You may know that three of the six members of a committee appointed to review state science standards in Texas are antievolutionists.1 The National Center for Science Education is asking Texas residents to appear at the 19 November meeting of the Texas Board of Education meeting in Austin to support sound science education standards.
Click through for more information.
Click through for more information.
Dear Texas Friends,
If it is at all possible for you to attend the November 19, 2008 board of education meeting in Austin to testify in support of sound science education standards, please, please do so. Information on testifying will be found below.
If it is not possible for you to attend, please provide feedback on the standards at the Texas Education Agency (TEA) website: http://www.tea.state.tx.us/teks/scienceTEKS.html
The primary issue is whether evolution will be treated with integrity, or whether the TEKS (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, the science standards) will capitulate to political pressure and require textbook publishers to include disguised creationism in books submitted for adoption in Texas. These TEKS will form the basis for science curriculum for years to come.
The first draft of the new TEKS has been released and reviewed by an outside committee. Now that the TEKS language is becoming finalized, it is important that the SBOE hear from as many concerned citizens as possible.
The matter of primary concern is the wording of the standard C. Knowledge and Skills, #3, Scientific Processes, A. (in short, "Process Skill 3A). In the current version of the TEKS, it reads:
C. Knowledge and Skills
(3) Scientific Processes. The student uses critical thinking and scientific problem solving to make informed decisions. The student is expected to:
(A) analyze, review, and critique scientific explanations, including hypotheses and theories, as to their strengths and weaknesses using scientific evidence and information.
Although on the surface this sounds like a reasonable, "critical thinking" educational standard encouraging students to evaluate scientific explanations, in practice it has been used to attack evolution in the curriculum. In 2003, textbook publishers were threatened with having to include "weaknesses of evolution" i.e., creationist arguments like "gaps in the fossil record" and "irreducible complexity" along with evolution. These attacks were narrowly defeated after much controversy and considerable effort from scientists and teachers.
During the current 2008 revision of the standards, committees of scientists and teachers are suggesting new wording for Process Skill 3A to the Board of Education. Wording was changed from "strengths and weaknesses" to something that better encourages TRUE critical thinking:
C. 3. (A) analyze and evaluate scientific explanations using empirical evidence, logical reasoning, and experimental and observational testing;
We encourage everyone concerned about science education in Texas to make their opinions known to the board. Public input is an important part of this process, and numbers count.
You can also make your opinions known during the upcoming State Board of Education meeting, which will take place Wednesday, November 19th, beginning at 9:00 AM in room 1-104 of the TEA building, 1701 N. Congress, in Austin. Point 7 of the agenda will involve TEKS science standards, and will probably be taken up late morning or shortly after lunch. Information on this meeting and a full agenda for the meeting can be found here:
· http://www.tea.state.tx.us/sboe/mtg_mat_current.html
To testify, you must sign up on either Friday, November 14 or Monday, November 17, either in person at TEA between 8:00 AM and 5:00 PM, or by filling out a form and faxing it to them. No one will be allowed to testify who has not signed up in advance. Sign up early! The form is at http://www.tea.state.tx.us/sboe/forms/registration_testimony.html. You want to check "Committee of the Full Board", and fax the form to 512-936-4319. You may also telephone in your registration to 512-463-9007.
You have only 3 minutes to testify, so make your testimony count. Explain your qualifications to speak on the topic (including being a taxpayer/parent/scientist/teacher whatever combination describes you). You should make only one or at the most two points, make them succinctly, and preferably bring 35 copies of your testimony to distribute to the board and staff. Stress the importance of teaching evolution without phony "weaknesses" not recognized by professional scientists.
And feel free to consult with us for additional ideas. Numbers count! Please sign up to testimony if you possibly can, and also comment on the posted standards, supporting the wording that avoids the creationist-inspired "weaknesses" language.
Thanks for your support of evolution education. For more information on Texas evolution education issues, please visit: http://www.texscience.org/
Sincerely,
Steven Newton
Eugenie C. Scott
National Center for Science Education, Inc.
--
Eugenie C. Scott, Ph.D.
Executive Director, National Center for Science Education, Inc
420 40th St. #2
Oakland, CA 94709-2509
510-601-7203
fax: 510-601-7204
www.ncseweb.org
1The good news is that the other three members of the committee "are veteran science professors from major Texas universities - the University of Texas at Austin, Texas Tech University and Southern Methodist University" (Dallas Morning News)
If it is at all possible for you to attend the November 19, 2008 board of education meeting in Austin to testify in support of sound science education standards, please, please do so. Information on testifying will be found below.
If it is not possible for you to attend, please provide feedback on the standards at the Texas Education Agency (TEA) website: http://www.tea.state.tx.us/teks/scienceTEKS.html
The primary issue is whether evolution will be treated with integrity, or whether the TEKS (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, the science standards) will capitulate to political pressure and require textbook publishers to include disguised creationism in books submitted for adoption in Texas. These TEKS will form the basis for science curriculum for years to come.
The first draft of the new TEKS has been released and reviewed by an outside committee. Now that the TEKS language is becoming finalized, it is important that the SBOE hear from as many concerned citizens as possible.
The matter of primary concern is the wording of the standard C. Knowledge and Skills, #3, Scientific Processes, A. (in short, "Process Skill 3A). In the current version of the TEKS, it reads:
C. Knowledge and Skills
(3) Scientific Processes. The student uses critical thinking and scientific problem solving to make informed decisions. The student is expected to:
(A) analyze, review, and critique scientific explanations, including hypotheses and theories, as to their strengths and weaknesses using scientific evidence and information.
Although on the surface this sounds like a reasonable, "critical thinking" educational standard encouraging students to evaluate scientific explanations, in practice it has been used to attack evolution in the curriculum. In 2003, textbook publishers were threatened with having to include "weaknesses of evolution" i.e., creationist arguments like "gaps in the fossil record" and "irreducible complexity" along with evolution. These attacks were narrowly defeated after much controversy and considerable effort from scientists and teachers.
During the current 2008 revision of the standards, committees of scientists and teachers are suggesting new wording for Process Skill 3A to the Board of Education. Wording was changed from "strengths and weaknesses" to something that better encourages TRUE critical thinking:
C. 3. (A) analyze and evaluate scientific explanations using empirical evidence, logical reasoning, and experimental and observational testing;
We encourage everyone concerned about science education in Texas to make their opinions known to the board. Public input is an important part of this process, and numbers count.
You can also make your opinions known during the upcoming State Board of Education meeting, which will take place Wednesday, November 19th, beginning at 9:00 AM in room 1-104 of the TEA building, 1701 N. Congress, in Austin. Point 7 of the agenda will involve TEKS science standards, and will probably be taken up late morning or shortly after lunch. Information on this meeting and a full agenda for the meeting can be found here:
· http://www.tea.state.tx.us/sboe/mtg_mat_current.html
To testify, you must sign up on either Friday, November 14 or Monday, November 17, either in person at TEA between 8:00 AM and 5:00 PM, or by filling out a form and faxing it to them. No one will be allowed to testify who has not signed up in advance. Sign up early! The form is at http://www.tea.state.tx.us/sboe/forms/registration_testimony.html. You want to check "Committee of the Full Board", and fax the form to 512-936-4319. You may also telephone in your registration to 512-463-9007.
You have only 3 minutes to testify, so make your testimony count. Explain your qualifications to speak on the topic (including being a taxpayer/parent/scientist/teacher whatever combination describes you). You should make only one or at the most two points, make them succinctly, and preferably bring 35 copies of your testimony to distribute to the board and staff. Stress the importance of teaching evolution without phony "weaknesses" not recognized by professional scientists.
And feel free to consult with us for additional ideas. Numbers count! Please sign up to testimony if you possibly can, and also comment on the posted standards, supporting the wording that avoids the creationist-inspired "weaknesses" language.
Thanks for your support of evolution education. For more information on Texas evolution education issues, please visit: http://www.texscience.org/
Sincerely,
Steven Newton
Eugenie C. Scott
National Center for Science Education, Inc.
--
Eugenie C. Scott, Ph.D.
Executive Director, National Center for Science Education, Inc
420 40th St. #2
Oakland, CA 94709-2509
510-601-7203
fax: 510-601-7204
www.ncseweb.org
1The good news is that the other three members of the committee "are veteran science professors from major Texas universities - the University of Texas at Austin, Texas Tech University and Southern Methodist University" (Dallas Morning News)
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