Evolution Creationism And The Battle To Control America S Classrooms

Author : Michael Berkman,Eric Plutzer
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 128 pages
File Size : 50,6 Mb
Release : 2010-09-20
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9781139489980

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Evolution, Creationism, and the Battle to Control America's Classrooms by Michael Berkman,Eric Plutzer Pdf

Who should decide what children are taught in school? This question lies at the heart of the evolution-creation wars that have become a regular feature of the US political landscape. Ever since the 1925 Scopes 'monkey trial' many have argued that the people should decide by majority rule and through political institutions; others variously point to the federal courts, educational experts, or scientists as the ideal arbiter. Berkman and Plutzer illuminate who really controls the nation's classrooms. Based on their innovative survey of 926 high school biology teachers they show that the real power lies with individual educators who make critical decisions in their own classrooms. Broad teacher discretion sometimes leads to excellent instruction in evolution. But the authors also find evidence of strong creationist tendencies in America's public high schools. More generally, they find evidence of a systematic undermining of science and the scientific method in many classrooms.

Author : Michael B. Berkman,Eric Plutzer
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 287 pages
File Size : 42,8 Mb
Release : 2010
Category : Electronic
ISBN : OCLC:862092861

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Evolution, Creationism, and the Battle to Control America's Classrooms by Michael B. Berkman,Eric Plutzer Pdf

Author : Adam Laats,Harvey Siegel
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
Page : 137 pages
File Size : 52,7 Mb
Release : 2016-03-03
Category : Education
ISBN : 9780226331447

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Teaching Evolution in a Creation Nation by Adam Laats,Harvey Siegel Pdf

No fight over what gets taught in American classrooms is more heated than the battle over humanity’s origins. For more than a century we have argued about evolutionary theory and creationism (and its successor theory, intelligent design), yet we seem no closer to a resolution than we were in Darwin’s day. In this thoughtful examination of how we teach origins, historian Adam Laats and philosopher Harvey Siegel offer crucial new ways to think not just about the evolution debate but how science and religion can make peace in the classroom. Laats and Siegel agree with most scientists: creationism is flawed, as science. But, they argue, students who believe it nevertheless need to be accommodated in public school science classes. Scientific or not, creationism maintains an important role in American history and culture as a point of religious dissent, a sustained form of protest that has weathered a century of broad—and often dramatic—social changes. At the same time, evolutionary theory has become a critical building block of modern knowledge. The key to accommodating both viewpoints, they show, is to disentangle belief from knowledge. A student does not need to believe in evolution in order to understand its tenets and evidence, and in this way can be fully literate in modern scientific thought and still maintain contrary religious or cultural views. Altogether, Laats and Siegel offer the kind of level-headed analysis that is crucial to finding a way out of our culture-war deadlock.

Author : John Anderson
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 236 pages
File Size : 52,5 Mb
Release : 2014-09-19
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9781317606628

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Conservative Christian Politics in Russia and the United States by John Anderson Pdf

This book explores the politics of conservative Christian churches and social movements in Russia and the United States, focusing on their similar concerns but very different modes of political engagement. Whilst secularisation continues to chip away at religious adherence and practice in Europe, religion is often, quite rightly, seen as an influential force in the politics of the United States, and, more questionably, as a significant influence in contemporary Russia. This book looks at the broad social movement making up the US Christian Right and the profoundly hierarchical leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church as socially conservative actors, and some of the ways they have engaged in contemporary politics. Both are seeking to halt the perceived drift towards a more secular political order; both face significant challenges in handling the consequences of secularism, pluralism and liberal individualism; and both believe that their nations can only be great if they remain true to their religious heritage. In exploring their experience, the book focuses on shared and different elements in their diagnosis of what is wrong with their societies and how this affects their policy intervention over issues such as religious and ethnic belonging, sexual orientation and education. Drawing on political, sociological and religious studies, this work will be a useful reference for students and scholars of religion and politics, Russian politics and American politics.

