108 Saint Aldate's
Oxford, Oxfordshire OX1 1BU
UK
Free event from Oxford Skeptics in the Pub.
Science aids our understanding of the world by discovering concepts which can be used productively in human thought, and education is the means of transmitting these concepts to the next generation. But exactly what should be taught and why is subject to disagreement based on students’ learning habits, teachers’ preferences, parents’ desires, and society’s needs. The teaching of biology in general and of evolution in particular is no exception.
Therefore, Lee Traynor has looked into whether Creationism/Intelligent Design might contribute to the teaching of biology at year 7-12 level, and how scientific concepts can be harnessed to encourage students to think in the way that biologists do about how evolution happens and how new species arise.
This also casts light on the skeptic’s dilemma: Are we just trying to debunk the woo, convince the misguided and win them over? Or educate a new generation from the get-go? If we choose the latter, how are we going to go about it?
Lee Traynor was born in Melbourne, Australia and studied biochemistry at University College, Oxford as an undergraduate. He is currently a senior lecturer in Technical English at the Leibniz University of Hannover in Germany and is completing a Ph.D. in biology education.
He has occasionally written for The Skeptic (UK) and Skeptic Magazine, and his latest article – an interview with James R. Flynn on IQ – is in press (Skeptic 19.1, 36-45).