Tag Archives: science

32 Percent

One in eight U.S. high school teachers presents creationism as a valid alternative to evolution, says a poll published in Public Library of Science Biology.

One in Eight High School Biology Teachers Still Teach Creationism

The article states that 32% of the 900 teachers, who responded to a poll conducted by Penn State University political scientist Michael Berkman, agreed that creationism and intelligent design should be taught as scientifically unsound. Forty percent said that such explanations are religiously valid but inappropriate for science class. EXACTLY!

However, 25% said they devoted classroom time to creationism or intelligent design. Of these, about one-half — 12% of all teachers — called creationism a “valid scientific alternative to Darwinian explanations for the origin of species,” and the same number said that “many reputable scientists view these as valid alternatives to Darwinian theory.”

Excuse me? ‘valid scientific alternative’??? What’s scientific about the bible? Where is the proof?

Personally, I think that any teacher who is found teaching Creationism or Intelligent Design should loose their teaching certificate. They shouldn’t even be allowed to be a substitute teacher.

I’ve said it before … I’m saying it now .. and I’m sure I’ll say it again … science class is for teaching FACTS … not religion.

Space, the final frontier

080127-hp-nasaspaceflighttragedies-01.jpgSpace.com has a very poignant article about the three major space disasters that happened to occur around the month of January.

The event that sticks in my mind was the Challenger accident … I remember I was at work, at Triad Software, and we had been ribbing a co-worker because her husband had bought her a portable TV for Christmas … we all thought it was silly, but when the event happened … we were all glued to Gwen’s TV with it’s little 2″ screen.

For someone who’s interest in science and technology germinated with the Apollo program, took root with the Skylab program, and started to blossom with the space shuttle program, the Challenger and Columbia events were quite devastating.

I remember my dad letting me stay up late to watch the Apollo 11 moon landing. It made quite an impression on me.

Later, on a family vacation to California, my dad was able to finagle a tour of Rockwell International, which was one of the prime contractors for the Apollo and Space Shuttle programs (my dad worked for a company that provided welding equipment to Rockwell). I saw the tail section the Enterprise as it was being built … but the biggest thrill of that trip was being able to stick my head INSIDE the command module of Apollo 8.

I’m really glad that the US is continuing it’s space program … I just hope there’s enough dedication, curiosity, inspiration, and of course, funding, to keep it going long term. I long for us to put another group of people on the moon.