Science Societies Urge Education
A consortium of scientific societies wants the scientific community to get more involved in science education, including evolution--before it's too late. Steve Mirsky reports.
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The scientific community needs to be involved in promoting science education, including evolution. So says the January issue of the FASEB Journal. FASEB is the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology. Sixteen other organizations also signed on to the recommendation, including the National Academy of Sciences and the American Institute of Physics. The article notes that the introduction of nonscience, such as creationism and intelligent design, undermines fundamentals of science education—such as using the scientific method, understanding how to reach scientific consensus and telling scientific explanations for natural phenomena apart from nonscientific ones.
The article included a survey of a thousand likely US voters. Those able to answer simple questions about plate tectonics, proper antibiotic use and prehistory were far more likely to support evolution education. Said journal editor Gerald Weissman, “The bottom line is that the world is round, humans evolved from an extinct species, and Elvis is dead. This survey is a wake-up call for anyone who supports teaching information based on evidence rather than speculation or hope; people want to hear the truth, and they want to hear it from scientists.”
—Steve Mirsky
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