Thursday, December 28, 2006
Al Gore and High School Physics
I finally saw “An Inconvenient Truth” during my Christmas movie-marathon and Ihave to say, I found it quite convincing. Be warned, although it is factual and unsettling, it was far from ‘riveting’ as it is entirely Al Gore with powerpoint, or at least what appears to be a very impressive form of powerpoint.
Nonetheless, Gore touches briefly on the debate around climate change and suggests that it is politicians who would have us believe that there is dissent amongst scientists. Gore claims that science is nearly unanimous on the issue.
This got me thinking about another ‘issue’ we have heard much about lately; evolution.
I understand the evolutionary debate, and it’s conflict between science and religion. And I feel for scientists like myself, who aim to maintain a sense of spirituality and religious identity while also probing for factual evidence in our everyday lives. But what I don’t understand is, why now?
What has happened in the past 2-3 years that has caused the evolution debate to resurface as strongly as it has? Don’t tell me it’s the emergence of Intelligent Design, as that is a theory that has been around for quite some time. Perhaps it’s the Supreme Court rulings on how and how not to teach evolution in schools. The court ruled in 2005 that you couldn’t force teachers to introduce intelligent design in schools. So we’re back to intelligent design— and I still don’t understand where all the press is coming from.
I happen to think evolution is a great way to teach students about science. Explain that it is a theory and explain what a theory is. Show them the data that support evolution and then explain how theories evolve when scientists find data. Tell them the difference between a theory and a law of physics, for example. Science doesn’t have to be black and white and boring. But then again, I am biased, as my man pointed out over lunch, I set the curve in physics in high school.
Nonetheless, Gore touches briefly on the debate around climate change and suggests that it is politicians who would have us believe that there is dissent amongst scientists. Gore claims that science is nearly unanimous on the issue.
This got me thinking about another ‘issue’ we have heard much about lately; evolution.
I understand the evolutionary debate, and it’s conflict between science and religion. And I feel for scientists like myself, who aim to maintain a sense of spirituality and religious identity while also probing for factual evidence in our everyday lives. But what I don’t understand is, why now?
What has happened in the past 2-3 years that has caused the evolution debate to resurface as strongly as it has? Don’t tell me it’s the emergence of Intelligent Design, as that is a theory that has been around for quite some time. Perhaps it’s the Supreme Court rulings on how and how not to teach evolution in schools. The court ruled in 2005 that you couldn’t force teachers to introduce intelligent design in schools. So we’re back to intelligent design— and I still don’t understand where all the press is coming from.
I happen to think evolution is a great way to teach students about science. Explain that it is a theory and explain what a theory is. Show them the data that support evolution and then explain how theories evolve when scientists find data. Tell them the difference between a theory and a law of physics, for example. Science doesn’t have to be black and white and boring. But then again, I am biased, as my man pointed out over lunch, I set the curve in physics in high school.
# posted by Sarah : 4:15 PM
