interrelatedness of biology.
> >
> > Martin
> >
> > On Thu, Feb 10, 2011 at 4:02 PM, William Katzman <
> > [log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> William Katzman
> Program Leader
> LIGO Science Education Center
> "Inspiring Science"
> [log in to unmask]
> (225) 686-3134
>
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-- 
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Martin Weiss, PhD
Science Interpretation, Consultant
New York Hall of Science
mweiss at nyscience.org
347-460-1858

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