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Witnesses From Dover Evolution Trial Among Speakers at Academy Symposium on Teaching Evolution in Climate of Controversy

Posted on: Monday, 17 April 2006, 06:00 CDT

NEW YORK, April 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Not since the Scopes "monkey" trial of the 1920's has the controversy over teaching evolution exposed deep divisions within the American public. The Kansas Board of Education's announcement that intelligent design would be taught alongside evolution ignited a nationwide debate over what constitutes science education and what are nonscientific approaches to education. At a time when studies show the U.S. lags behind other countries in the quality of its science education, the definition of what science education is and what it is not has more serious ramifications than ever before.

How can science educators from elementary schools to college campuses respond to challenges from those who claim that intelligent design is as valid a theory as evolution? How can state and local officials in charge of education policy respond to attempts by religious groups and others who seek to change the investigative nature of science education?

To assist science educators and state and local education officials respond effectively to the controversy surrounding the teaching of evolution, the New York Academy of Sciences will present a two-day symposium, Teaching Evolution and the Nature of Science, on April 21-22, at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, 899 Tenth Avenue, NYC.

Among the goals of this symposium are: (1) to provide science educators with the rhetorical and scientific tools that will help them deal with issues relating to the delivery of science education; (2) enable teachers to increase science literacy and develop skills of scientific inquiry among their students; (3) ensure that students understand that evidence is a necessary component of the scientific process; and (4) discuss the investigative nature of science and how to recognize teaching approaches that reflect non-scientific propositions.

Among the speakers are: * Glenn Branch, National Center for Science Education Topic: "Infiltration of Intelligent Design" * Bruce Alberts, UCSF and Past-President, NAS Topic: "Discovery and Evolution of Protein Machines That Make Life Possible" * John Haught, Professor of Theology, Georgetown University Topic: "Evolution and Religion: What are the Issues?" * Kenneth R. Miller, Professor of Biology, Brown University Topic: "Science, Darwin and Design: Teaching Evolution in a Climate of Controversy" * Robert T. Pennock, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Michigan State University Topic: "The Nature of Science" * Jennifer Miller, Biology Teacher, Dover High School Topic: "Teaching Evolution at Dover High School"

The symposium is geared towards secondary school science teachers; college faculty; state and local officials in charge of education; and others with an interest in evolution, education and the nature of science.

Support for this conference came from the Wenner-Gren Foundation. For more information, visit http://www.nyas.org/ .

Founded in 1817, the New York Academy of Sciences is an independent, non-profit organization of more than 24,000 members serving science, technology and society worldwide.

New York Academy of Sciences

CONTACT: Jennifer Tang, +1-212-838-0230, ext. 257

Web site: http://www.nyas.org/

Source: PRNewswire

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