-Caveat Lector-
----- Original Message -----
From: Jim Giglio <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: Skeptix <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Friday, August 13, 1999 1:00 PM
Subject: Kansas Science Standards Controversy
The Washington Post had an article Sunday about a proposal under
consideration by the KS state board of education, which they adopted a day
or so ago. The impression left by the article was that the creationists
have gotten their ideology written into the science curriculum in that
state. Similar views have been expressed on this list and SKEPTIC.
Curious, I went to the board's web page:
http://www.ksbe.state.ks.us/outcomes/science.html
What's listed is a July 1999 draft, which I downloaded and skimmed. I
simply couldn't find anything in it that indicates creationist influence
on the content of teaching. Maybe the draft isn't what the board adopted;
if so, can somebody locate the final document? I've appended chunks from
the draft below; it appears to be a fairly standard and sensible approach
to natural selection and evolution, incorporating a reasonable philosophy
on dealing with possible student religious objections.
=======================================================================
THESE EXCERPTS ARE ABOUT 1/10 OF THE TOTAL DRAFT:
Kansas Science Education Standards
Fifth Working Draft
July, 1999
Teaching With Tolerance and Respect
Science studies natural phenomena by formulating explanations that can
be tested against the natural world. Some scientific concepts and
theories (e.g. blood transfusion, human sexuality, nervous system role
in consciousness, cosmological and biological evolution, etc.) may
conflict with a student's religious or cultural beliefs. The goal is to
enhance understanding, and a science teacher has a responsibility to
enhance students' understanding of scientific concepts and theories.
Compelling student belief is inconsistent with the goal of education.
Nothing in science or in any other field of knowledge shall be taught
dogmatically.
A teacher is an important role model for demonstrating respect and
civility, and teachers should not ridicule, belittle or embarrass a
student for expressing an alternative view or belief. In doing this,
teachers display and demand tolerance and respect for the diverse ideas,
skills, and experiences of all students. If a student should raise a
question in a natural science class that the teacher determines to be
outside the domain of science, the teacher should treat the question
with respect. The teacher should explain why the question is outside the
domain of natural science and encourage the student to discuss the
question further with his or her family and clergy.
Neither the Kansas Constitution nor the United States Constitution
require time to be given in the science curriculum to accommodate
religious views of those who object to certain material or activities
presented in science classes. Nothing in the Kansas Statutes Annotated
or the Kansas State Board Regulations allows students (or their parents)
to excuse class attendance based on disagreement with the curriculum,
except as specified for 1) any activity which is contrary to the
religious teachings of the child or for 2) human sexuality education.
(See Kansas Statutes Annotated 1111d and State Board
Regulations 91-31-3:(g)(2).)
Grades 5 - 8
============
Benchmark 5: The students will observe the diversity of living things
and relate their adaptations to their survival or extinction.
Millions of species of animals, plants and microorganisms are alive
today. Animals and plants vary in body plans and internal structures.
Biological evolution, gradual changes of characteristics of organisms
over many generations, has brought variations in populations. Therefore,
a structural characteristic or behavior that helps an organism survive
in its environment is called an adaptation. When the environment changes
and the adaptive characteristics are insufficient, the species becomes
extinct.
As students investigate different types of organisms, teachers guide
them toward thinking about similarities and differences. Students can
compare similarities between organisms in different parts of the world,
such as tigers in Asia and mountain lions in North America. Instruction
needs to be designed to uncover and prevent misconceptions about natural
selection. Students tend to think of all individuals in a population
responding to change quickly rather than over a long period of time.
Using examples such as Darwin's finches or the peppered moths of
Manchester helps develop understanding of natural selection over time.
(Resource: The Beak of the Finch by Jonathon Weiner). Providing students
with fossil evidence and allowing them time to construct their own
explanations is important in developing middle level students'
understanding of extinction as a natural process that has affected
Earth's species over time.
Indicators: The students will:
7-1. Conclude that millions of species of animals, plants, and
microorganisms may look dissimilar on the outside but have similarities
in internal structures, developmental characteristics, and chemical
processes.