Author : Adam Laats
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 256 pages
File Size : 45,8 Mb
Release : 2020-09-24
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9780197516614

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Creationism USA by Adam Laats Pdf

Who are America's creationists? What do they want? Do they truly believe Jesus rode around on dinosaurs, as sometimes depicted? Creationism USA reveals how common misconceptions about creationism have led Americans into a century of unnecessary culture-war histrionics about evolution education and creationism. Adam Laats argues that Americans do not have deep, fundamental disagreements about evolution - not about the actual science behind it and not in ways that truly matter to public policy. Laats asserts that Americans do, however, have significant disagreements about creationism. By describing the history of creationism and its many variations, Laats demonstrates that the real conflict about evolution is not between creationists and evolution. The true landscape of American creationism is far more complicated than headlines suggest. Creationism USA digs beyond those headlines to prove two fundamental facts about American creationism. First, almost all Americans can be classified as creationists of one type or another. Second, nearly all Americans (including self-identified creationists) want their children to learn mainstream evolutionary science. Taken together, these truths about American creationism point to a large and productive middle ground, a widely shared public vision of the proper relationship between schools, science, and religion. Creationism USA both explains the current state of America's battles over creationism and offers a nuanced yet straight-forward prescription to solve them.

Author : Anonim
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 369 pages
File Size : 52,9 Mb
Release : 2022-09-09
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 9780190678890

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On the Edge of Eternity by Anonim Pdf

It is commonly assumed that the creation story of Genesis and its chronology were the only narratives openly available in medieval and early modern Europe and that the discovery of geological time in the eighteenth century came as a momentous breakthrough that shook the faith in the historical accuracy of the Bible. Historians of science, mainstream geologists, and Young Earth creationists alike all share the assumption that the notion of an ancient Earth was highly heterodox in the pre-modern era. The old age of the world is regarded as the offspring of a secularized science. In this book, Ivano Dal Prete radically revises the commonplace history of deep time in Western culture. He argues that the chronology of the Bible always coexisted with alternative approaches that placed the origin of the Earth into a far, undetermined (or even eternal) past. From the late Middle Ages, these notions spread freely not only in universities and among the learned, but even in popular works of meteorology, geology, literature, and art that made them easily accessible to a vernacular and scientifically illiterate public. Religious authorities did not regard these notions as particularly problematic, let alone heretical. Neither the authors nor their numerous readers thought that holding such views was incompatible with their Christian faith. While the appeal of theories centered on the biblical Flood and on a young Earth gained popularity over the course of the seventeenth century, their more secular alternatives remained vital and debated. Enlightenment thinkers, however, created a myth of a Christian tradition that uniformly rejected the antiquity of the world, as opposed to a new secular science ready to welcome it. Largely unchallenged for almost three centuries, that account solidified over time into a still dominant truism. Based on a wealth of mostly unexplored sources, On the Edge of Eternity offers an original and nuanced account of the history of deep time that illuminates the relationship between the history of science and Christianity in the medieval and early modern periods, with lasting implications for Western society.

Author : Susan B. Hansen
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
Page : 217 pages
File Size : 44,8 Mb
Release : 2011-09-16
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9781442211056

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Religion and Reaction by Susan B. Hansen Pdf

While the Religious Right has received considerable scholarly attention and media coverage in recent years, the story of the growing number of Secular Americans—those who identify themselves as atheists, agnostics, or as not having any religious ties—hasyet to be told. In the first book devoted exclusively to Seculars, Susan B. Hansen argues that they are not only increasing in number and political involvement, but have devised strategies and alliances to counter the organization advantages of the Religious Right and its roots in church-based groups and the Republican party. Case studies of state and local battles over the issues of gay marriage, reproductive rights, and teaching evolution illustrate how Seculars have overcome organizational disadvantages to emerge as significant adversaries to the Religious Right. They have forged alliances with the media, the scientific community, minority groups, the Religious Left, and the Democratic Party to challenge the influence of traditional religious views onAmerican politics and public policy.

Author : Susan P. Liebell
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 196 pages
File Size : 48,7 Mb
Release : 2013-09-05
Category : Science
ISBN : 9781136016400

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Democracy, Intelligent Design, and Evolution by Susan P. Liebell Pdf

Should alternatives to evolution be taught in American public schools or rejected as an establishment of religion? Democracy, Intelligent Design, and Evolution argues that accurate science education helps shape a democratic temperament. Rather than defending against Intelligent Design as religion, citizens should defend science education as crucial to three aspects of the democratic person: political citizenship, economic fitness, and moral choice. Through an examination of Tammy Kitzmiller et al. v. Dover Area School District, contemporary political theory, and foundational American texts, this volume provides an alternative jurisprudence and political vocabulary urging American liberalism to embrace science for citizenship.

Author : Tom Kaden
Publisher : Springer
Page : 205 pages
File Size : 45,9 Mb
Release : 2018-09-20
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9783319993805

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Creationism and Anti-Creationism in the United States by Tom Kaden Pdf

This book deals with professional creationist and anti-creationist organizations in America, and describes how the “conflict between science and religion” is the result of the interaction between these two groups. It retraces their history from the 1960s onwards, and identifies crucial turning points that led to new forms of creationism and anti-creationism. It explains their strategies, labels and arguments as effects of this history and structure. Taking a field theoretical approach, the book avoids problems of prior creationism research, making it possible to identify the mechanisms through which creationism generates new strategies, arguments, and media output. The field model is used as an interpretive tool to make sense of some of the most important creationist and anti-creationist publications and media statements.

Author : Sally E. Hadden,Alfred L. Brophy
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
Page : 598 pages
File Size : 43,6 Mb
Release : 2013-02-22
Category : Law
ISBN : 9781118533765

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A Companion to American Legal History by Sally E. Hadden,Alfred L. Brophy Pdf

A Companion to American Legal History presents a compilation of the most recent writings from leading scholars on American legal history from the colonial era through the late twentieth century. Presents up-to-date research describing the key debates in American legal history Reflects the current state of American legal history research and points readers in the direction of future research Represents an ideal companion for graduate and law students seeking an introduction to the field, the key questions, and future research ideas

Author : Wayne Viney,William Douglas Woody
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
Page : 277 pages
File Size : 41,8 Mb
Release : 2017-04-07
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9781351819541

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Neglected Perspectives on Science and Religion by Wayne Viney,William Douglas Woody Pdf

Neglected Perspectives on Science and Religion explores historical and contemporary relations between science and religion, providing new perspectives on familiar topics such as evolution and the Galileo affair. The book also explores common differences in science and religion with respect to their various treatments of doubt, curiosity, and the methods by which truth claims are assessed. The book includes discussions of religious and scientific treatments of the origins of males and females, evolving views of sex and gender, and contemporary tensions about topics such as same-sex marriage. Viney and Woody also include a chapter exploring the effects of social science research on religious topics such as prayer, prejudice, and violence. The rise of social sciences such as psychology, sociology, and anthropology has resulted in discoveries that contribute to new ways of thinking about the relations of science and religion. This book is ideal for graduate and upper-level undergraduate students, as well as anyone interested in science and religion.

Author : David A. Baum,Douglas J. Futuyma,Hopi E. Hoekstra,Richard E. Lenski,Allen J. Moore,Cahterine L. Peichel,Dolph Schluter,Michael C. Whitlock
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 886 pages
File Size : 48,8 Mb
Release : 2017-03-21
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780691175874

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The Princeton Guide to Evolution by David A. Baum,Douglas J. Futuyma,Hopi E. Hoekstra,Richard E. Lenski,Allen J. Moore,Cahterine L. Peichel,Dolph Schluter,Michael C. Whitlock Pdf

