From: Michael Roberts (michael.andrea.r@ukonline.co.uk)
Date: Fri Oct 31 2003 - 06:12:26 EST
Steve
Here is another version. After Icons of evolution I tend not to believe
anything from the DI. They need to clean up their act.
Michael
----- Original Message -----
From: "Skip Evans" <skip@ncseweb.org>
To: <ncse@ncseweb2.org>
Cc: <cholden@aaas.org>
Sent: Thursday, October 30, 2003 10:41 PM
Subject: [ncse] Clarification on Texas textbooks
In an unsurprising move, the Seattle based Discovery Institute is
attempting to take credit for minor changes the publishers have made to
biology textbooks submitted for approval in Texas. However, the DI fails
to mention that the textbooks still remain strong on evolution, and
include none of the misleading and inaccurate information sent to the
board in written comments by DI staff and fellows and local creationists.
Many of the changes are mere clarifications that still maintain the
accurate representation of evolution as a central theme in biology. For
instance, artists' drawings of embryos have been replaced by
photographs: something we at NCSE have often recommended! However,
embryology is still appropriately presented as evidence of common ancestry.
A couple of changes do represent "qualifying" language, statements
changed so that the new wording is not as strong as previously. For
example, a sentence that originally read “since Darwin's time, many of
these intermediates have been found” was changed to read, “Since
Darwin’s time, some of these intermediates have been found, while others
have not.” (Holt Biology, p. 283). Certainly the original statement was
stronger, but the new one is not untrue; many intermediates remain to be
found. However, the fossil record is still presented as providing strong
evidence of evolution, just as it should be.
The DI is still complaining, of course. For example, it still refuses to
accept the fact that origin-of-life experiments after Miller/Urey
confirmed the fact that organic compounds can be formed under conditions
more accurately reflecting the early earth atmosphere: "Most accounts of
the Miller-Urey origin of life experiment still mislead students into
thinking that revised Miller-Urey experiments have produced results
helpful to understanding the origin of the first life. In fact, these
experiments are now widely considered a dead-end by origin of life
researchers."
In his testimony before the Texas Board of Education, Dr. Andrew
Ellington, who has published 165 peer-reviewed papers on origin-of-life
research and related subjects in his 20 years of research, said, "The
Miller-Urey experiment showed exactly what it is was supposed to, and
exactly what the textbooks say it does: that biologically relevant
compounds can be generated by relatively simple prebiotic chemistries."
As NCSE's Dr. Alan Gishlick has noted, “The Miller-Urey experiment
should still be taught because the basic results are still valid. The
experiments show that organic molecules can form under abiotic
conditions. Later experiments have used more accurate atmospheric
compositions and achieved similar results. Even though origin of life
research has moved beyond Miller and Urey, their experiments should be
taught.”
Similarly, the DI contends, "Several textbooks still present the
classical peppered moth story as if it is good science, when it’s not."
But this is just plain wrong. Dr. Michael Majerus, a University of
Cambridge geneticist and an expert on industrial melanism, described the
peppered moth research as “irrefutable proof of biological evolution
through the process of natural selection. What there is no 'scientific'
proof of is that predation by birds has caused it -- but there is a
tremendous amount of circumstantial evidence to suggest that it is the
cause."
Texas scientists and teachers have forcefully defended the textbooks'
presentation of evolution, and have resisted efforts to weaken the
coverage of evolution by singling out for the presentation of
“weaknesses,” such as the DI's. But anti-evolutionists have failed to
convince the publishers to dumb down the coverage of evolution. The DI
misrepresents the normal final editing typical of any textbook adoption
procedure as a substantial victory. The real victory will be that
students in Texas (and elsewhere in the country) will be learning from
textbooks that present evolution substantially as scientists understand it.
Resources:
Texas Education Association:
http://www.tea.state.tx.us/textbooks/adoptprocess/index.html.
Discovery Insttitute press releases:
http://www.discovery.org/scripts/viewDB/index.php?command=view&id=1618&progr
am=News-CSC&callingPage=discoMainPage
http://www.discovery.org/scripts/viewDB/index.php?command=view&id=1619&progr
am=News-CSC&callingPage=discoMainPage
NCSE's critique of Icons of Evolution, by DI Senior Fellow Jonathan Wells
http://www.ncseweb.org/icons/
Texas Citizens for Science
http://www.txscience.org
-- Skip Evans Network Project Director National Center for Science Education 420 40th St, Suite 2 Oakland, CA 94609 510-601-7203 Ext. 308 510-601-7204 (fax) 800-290-6006 evans@ncseweb.org http://www.ncseweb.orgNCSE now has a one way broadcast news list. Please note that this is NOT a discussion list. You cannot post messages for members to receive. We use this list to broadcast news about the creationism/evolution issue to interested parties.
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