RE: teaching evolution in Wisconsin

Steve Clark (ssclark@facstaff.wisc.edu)
Mon, 27 Sep 1999 13:37:54 -0500

At 01:07 PM 9/27/99 -0500, John E. Rylander wrote:
>> I just came across a news release describing a new approach to teaching
>> evolution in high school that was developed by people here at UW. The
>> approach was tested at a local high school and is described in the release
>> (see web site below). Given the timing with regard to the Kansas
>> controversy, I thought some of you might be interested in this. Comments?
>
>
>Steve,
>
>Thanks for the URL -- very interesting, even exciting.
>
>The one thing that jumped to my philosophically-oriented mind:
>
> "Given the assumptions informing these models, any of
> them can work," states Donovan. "However, not all the
> assumptions are consistent with a scientific worldview."
>
>What do you think he meant by "scientific worldview"?
>

This statement also jumped out at me. I am not certain what the precise
meaning is. I also have questions about the content of the course. For
instance, do they distinguish between micro and macro evolution? How is
the fossil record presented?

Nevertheless, it is interesting, and I daresay, novel, to present the
viewpoints of Paley and the creationists in a science classroom.

Steve