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JUDGE JONES LECTURE RESCHEDULED TO 6 DECEMBER.
Judge Jones who presided over the now famous Kitzmiller trial in Dover PA and declared that Intelligent Design was religion and not science will now present his talk, “Our Constitution’s Intelligent Design,” at 7 PM, Dec. 6, in the Bell Courtroom, at the OU College of Law. His earlier schedule had to be cancelled due to the storm.
OKLAHOMA BIOLOGY TEACHER WINS NATIONAL AWARD.
Congratulations to Putnam City North teacher Bethany Lorenz who received the Outstanding Biology Teacher Award last week at the awards luncheon of the National Association of Biology Teachers Professional Development Conference in Dallas. Bethany serves on the Boards of Oklahomans for Excellence in Science Education and Oklahoma Association of Science teachers.
Every year, the Outstanding Biology Teacher Award program attempts to recognize an outstanding biology educator (grades 7-12) in each of the 50 states; Washington, DC; Canada; Puerto Rico; and overseas territories. Candidates for this award must have at least three years public, private, or parochial school teaching experience. A major portion of the nominee’s career must have been devoted to the teaching of biology/life science, and candidates are judged on their teaching ability and experience, cooperativeness in the school and community, inventiveness, initiative, and student-teacher relationships. OBTA recipients receive gift certificates from Carolina Biological Supply Company, microscopes from Leica Microsystems, Inc., and certificates and a complimentary one-year membership from NABT.
“CLIMATE OF DOUBT.”
“Climate of Doubt”, the Frontline documentary on the promulgation of climate change denial that aired on October 23, 2012, is now available on-line. The documentary focuses on how, over the last four years, climate change deniers mobilized, framed their tactics, and undermined public and political acceptance of the global scientific consensus on climate change. Climate change education receives a passing mention: “Beyond Washington, in wave after wave, the skeptic tactic of fighting scientific warnings with doubt and delay was finding success. Tennessee passed a law allowing the views of climate change skeptics to be taught in schools.” (Similarly, although unmentioned, Louisiana passed such a law in 2008, and South Dakota adopted a resolution in 2010 calling for “balanced teaching of global warming” in the state’s public schools.) Along with the documentary itself, Frontline is also providing a transcript, extended interviews with people featured in the documentary, and a timeline on the politics of climate change.”
A SHORT VIDEO ON BASICS OF EVOLUTION
Genie Scott posted this on Facebook: “Here’s a 10 minute video that gets out the basics of evolution very clearly. It’d make a good download on a student’s hand-held to review on the bus on the way to school.” An excellent review for others as well.
CAMERON UNIVERSITY PROF: HUMANS TO BLAME FOR CLIMATE WARMING.
“Climate change was the topic of discussion Saturday afternoon at the Museum of the Great Plains. “Southwest Oklahomans don’t need a reminder about how the climate has shifted in recent years with the lack of moisture and record high temperatures being set annually. The Greater Southwest Chapter of the Oklahoma Anthropological Society hosted the meeting and seminar. Temperatures outside were tracking an ironic 10 degrees above normal while around 20 audience members sat in the air conditioned room while J.L. Dodd, professor of environmental science and natural resource management in the Agriculture Department at Cameron University, laid out the grim truth. ”We have seen a two-degree increase in temperatures in the last century,” he told the audience. “The question is are we increasing greenhouse gas, or is it the volcanoes?” “Dodd believes it’s the former. He estimates 98 percent of the scientific community believes the evidence of global warming a real occurrence and humans are to blame. In an ongoing PowerPoint presentation, Dodd pointed out that in 1900, humans accounted for 20 times the amount of greenhouse emissions as volcanoes. A century later, humans account for 135 times the amount of greenhouse emissions.” Entire article HERE.
INSIDIOUS DESIGN: AT OHIO SUPREME COURT, TEACHER CLAIMS “ACADEMIC FREEDOM” RIGHT TO PUSH CREATIONISM IN PUBLIC SCHOOL.
[From Church and State, published by Americans United for Separation of Church and State, November 2012. Full article HERE.
“Jenifer and Steve Dennis enjoyed living in Mount Vernon, Ohio, a city of about 16,000 people in the center of the state, but they no longer reside there. After an incident in 2007, they stopped feeling welcome.
“The Dennis family’s problems began one day when their son Zachary, then 13, showed them some marks on his arm. The red burns were in the shape of a cross, and Zachary told his parents that a science teacher named John Freshwater was responsible for them. Freshwater had made the mark with an electronic device called a Tesla coil.
“It soon came to light that Zachary wasn’t the only student who had been burned. While investigating the matter, school officials soon uncovered a host of problems in Freshwater’s classroom.
“It turned out that Freshwater, who in 2003 had publicly attacked the school district for mandating that evolution be taught, had been pushing “intelligent design” – a variant of creationism – in class and distributing materials designed to cast doubt on the validity of evolution.
“The investigation revealed that Freshwater had put religious posters in his classroom, asked students questions about their religious beliefs and the depth of their commitment and even offered “healing” services at meetings of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. He had also distributed “work sheets” to students that undermined evolution (but, interestingly, hadn’t let students take the materials home where parents might see them).”