NCSE Evolution and Climate Education Update for 2017/12/22
Submitted by Peter Burns on Fri, 2017-12-22 17:00.
National Center for Science Education
(by NCSE Deputy Director Glenn Branch)
Dear friends of NCSE, Sad news of the death of Larry Flammer.
LARRY FLAMMER DIES Larry Flammer, a master biology teacher, died on December 13, 2017, at the age of 83, according to e-mail from his family. He was famous in the community of biology educators for his devotion to evolution education. He was largely responsible for the creation and administration of the website of the Evolution and Nature of Science Institutes, which was founded (with NCSE's encouragement) "to improve the teaching of evolution in high School biology courses by encouraging teachers to teach evolutionary thinking in the context of a more complete understanding of modern scientific thinking." Flammer sketched the approach to teaching evolution together with the nature of science that he favored in "The Evolution Solution: Teaching Evolution Without Conflict," published in The American Biology Teacher in 2006. "To paraphrase a well-known quote," he wrote there, "biology makes a whole lot more sense when evolution is used to tie it all together. As it turns out, both evolution and the nature of science combined make excellent themes around which to build a coherent and effective biology course, where everything makes more sense, and it's all much easier to understand." With regard to creationist objections from students, he advised, "religious beliefs are not appropriate topics to defend or discuss in a science class ... If you have provided a thorough introduction to the nature of science in your opening unit, it's not likely that you will be seriously challenged on evolution in class." Flammer was born in Los Angeles on March 28, 1934. He graduated from Humboldt State University with a B.A. in zoology in 1956 and from the University of Washington with a M.S. in zoology in 1962. He spent most of his career teaching biology at Del Mar High School in the Campbell Union High School District in the San Jose, California, area. He was extraordinarily active in mentoring fellow teachers, both in person and on-line as well as by developing lessons for the Institute of Human Origins (on NCSE's behalf), the 2001 Evolution series, and Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial, and through his book Science Surprises (2014). For the Evolution and Nature of Sciences Institutes website, visit: http://www.indiana.edu/~ensiweb/home.html And for "The Evolution Solution" (PDF), visit: https://www.nabt.org/files/galleries/068-03-0001.pdf WHAT'S NEW AT NCSE'S BLOG? Have you been visiting NCSE's blog recently? If not, then you've missed: * Josh Rosenau and Glenn Branch revisiting a beloved holiday tradition for Kitzmas: https://ncse.com/blog/2017/12/happy-12th-kitzmas-0018671 For NCSE's blog, visit: http://ncse.com/blog Thanks for reading. And don't forget to visit NCSE's website -- http://ncse.com -- where you can always find the latest news on evolution and climate education and threats to them. -- With best wishes for the holiday season, Glenn Branch Deputy Director National Center for Science Education, Inc. 1904 Franklin Street, Suite 600 Oakland CA 94612-2922 510-601-7203 fax 510-788-7971 branch@ncse.com http://ncse.com Check out NCSE's blog: http://ncse.com/blog Read Reports of the NCSE on-line: http://reports.ncse.com Subscribe to NCSE's free weekly e-newsletter: http://groups.google.com/group/ncse-news NCSE is on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter: http://www.facebook.com/evolution.ncse http://www.youtube.com/NatCen4ScienceEd http://twitter.com/ncse NCSE's work is supported by its members. Join today! http://ncse.com/join
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