In this paper I describe an in-class discussion activity aimed at helping elementary education majors in a physical science course think about issues surrounding the inclusion of "Intelligent Design" in public school science standards. I discuss the background instruction given, the content of the activity, and some results from its use in class.

American functionalist psychology constituted an effort to model scientific psychology on the successes of English evolutionary theory. In part it was a response to the stagnation of Wundt's psychological research program, which had been grounded in German experimental physiology. In part it was an attempt to make psychology more appealing within…

In 2000, Lerner published a study sponsored by the Fordham Foundation comparing state standards regarding the teaching of evolution. He reviewed standards from 49 states and the District of Columbia, and graded the standards based on their treatment of evolution. Indiana and nine other states received a grade of A ("very good or…

First reported in the early 1930s, variation in the ability to taste phenylthiocarbamide (PTC) has since become one of the most widely studied of all human genetic traits. Guo and Reed (2001) provide an excellent review of work on this polymorphism prior to the identification and sequencing of the PTC gene by Kim et al. (2003), and Wooding (2006)…

Plants and insects share a long evolutionary history characterized by relationships that affect individual, population, and community dynamics. Plant-herbivore interactions are a prominent feature of this evolutionary history; it is by plant-herbivore interactions that energy is transferred from primary producers to the rest of the food web. Not…

Instructors of general chemistry often pepper their introductory quantum lectures with either historical or philosophical notes so as to lessen the strangeness of the subject. Comparisons between the behavior of macroscopic and microscopic objects are also frequently used. This article presents an epistemological discussion on the conceptual…

This study investigated seventh grade learners' decision making about genetic engineering concepts and applications. A social network analyses supported by technology tracked changes in student understanding with a focus on social and conceptual influences. Results indicated that several social and conceptual mechanisms potentially affected how…

The predator-prey relationship is one of the most recognizable and well-studied animal relationships. One of the more striking aspects of this relationship is the differential natural selection pressure placed on predators and their prey. This differential pressure results from differing costs of failure, the so-called life-dinner principle. If a…

Approximately one-fourth of biology teachers in public schools include creationism in their biology courses. Most of these teachers 1) present creationism as a scientific alternative to evolution, and 2) present only the biblical (i.e., Christian) story of creation. State science-education standards, position statements from professional…

Even though in the early years of the Republic of Turkey Darwin's theory of evolution was treated as a scientific theory and taught fairly in schools, despite all the substantial evidence accumulated supporting the theory of evolution since then, Darwin and his ideas today have been scorned by curriculum and education policy makers. Furthermore,…

The emergence of modern humans with their extraordinary cognitive capacities is ascribed to a novel type of cognitive computational process (sustained non-routine multi-level operations) required for abstract projectuality, held to be the common denominator of the cognitive capacities specific to modern humans. A brain operation (latching) that…

Replies to comments by K. M. Sheldon et al on the author's original article on evolution and personality variation. Sheldon et al concurred with the thrust of that article that the way natural selection shapes or gives rise to interindividual variation is a worthy topic for evolutionary psychologists to consider, so at a broad level Sheldon et al…

In this investigation, students measure and describe movements of animals in a natural ecosystem. Students mark stream-dwelling snails with nail polish, then search for these snails 1-7 days later. Distances and directions moved by recaptured snails are recorded. Simple statistical techniques are used to answer specific research questions and…

Most theories of human mental evolution assume that selection favored higher intelligence and larger brains, which should have reduced genetic variance in both. However, adult human intelligence remains highly heritable, and is genetically correlated with brain size. This conflict might be resolved by estimating the coefficient of additive genetic…

Students whose high school biology course included evolution but not creationism knew more about evolution when they entered college than did students whose courses included evolution plus creationism or whose courses included neither evolution nor creationism. Similarly, students who believed that their high school biology classes were the…