| Creationists seek to insert their own brand of 'truth' into education Being open to new ways of thinking should be encouraged. But blindly "teaching the controversy" shouldn'tPaul Sims is the news editor of New Humanist magazine and blogs at blog.newhumanist.org.ukThirty reasons why man is not descended from apes may seem an unlikely thing for children to learn on an educational school trip. But that's just one of the treats in store at Noah's Ark Zoo Farm, a creationist establishment near Bristol which was recently awarded a "quality badge" by the Council for Learning Outside the Classroom.The council's deputy chief executive, Elaine Skates, defended the decision by saying she believed that "an important aim of learning outside the classroom is allowing children and young people access to education that challenges assumptions and allows them to experience a range of viewpoints."What Skates is endorsing here, though probably unwittingly, is a notion known as "teach the controversy". The term was coined by the Discovery Institute, America's most notorious creationist organisation, as a means of arguing for the teaching of Biblical creation alongside evolution in US schools.Operating ostensibly from the principle of free speech, its proponents argue that the purpose of education is to allow children to reach their own conclusions, as though there are no facts, and all knowledge is subjective.Perhaps it sounds reasonable to be open-minded. But those arguing for "teach the controversy" in this area do so disingenuously – it's a convenient way of inserting their own brand of "truth" into education.There are controversies in all disciplines, including science. But the scientific "controversies" covered by the teach-the-controversy brigade tend to highlight problems that don't actually exist. Just look at the examples provided by Answers in Genesis, a website run by Ken Ham who is also founder of Kentucky's Creation Museum. Here you can learn why the Earth is 6,000 years old, or why "dinosaurs make perfect sense in light of the biblical history of creation and the Flood".Away from creationism and intelligent design, the main area in which "teach the controversy" has been invoked is climate change, with conservatives in some US states campaigning for children to be taught alternative explanations to anthropogenic global warming. There is even evidence of creationists adding climate change to their list of controversies, in order to create the impression that their concern is not with religion, but with the balanced teaching of science in general.We're used to hearing about these things happening across the Atlantic, but "teach the controversy" appears to be making inroads in the UK. The decision to award Noah's Ark Zoo the "quality badge" was welcomed by no less a figure than Ann Widdecombe, who used her weekly Daily Express column to accuse critics of the zoo, particularly the British Humanist Association, of stifling free speech. "The British Humanist Association does not believe that children should be allowed even to discuss creation or to be exposed to any evidence that might support it," she said.But what "evidence" for Biblical creation might children observe at Noah's Ark? Having spent a delightful summer's day there last year, I can confirm it's a lovely zoo – there are tigers and giraffes, a petting zoo for the really little ones and lots of fun slides in the picnic area. But try and learn anything about natural history, and things become less straightforward. Ever wondered why birds sing? To "praise their maker", of course. How about why rhinos are practically bald? "It is likely that God's earliest design for the rhino had both nose horns and hair, but these were lost in some species later." Stroll over to the "Noah's Ark Exhibition", which contains a "scale model" of the ark, and things take a turn for the sinister – "All the people in the world come from Noah's sons Shem, Ham and Japheth. Caucasian from Japheth, Semitic from Shem, and Negroid/Mongoloid/Redskin from Ham." It's everything you need for a school trip – fluffy animals, slides and creationist racial theory.In his recent documentary, Faith School Menace?, Richard Dawkinswitnessed the effects of "teach the controversy" first hand, meeting a class of 15-year-olds at a Muslim faith school who all believed evolution to be false. Writing on Comment is Free the day after the documentary was broadcast, Erfana Bora, a science teacher at an Islamic school in Leicester, suggested this isn't a problem – in faith schools like hers, students learn one perspective in science lessons and the other in religious studies, and then "literally make their own minds up as to what they believe". It makes for an inquisitive class too, with pupils approaching Bora with questions like "Do humans really share a common ancestor with apes?" She didn't say how she answers this question – does she tell them yes, or does she say that while scientists would say yes, Qur'anic scholars (who the pupils are used to seeing as authority figures) would say no?Proponents of teach the controversy would have us believe that this is the purpose of education – to allow children to think for themselves, it is necessary to teach them things that aren't true alongside things that are. But if a child leaves school thinking that humans don't share a common ancestor with other apes, isn't the truth just that the education system failed them?Paul Sims is the news editor of New Humanist magazine and blogs atblog.newhumanist.org.ukControversies in scienceCreationismZoologyTeachingguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Globe Theatrics Herbi Dreiner and his students have taken their award-winning particle physics show to Cern, where it went down a stormI'm sitting in the back of the Globe at CERN, Geneva, while the last of our three performances is on: of course it's in French, oh la la.These have been harrowing but also very rewarding days. The long drive, and rehearsal all day on Tuesday. Since we bring so much equipment on and off stage during the show every stage and locality are a new challenge. Through all this the students have put on three fantastic performances and all in a foreign language. It is something we will all remember for a while and hopefully the audience took something home as well. The CERN organisers received us kindly and were very helpful with all the technical issues of getting the show going. They have also filmed the last two shows and hopefully we'll get some good clips out of that.The show is split into four parts: Atoms & Nuclei, Elementary Particles, Forces & Symmetries, and Cosmology. In each section we explain the basic underlying concepts with many live experiments. Two MCs present the show (Rebecca and Jessica: absolutely great job. Thanks for accepting the French challenge) and the other students perform the experiments (experience, in French), run the cameras, as