What's Happening this Month
">Sunday, October 26, 2008
-->November 2008
Monday, November 17, 2008
“A Virtual Tour of the Creation Museum: Cheaper Than the Real Thing and Far More Educational”
Speaker: Jason Wiles, Ph.D.
Business meeting at 6:30
Program at 7:00
Jason Wiles riding a dinosaur at the Creation Museum
Our November meeting will be at a familiar location, the Betts Branch Library in the Valley, but on a different day than usual, Monday.
Betts Branch Library
Meeting Room
4862 S. Salina St.
Syracuse, NY 13205
View Google Map and Get Directions to Betts
The Program
This presentation casts a skeptical eye toward the “science” taught at the Creation Museum, a 27-million-dollar (and counting) attraction located on the Kentucky side of the Cincinnati, OH, metropolitan area. You will see dinosaurs living peacefully alongside humans and hear how “Creation Scientists” explain that the Earth is only about 6,000 years old. Of course, science tells us that the Earth is around 4-and-a-half billion years old and that dinosaurs were extinct long before humans evolved, but then, little, if any, of what the Creation Museum teaches is supported by science.
About the speaker
Jason R. Wiles grew up in Arkansas, a southern state in the heart of the Bible Belt with a storied history of controversy around the teaching of evolution in public schools. Dr. Wiles grew up in a creationist family and earned his first degree in biology at a private religious university where evolution was largely absent from the curriculum. He went on to earn master’s degrees in both biology and geosciences, both heavy on evolutionary evidence and theory. After having taught biology and other sciences at a number of colleges, universities, and institutions of secondary education for several years, he recognized that a great many students had similar misconceptions and related difficulties in learning about biology that were rooted in misunderstanding of evolution, whether or not these barriers were based on religious beliefs.
Given his own personal experience, and given the centrality of evolution to a deep understanding of the life and Earth sciences, Wiles was motivated to learn more about the teaching and learning of evolution. He eventually earned a Ph.D. at McGill University focusing on evolution education, and for the past four years has served as Research Manager of the Evolution Education Research Centre, a partnership between McGill and Harvard University. He joined the faculty in the Biology Department at Syracuse University in 2008 and enjoys a secondary appointment in the SU Department of Science Teaching.
Related articles of interest by Jason Wiles
The missing link: Scientist discovers that evolution is missing from Arkansas classrooms
The Huckster’s Artful Dodging on Evolution
A threat to geoscience education: creationist anti-evolution activity in Canada
Paul DesOrmeaux, skeptical satirist
Neighboring skeptic, founder of the Rochesterville Skeptics Club (Rochester, NY), and skeptical satirist Paul DesOrmeaux has a humorous article in the November/December Skeptical Inquirer titled “More Cool Careers for Dummies: Ghost Hunter,” which is a follow up to an earlier March/April SI Forum article titled “Cool Careers for Dummies: Psychic Detective.” Along with articles in the Skeptical Briefs and Openly Skeptical (Skeptics Canada) newsletters, Paul is a regular contributor to BASIS (The Bay Area Skeptics’ newsletter).
As the movement’s best-known humorist, he has lampooned a variety of pseudoscience topics, such as cosmetic acupuncture, “The Secret,” Scientology, horoscopes, chiropractic (his most controversial piece), and many others. His goal is to introduce skepticism to a broader audience by combining reason and science with humor and satire. So, if you know anyone considering a career in chasing disembodied spirits for fun and profit, have them check out the newest SI issue.
No Skeptics in the Pub in November
We don’t have a Skeptics in the Pub event planned for November. However, if someone wants to volunteer to organize it, let us know, and we’ll put the information here.
Lisa Goodlin and David Harding at the CNY Skeptics booth at the 2008 Westcott Street Fair
">Monday, September 22, 2008
-->October 2008
Skeptics in the Pub
October 14, 2008 at 7:30 PM
Al’s Whiskey Bar
321 S Clinton St
Syracuse, NY 13202
Come hang out with us at the next Skeptics in the Pub. We can’t wait to see old friends and meet new ones. We’re changing the time because our Skeptics in the Pub super organizer, Jess, has a class and can’t make it any earlier than 7:30.
Speaker Meeting
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
“First Contact: Teaching Evolution to Middle Level Students”
Speaker: Vince Sperrazza
Close View, Shell Imprint Fossil by cobalt123 on Flickr
Business meeting at 6:30
Program at 7:00
Our October meeting will be at a new location. We are moving our meetings around this year to see if we can find a place with the right mix of accessibility, parking, and general ambiance for our needs.
DeWitt Community Library
Buckland Meeting Room
3649 Erie Blvd E
Shoppingtown Mall
DeWitt, NY 13214
The middle school science classroom is often students’ first contact with a scientific presentation on evolution. Veteran middle school teacher Vince Sperrazza will share experiences, recommendations, and resources designed to help educators and prospective educators give students a stimulating, positive introduction to the science of evolution.
The presentation and discussion will include answers to these questions:
What are middle school students like?
What does the NY State Curriculum say about evolution?
How is evolution integrated as the unifying theory of biology in a middle level science classroom?
What successful strategies are useful in introducing the concept of evolution to 12 year olds?
Vince Sperrazza taught middle level science, including evolution, at the Mount Markham Central School District, located in Herkimer County, for 33 years before retiring in June 2006. During his years in the classroom, Vince mentored many student teachers. He authored the article “Evolution and Middle Level Education: Observations and Recommendations” which appeared in the January-April 2005 issue of the journal Reports of the National Center for Science Education. The National Center for Science Education is a “not-for-profit, membership organization providing information and resources for schools, parents and concerned citizens working to keep evolution in public school science education.”
