ID the Future Intelligent Design, Evolution, and Science Podcast
Topic

science education

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three wise monkeys

Did the National Science Teaching Association Just Muzzle … Darwin?

What happens when someone tries to present to the National Science Teaching Association (NSTA) Charles Darwin’s top arguments against his own theory? Herman Bouma, founder of the National Association for Objectivity in Science, knows from personal experience. As he relates to host Casey Luskin on this ID the Future, he recently had a poster presentation on the topic accepted for an NSTA conference, but then a defender of Darwinian orthodoxy rushed in and spiked it. Bouma describes the censored presentation and the Kafkaesque back and forth he says he had with the organizer, who ultimately shut him down. Bouma warns of what has been described as the “Censorship Industrial Complex,” but he also says he hasn’t given up trying to open up hearts and minds at the NSTA. The incident Bouma describes in this episode echoes an earlier one, which Bouma describes in this 2019 podcast episode.

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How a Teacher Wrecked Biology for Me, and How I Got Past It

On today’s ID the Future, Tom Gilson, a writer and editor for The Stream, shares his experiences in high school biology. Important mysteries (i.e., major problems) with evolutionary theory were hurried past and papered over, and yet his biology teacher could take an entire class period to tell Charles Darwin’s life story, and then repeat the same class, virtually verbatim, five more times that same semester. Tune in to hear how the class put Tom Gilson off of biology, but how he now finds the subject fascinating, thanks to the work of intelligent design researchers and the larger community of life scientists. Gilson’s commentary is taken from, and builds on, a recent essay of his, available at Evolution News.

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A Plea to Parents: Don’t “Butt Out” of Your Kids’ Education

On today’s ID the Future, host Robert Crowther sits down with writer Andrew McDiarmid to discuss his recent New York Post article, “Word to the Wise: Progressives Forget that Parents are in Charge of Kids’ Education.” The two discuss recent dustups in the news in which parents were told to butt out of the public education of their children. This is profoundly wrongheaded and for a variety of reasons, McDiarmid argues. McDiarmid, a Discovery Institute senior fellow, advocates for greater parental involvement, rather than less, and he and Crowther then apply the principle to the narrower question of how evolution is taught in the public high schools. In many districts evolutionary theory is taught as unquestionable dogma, with none of the theory’s weaknesses presented, and no attempt to encourage critical inquiry into the matter. Parents, students, and education leaders should never settle for this, McDiarmid says. He and Crowther wrap up their conversation by pointing listeners to several quality educational resources, many of them online, to help parents, students, and educators.

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NCSE Pushes Unscientific Pro-Darwin Survey

On this episode of ID the Future, Robert Crowther interviews Sarah Chaffee, Education and Public Policy Program Officer for the Center for Science and Culture, on a recent survey conducted by the dogmatically pro-Darwin National Center for Science Education (NCSE), and published in Nature. The NCSE claims that the survey shows that science teachers “advocate evolution” even more now than in 2007. But as Crowther and Chaffe’s discussion suggests, the survey appears gamed to produce a pro-Darwinist outcome, so much so that even teachers who follow the Discovery Institute’s policy of promoting critical thinking skills by teaching biology students both the strengths and weaknesses of modern evolutionary theory could be counted as evolution advocates by the survey. Then too, as Crowther and Chaffee further note, how likely are biology teachers with doubts about modern Darwinism to participate in a survey by an organization famously instrumental in attacking Darwin-doubting biology teachers?

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New Cosmos Series Preaches the Religion of Materialism

On this episode of ID the Future, guest host Jay Richards interviews science historian Michael Keas about the new Neil deGrasse Tyson Cosmos television series and its “very impressionistic storytelling.” Starting with an episode titled “Ladder to the Stars,” Cosmos: Possible Worlds weaves a tale of chemical evolution that, according to Keas, fails to engage the tough problems required to build the first self-reproducing biological entity. Keas says it then it moves into a glib explanation for the origin of mind and human intelligence. As Richards and Keas show, evidence takes a back seat to storytelling in both this latest version of Cosmos and in its predecessors.

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Cancelled planning, appointment, schedule, meeting concept. Business planning cancelled with blank calendar, pen and cancelled rubber stamp on black background.

Herman Bouma: “It Was Like the Darwinian Gestapo”

On this episode of ID the Future, attorney Herman Bouma tells the story of how his talk at a National Association of Science Teachers conference last April was canceled at the last minute. His talk highlighted how Darwin’s Origin of Species (sixth edition) set an example of engaging his scientific critics with civility and reason. Bouma says in response to the incident, “It’s almost as if they considered Darwin a threat to Darwinian evolution.” Three conference officials shut him down, accusing him of promoting fake science. As Bouma notes, Darwin wrote that “I look with confidence to the future, to young and rising naturalists, who will be able to view both sides of the question with impartiality.” Alas, Darwin’s example — and his hope — weren’t much in evidence among the three conference officials who decided to shut down Bouma’s talk. For information from Discovery Institute on teaching the controversy, go here.

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Debate Really Is Good for Science Education

On this episode of ID the Future, host Robert Crowther interviews Sarah Chaffee, Program Director for Education and Public Policy at Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture. With long experience in formal debate, as a student and beyond student years, Chaffee explains how defending views strengthens students’ education. She also corrects a persistent misconception about the Discovery Institute’s science education policy: It’s about more evolution education, not less. Please consider donating to support the IDTF Podcast.

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Janet Parshall and Jonathan Witt Talk Scientific Heretics

Today’s episode of ID the Future features “In the Market” radio host Janet Parshall interviewing Center for Science and Culture senior fellow Jonathan Witt, co-author of the recent book Heretic: One Scientist’s Journey from Darwin to Design. Witt and Parshall discuss the book Heretic, some brave anti-Darwin heretics, and a recent scholarly study claiming to show that greater science education and science literacy encourages acceptance of evolution. Witt highlights what he sees as some glaring problems in the study’s survey, and in the way Darwinian evolution is normally taught.

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The Tenth Anniversary of the Louisiana Science Education Act — and Why It Matters

On this episode of ID the Future, host Sarah Chaffee talks with Center for Science and Culture co-founder Dr. John West about the Louisiana Science Education Act, passed ten years ago this week. Dr. West explains why it mattered then for academic freedom, how it’s stood up to criticism in the ten years since then, and why it matters today — including the example it sets for other states as well-crafted, resilient, and science-friendly legislation, that even the ACLU has recognized it needs to support!

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Improving Science Education by Understanding Science’s History

On this episode of ID the Future, Rob Crowther discusses controversy in the science classroom with Senior Fellow and historian of science Dr. Michael Keas. Listen in as Keas discusses various areas of controversy, and advises teachers that “science is best taught as science is best practiced.”