Examples: Research numerous organisms and create a classification system
based on observations of similarities and differences. Compare this
system with a dichotomous key used by scientists. Explore various ways
animals take in oxygen and give off carbon dioxide.
7-2. Understand that adaptations of organisms - changes in structure,
function, or behavior - contribute to biological diversity.
Example: Compare bird characteristics such as beaks, wings, and feet
with how a bird behaves in its environment. Then students work in
cooperative groups to design different parts of an imaginary bird.
Relate characteristics and behaviors of that bird with its structures.
7-3. Associate extinction of a species with environmental changes and
insufficient adaptive characteristics.
Example: Students use various objects to model bird beaks, such as
spoons, toothpicks, clothespins. Students use "beaks" to "eat" several
types of food, such as cereal, marbles, raisins, noodles. When "food"
sources change, those species that have not adapted die.
---------------------------
By The End Of TWELFTH GRADE
STANDARD 3: LIFE SCIENCE
Benchmark 3: Students will understand* major concepts of biological
evolution.
[NOTE THAT ASTERISK!]
Indicators: The students will understand:
1. That the theory of evolution is both the descent with modification of
different lineages of organisms from common ancestors and the ongoing
adaptation of organisms to environmental challenges and changes
(modified from Futuyma, et al., 1999).
2. That biologists use the theory of evolution to explain the Earth's
present day biodiversity.
Example: Patterns of diversification and extinction of organisms are
documented in the fossil record. The fossil record provides evidence of
simple, bacteria-like life as far back as 3.5 billion years ago.
Example: Macroevolution has been defined as evolution above the species
level; the evolution of higher taxa and the product of evolutionary
novelties such as new structures (Mayr, 1991). Macroevolution continues
the genetic mechanisms of microevolution and adds new considerations of
extinction, rate and manner of evolution, competition between evolving
units, and other topics relevant to understanding larger-scale
evolution.
3. That biologists recognize that the primary mechanisms of evolution
are natural selection and random genetic drift.
Examples: Natural selection includes the following concepts: 1)
Heritable variation exists in every species; 2) some heritable traits
are more advantageous to reproduction and/or survival than are others;
3) there is a finite supply of resources required for life; not all
progeny survive; 4) individuals with advantageous traits generally
survive; 5) the advantageous traits increase in the population through
time.
4. The sources and value of variation.
Example: Variation of organisms within and among species increases the
likelihood that some members will survive under changed environmental
conditions.
Example: New heritable traits primarily result from new combinations of
genes and secondarily from mutations or changes in the reproductive
cells; changes in other cells of a sexual organism are not passed to the
next generation.
Example: Evolution modifies what exists; evolution does not necessitate
long-term progress in some set direction. The more variation in a
species, the more variety is possible in the future.
Example: Microevolution has been defined as the processes (mostly
genetic) that operate at the population level: Natural selection,
genetic drift, gene flow, and others. These processes may produce
speciation, the splitting off of new reproductively isolated species.
5. That evolution by natural selection is a broad, unifying theoretical
framework in biology.
Examples: Evolution provides the context in which to ask research
questions and yields valuable applied answers, especially in agriculture
and medicine. The more closely related species are, the greater their
anatomical and molecular similarities; DNA sequences and other molecular
evidence substantiate anatomical evidence for evolution and provide
additional detail about the various lines of descent.
The common ancestry of living things allows them to be classified into a
hierarchy of groups; these classifications or family trees follow rules
of nomenclature; scientific names have unique definitions and value.
Natural selection and its evolutionary consequences provide a scientific
explanation for the fossil record that correlates with geochemical
(e.g., radioisotope) dating results. The distribution of fossil and
modern organisms is related to geological and ecological changes (i.e.
plate tectonics, migration).
=========== THE ASTERISK =============================================
*Understand: "Understand" does not mandate "belief." While students may
be required to understand some concepts that researchers use to conduct
research and solve practical problems, they may accept or reject the
scientific concepts presented. This applies particularly where students'
and/or parents' religion is at odds with science. See Teaching About
Evolution and the Nature of Science, National Academy of Sciences, 1998,
page 59.
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