forwarded mail from Dale Springer

From
Date
Please send responses to Dale, not to me! -Roy
________________________________________________________________________
     January 25, 1997

Dear Colleague,

     H.G. Wells once said, "the future is a race between education and
catastrophe."

   As part of our community's effort to stave off 'catastrophe', the PS
Education Committee is designing a workshop on Evolution for pre-college
teachers. We expect to offer the day-long course for the first time at the
GSA Annual Meeting in Toronto (Fall 1998). The recent upsurge of
Creationist and other pseudoscience activities suggests that this will not
be a moment too soon.

   I am writing to you at this early stage in the planning to ask for your
input. We need to give teachers a clear understanding of the nature of
evolutionary theory, and of the evidence for evolution, in order for them
to feel more confident as they deal with the subject in their classrooms.
Most of us have strong opinions about the subject of evolution and how it
should be taught. Obviously, in one eight-hour day we cannot hope to cover
every aspect of evolution. Nor, I think, is it even desirable to try to do
so. But, what are the concepts that are most important for a pre-college
teacher to understand--and to teach?

   Will you please take a few minutes to answer the following questions
and return this survey to me? PLEASE HELP. YOUR INPUT IS IMPORTANT. If
you prefer to present your comments in a less structures manner, please
feel free to do so. If you have any questions about this letter or the
workshop, I would be happy to try to answer them. I can be reached at, and
you comments can be sent to, any of the following:

e-mail:       dspringe@planetx.bloomu.edu
FAX:          717-389-3028
phone:        717-389-4747
snail-mail:   Dept. Geography & Earth Science
              Bloomsburg University
              400 E. Second Street
              Bloomsburg, PA 17815

   Please feel free to share this note with interested colleagues: we
welcome everyone's comments. On behalf of the PS Education Committee, I
thank you for your time and thoughts on this important project.

Best regards,

Dale 

Dale A. Springer, Chair
PS Education Committee
_________________________________________________________________

EVOLUTION WORKSHOP FOR K-12 TEACHERS: SURVEY

We would appreciate your thoughts on the following questions. Please feel
free to use a less structured format for your comments, if you wish.

1. What are the key concepts of evolution that should be covered during
    the workshop?

2. Who would you suggest as possible presenters (and for which concepts or
   topics)?

3. Can you suggest any hands-on activities for the workshop? These might
   be a) activities to help teachers understand concepts, or b) activities
   teachers could take home for use in their own classrooms. Please feel
   free to send as a separate attachment. We would like to include
   supportive activities as a resource for the participating teachers.

4. Any other comments or suggestions?

Roy E. Plotnick
Geological Sciences
University of Illinois at Chicago
845 W. Taylor St.
Chicago, IL 60607
plotnick@uic.edu
phone: 312-996-2111     fax: 312-413-2279


"The scientific celebrities, forgetting their molluscs and glacial
 periods, gossiped about art, while devoting themselves to oysters
 and ices with characteristic energy.." -Little Women, Louisa 
 May Alcott