Teach the controversy

Matt Trawick’s comments on my earlier post on Gregg Easterbrook and “teaching the controversy” are exactly right.  I’ll just add that the seeming reasonableness of the “teach the controversy” position are precisely what makes it so pernicious.

Some people address this with humor.  I sometimes find this approach very funny, but of course it’s of no value at all for actually convincing people who aren’t already convinced.

If you want actual evidence, there’s this survey of biology department heads, which found that essentially none thought that there was a controvery.  I found this at the National Center for Science Education,  which has a lot of resources promoting the teaching of evolution.

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Ted Bunn

I am chair of the physics department at the University of Richmond. In addition to teaching a variety of undergraduate physics courses, I work on a variety of research projects in cosmology, the study of the origin, structure, and evolution of the Universe. University of Richmond undergraduates are involved in all aspects of this research. If you want to know more about my research, ask me!