well as the sound and lighting. It is intended to be fun, but hopefully the audience learned something as well. (I have mainly learned French here!)The heart of the show are the experiments; some examples: we demonstrate radioactivity with weak alpha, beta and gamma emitters, detected by a Geiger counter connected to a loudspeaker. One can show their difference by their absorptive properties. The alpha rays are effectively stopped by a 10 Swiss Franc bill (indeed, a hard currency). The beta rays are stopped by a thin piece of aluminium, whereas the gamma rays are not even stopped by several plates of lead.We also show some more exotic particles, such as the muon. It was first discovered in 1937 but is produced in abundance everyday in today's LHC experiments. The muon has similar interactions to an electron, but is about 200 times heavier. However, it also only lives about two millionths of a second, decaying to an electron and two neutrinos. Muons are for example produced when energetic protons from outer space strike our atmosphere. Despite their short lifetime they reach the Earth's surface in great numbers since they fly close to the speed of light. Their apparent lifetime is also extended exactly because they fly so close to the speed of light. This is the theory of special relativity in action.We have constructed a muon detector using a standard thermos, based on an idea from Mainz University. The thermos is filled with water. On the top opening of the thermos we have screwed a photomultiplier tube. This is a sensitive detector which converts weak light pulses into an electronic signal. When the very fast muons from the cosmic rays traverse the water in the thermos (they easily go through the thermos wall) they produce a distinctive bluish light, called Cerenkov radiation. The light reflects off the internal walls of the thermos to the photomultiplier tube. The resulting electronic signal is connected to a strobe light which records each muon with a flash, visible in the dark auditorium. This is accompanied by some cool electronic music.We also demonstrate antimatter on stage. But my favorite is our home made accelerator which shoots a wooden projectile at a quark target. Quark is a German type of fresh cheese, it comes in six flavours, some of which taste pretty strange. This is a truly bang and splash type of experiment, which the kids always love. The collision is recorded by a detector and we have a culinary read-out of the data. The two morning shows were attended by French and Swiss school kids. Yesterday's evening show was open for the general public and was packed. We were very honoured that Rolf Heuer, the director of CERN, and his wife showed up and both seemed to enjoy it a lot. If you think you might like it, you should invite us to Britain. We would love to come!Jon Butterworthguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Whale rider found WA Authorities have identified a boy seen climbing a whale at an Albany Beach last month. abc.net.au |
UN meeting on saving species opens in Japan By MALCOLM FOSTER 2010-10-18T14:42:11ZTOKYO (AP) -- Delegates from more than 190 nations kicked off a U.N. conference Monday aimed at ensuring the survival of diverse species and ecosystems threatened by pollution, exploitation and habitat encroachment.... hosted.ap.org |
Afghanistan's treasure comes to the British Museum Exhibition includes golden artefacts that were thought lost as war engulfed the countrySome of Afghanistan's most beautiful treasures will be on display at the British Museum this spring, including a crown made for a princess 2,000 years ago that was believed lost as war engulfed the country but survived thanks to the courage of staff in the national museum.More than 20,000 golden objects, including figurines, belts, bracelets and dress ornaments, were found in six tombs in the north of the country in 1978 – the eve of the Soviet invasion.The finds at a site so rich it was named Tillya Tepe – "the hill of gold" – quickly acquired legendary status. Few had ever set eyes on them apart from the team led by the Greco-Russian archaeologist Victor Sarigiannidis and a handful of staff at the national museum in Kabul. Then the treasures vanished without trace, believed possibly melted down and smuggled out as bullion.The Kabul museum was closed, looted, occupied by a militia, bombed, and targeted by religious extremists who smashed thousands of ancient sculptures. But the gold survived, hidden in strong boxes in the national bank.Fredrik Hiebert, an archaeologist with National Geographic, had been on the trail of the gold for almost 20 years since he heard the story from Sarigiannidis. Both men were present six years ago when the boxes were finally opened."It was a life-changing moment," Hiebert said at the British Museum. "Out of the boxes came some dirty plastic bags, and out of them the gold. There were 30 Afghans in the room with us, and I waited for a cheer, a moment of euphoric recognition, but it didn't come. "How do we know it's real?" they asked. Most of them were in their 20s, and they had only heard of the gold, they had never seen it. And then Sarigiannidis recognised a repair in one piece that he had made himself so long before, and that was the moment of euphoria."They will be among the stars of the exhibition, called Afghanistan: Crossroads of the Ancient World, which opens at the British Museum on 3 March.The subtitle was very deliberate, said the museum's director, Neil MacGregor."We hope to demonstrate that we are at a historically anomalous moment when the country is seen as remote and isolated," he said. "Afghanistan's relationships are long and deep."The paintings of the Italian Renaissance could not have happened without Afghan lapis lazuli, he said – the stone ground up to supply dazzling blues.The 200 objects on display will include Mesopotamian-influenced gold from 2,000BC, Indian-inspired ivory fittings and Greek carvings from the outpost of Alexander the Great's empire. The show will also include delicate coloured glass from palaces founded when the nomadic tribes settled and coveted the Hellenic luxuries they had first destroyed.Curators and conservation workers from Kabul will work at the British Museum during the exhibition – helping to identify some of the smuggled antiquities that have been pouring out of Afghanistan and were intercepted by UK customs authorities. Untold quantities will inevitably have got through and vanished forever into the black market.The exhibition has already been seen in Europe and the US. The hope in Afghanistan is that when it closes in London on 3 July some of the treasures will go back to Kabul. The museum is open again, but has only photographs of the gold to remind its people of their heritage, so nearly lost forever.Photographs: Thierry Ollivier/Mus e GuimetMuseumsAfghanistanArchaeologyMaev Kennedyguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |