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Teacher workshop to focus on controversial science topics

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One speaker will discuss ''Top 10 Myths about Teaching Evolution.''

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By RONNIE BLAIR | The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 12, 2009

TAMPA - Teachers will get help navigating such thorny topics as evolution when the Hillsborough County School District sponsors a four-day workshop this week on "Controversial Issues in the Science Classroom."

The workshop begins Monday at the University of South Florida's College of Education.
Speakers will guide science teachers through such topics as "The Glorious History of Creationism in Florida," "Cognitive Biases and Misconceptions of Students" and "Controversial Issues Outside of Evolution."

Among the groups participating are the National Center for Science Education, Florida Citizens for Science and the Coalition for Science Literacy.

Debra Walker, a Monroe County School Board member who served on the committee that rewrote the state's science standards, will discuss "Top 10 Myths about Teaching Evolution."

She said working on the science standards, approved in February 2008 by the Florida Board of Education, proved to be an eye opener.

"I was shocked at how many districts just totally ignored evolution," Walker said.

Walker, an archaeologist, said one myth science teachers confront involves Earth's age. Some students arrive with the misconception that Earth is just a few thousand years old. Scientists, though, gauge the planet's age at about 4.5 billion years.

A young Earth belief undercuts not just biology, but other scientific disciplines as well, such as astronomy and physics, Walker said.

Other topics teachers might deal with, such as sex education and global warming, also generate controversy, but there's no question that evolution remains one of the stickier education issues in Florida, said Brandon Haught, communications director for Florida Citizens for Science.

"All you have to do is look back at when the science standards were going through the approval process,'' he said.

At that time, the state Board of Education held hearings throughout Florida to seek public input. Much of that input focused on the fact evolution was mentioned by name in the science standards for the first time.

After the standards were approved, the Legislature weighed in both this year and last with bills that tried to challenge the validity of evolution.

One bill would have prohibited school officials from punishing teachers for using "scientific information" to challenge evolution. Another would have required schools to teach "critical analysis" of evolution.

The bills didn't pass.

"It's obvious it's a big deal," said Haught, who will speak at a Wednesday workshop session on "The History of the Evolution Controversy in Florida."

Efforts challenging evolution are more political than scientific, Walker said. Most scientists view evolution as established fact.

"There is more controversy in the scientific community over the theory of gravity than the theory of evolution," she said.

That evolution continues to be a classroom controversy may be a reflection of the disconnect that exists between the general public and scientists. A Pew Research Center poll released last week revealed major differences in the views of scientists and non-scientists, especially when it comes to evolution and global warming.

The Pew poll found that 87 percent of scientists say that humans and other living things evolved and that evolution is the result of natural processes such as natural selection. Just 32 percent of the public agrees.

Meanwhile, the poll found that 84 percent of scientists think that the planet is getting warmer because of human activity, compared with 49 percent of the public.

Most scientists believe the news media contribute to the problem, the poll showed, with 76 percent of them saying a major problem for science is that news reports fail to distinguish between scientific findings that are well-founded and those that are not.

Reporter Ronnie Blair can be reached at (813) 259-7065.

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