Origins Theories may be an area of interest for some of you.
So far, what's available is the origins homepage and three homepages
for sub-areas: Views of Creation, Origins Evidence, Origins Education.
There is some content for "Design of the Universe" (in Origins Evidence)
and quite a bit in the Origins Evidence page.
prototype pages: http://www.asa3.org/ASA/education/origins/index202.htm
(so far, there are no links to this from other parts of the Sci Ed site)
FEEDBACK
Although I'm the main developer/coordinator, this should be a project
for the science education and Christian communities (especially the ASA)
so I'm submitting it to you for feedback.
I'm looking forward to hearing what you think. You can send feedback
to me or, if you think it will be productive for everyone (including those
who will be reading the archives) to see it, to the whole ASA-list.
Your comments and suggestions can be for changes (in content, style, or
attitude) of what I've written, or for other resources (mainly web-pages to
link to). If you suggest web-pages, remember that SELECTIVITY is the main
challenge. I need ideas for BETTER pages, not just more pages. { My hard
disk has 450 "origins education" pages I've downloaded, and I've looked at
many more. }
One type of page that the website will have, but doesn't have now, is
critiques of other pages, and reviews. For example, I've got pro-and-con
reviews of "Pandas and People" and some will be selected for links. And
there will be critiques of policy papers (by NSTA, NAS,...) and responses,
and so on. But there isn't much of this now.
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DIVERSITY, NEUTRALITY, and FAIRNESS
A basic approach, from the home-page for the Origins Theories area:
> In contrast with most websites, which express only a single view of
>origins, "a website of the ASA should reflect the diversity of views in
>ASA and in the Christian community. ... Instead of providing the Origins
>Answer, we'll explore interesting Origins Questions."
In the "Accurate Information" introduction for the Origins Education
homepage, I say "Although we won't be neutral, we will try to be fair, by
providing an opportunity for representatives of different perspectives to
clearly express their views."
Since my non-neutral slant will be "pro-design, old earth" I'll provide
opportunities for pro-evolution and young-earth proponents to state their
cases. You (TEs and YECs) can suggest web-resources and write your own
pages. And I'll revise my home-pages in response to your suggestions.
I'm not sure about the details, but we'll improvise as we proceed.
TIMINGS:
The evolution-and-design area of "Origins Evidence" will begin to take
shape in June, and "age of the earth" sections will be added to all three
areas (for religion, science, education) in July.
Craig Rusbult
craig@chem.wisc.edu
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon May 20 2002 - 17:31:17 EDT