The essential one-volume reference to evolution The Princeton Guide to Evolution is a comprehensive, concise, and authoritative reference to the major subjects and key concepts in evolutionary biology, from genes to mass extinctions. Edited by a distinguished team of evolutionary biologists, with contributions from leading researchers, the guide contains some 100 clear, accurate, and up-to-date articles on the most important topics in seven major areas: phylogenetics and the history of life; selection and adaptation; evolutionary processes; genes, genomes, and phenotypes; speciation and macroevolution; evolution of behavior, society, and humans; and evolution and modern society. Complete with more than 100 illustrations (including eight pages in color), glossaries of key terms, suggestions for further reading on each topic, and an index, this is an essential volume for undergraduate and graduate students, scientists in related fields, and anyone else with a serious interest in evolution. Explains key topics in some 100 concise and authoritative articles written by a team of leading evolutionary biologists Contains more than 100 illustrations, including eight pages in color Each article includes an outline, glossary, bibliography, and cross-references Covers phylogenetics and the history of life; selection and adaptation; evolutionary processes; genes, genomes, and phenotypes; speciation and macroevolution; evolution of behavior, society, and humans; and evolution and modern society

Author : Ute Harms,Michael J. Reiss
Publisher : Springer
Page : 347 pages
File Size : 55,7 Mb
Release : 2019-07-16
Category : Science
ISBN : 9783030146986

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Evolution Education Re-considered by Ute Harms,Michael J. Reiss Pdf

This collection presents research-based interventions using existing knowledge to produce new pedagogies to teach evolution to learners more successfully, whether in schools or elsewhere. ‘Success’ here is measured as cognitive gains, as acceptance of evolution or an increased desire to continue to learn about it. Aside from introductory and concluding chapters by the editors, each chapter consists of a research-based intervention intended to enable evolution to be taught successfully; all these interventions have been researched and evaluated by the chapters’ authors and the findings are presented along with discussions of the implications. The result is an important compendium of studies from around the word conducted both inside and outside of school. The volume is unique and provides an essential reference point and platform for future work for the foreseeable future.

Author : Christopher D. Lynn,Amanda L. Glaze,William A. Evans,Laura K. Reed
Publisher : Springer
Page : 333 pages
File Size : 53,7 Mb
Release : 2017-03-08
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781349951390

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Evolution Education in the American South by Christopher D. Lynn,Amanda L. Glaze,William A. Evans,Laura K. Reed Pdf

This volume reaches beyond the controversy surrounding the teaching and learning of evolution in the United States, specifically in regard to the culture, politics, and beliefs found in the Southeast. The editors argue that despite a deep history of conflict in the region surrounding evolution, there is a wealth of evolution research taking place—from biodiversity in species to cultural evolution and human development. In fact, scientists, educators, and researchers from around the United States have found their niche in the South, where biodiversity is high, culture runs deep, and the pace is just a little bit slower.

Author : Hasan Deniz,Lisa A. Borgerding
Publisher : Springer
Page : 464 pages
File Size : 47,6 Mb
Release : 2018-06-21
Category : Science
ISBN : 9783319909394

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Evolution Education Around the Globe by Hasan Deniz,Lisa A. Borgerding Pdf

This edited book provides a global view on evolution education. It describes the state of evolution education in different countries that are representative of geographical regions around the globe such as Eastern Europe, Western Europe, North Africa, South Africa, North America, South America,Middle East, Far East, South East Asia, Australia, and New Zealand.Studies in evolution education literature can be divided into three main categories: (a) understanding the interrelationships among cognitive, affective, epistemological, and religious factors that are related to peoples’ views about evolution, (b) designing, implementing, evaluating evolution education curriculum that reflects contemporary evolution understanding, and (c) reducing antievolutionary attitudes. This volume systematically summarizes the evolution education literature across these three categories for each country or geographical region. The individual chapters thus include common elements that facilitate a cross-cultural meta-analysis. Written for a primarily academic audience, this book provides a much-needed common background for future evolution education research across the globe.