Linking climate change and evolution in pre-service science teacher education: What is its' current status? & Where do we need to go? Haslam allows evolution bill to become law Deborah Tippins House Bill 368/Senate Bill 893 encourages students to question Norm Thomson accepted scientific theories — Len Bloch listing as examples evolution, the chemical origins of life, Shannon Duboise global warming and cloning — and it protects teachers from punishment if they teach creationism. July 10, 1 925 April 10, 2012 The Regional STEM Institute of Teaching and Learning The University of Georgia SATURDAY, APRIL 14, 2012 Classic Center, Athens, Georgia
TENNESSEE GENERAL ASSEMBLY SB 0893 by *Watson, Beavers, Johnson. (*HB 0368 by *Dunn, White, Hensley, Faison, Lollar, Evans, McCormick, Shipley, Weaver, Eldridge, Rich, Maggart, Carr, Alexander, Floyd, Miller D, Hill, Holt, Butt, Sparks, Powers, Cobb , Roach, Parkinson.) This bill prohibits the state board of education and any public elementary or secondary school governing authority, director of schools, school system administrator, or principal or administrator from prohibiting any teacher in a public school system of this state from helping students understand, analyze, critique, and review in an objective manner the scientific strengths and scientific weaknesses of existing scientific theories covered in the course being taught, such as evolution and global warming. This bill also requires such persons and entities to endeavor to: (1) Create an environment within public elementary and secondary schools that encourages students to explore scientific questions, learn about scientific evidence, develop critical thinking skills, and respond appropriately and respectfully to differences of opinion about controversial issues; and (2) Assist teachers to find effective ways to present the science curriculum as it addresses scientific controversies. ON MARCH 19, THE SENATE SUBSTITUTED HOUSE BILL 368 FOR SENATE BILL 893, ADOPTED AMENDMENT #1, AND PASSED HOUSE BILL 368, AS AMENDED. AMENDMENT #1 clarifies that the bill would apply to scientific subjects and science courses "taught under the curriculum framework developed by the state board of education." This amendment requires the department of education to notify all directors of schools of the provisions of the bill by "the start of the 2012 - 2013 school term", instead of by "the start of the 2011 - 2012 school term" http://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/billinfo/BillSummaryArchive.aspx?BillNumber=SB0893&ga=107
Reasons for Study From science: One of the key questions in the interdisciplinary sciences is how the environment, and specifically climate, shaped the evolution of our species and that of our close relatives. From science teachers: Evolution in the Making Creationism -> Intelligent Design -> Teach the Controversy -> Critical Thinking
RESEARCH QUESTIONS PHASE I (COMPLETED) What are the big ideas that science teachers need to be aware of in order to understand evolution? What are the big ideas that science teachers need to be aware of in order to understand climate change? What do pre-service science teachers think they need to understand about the relationship between evolution and climate change? PHASE II (ON- GOING) What is being currently being taught with respect to evolution and climate change and their integration in undergraduate science courses that are required of our pre-service science teachers in their textbooks, lectures, and laboratories? What conceptual approaches are used to teach about evolution, climate change and their integration? How do the course instructors justify the conceptual approaches they use to address the topics of evolution and climate change? What evidence do the course instructors offer to support their justifications for the inclusion or exclusion of specific topics focused on evolution and climate change?
Methods
Learning About (Hominin) Evolution Can Be Summarized as Consisting of 7 Major Dimensions … there are known knowns. There are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns. That is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns, the ones we don ’ t know we don ’ t know … • Deep time • Orbital Forcing • Climate Change • Speciation & Extinction • Fossilization • Phylogenetics • Nature of Science
Participants 6 Pre-service teachers in Science Education – 4 biology majors & 2 earth science majors 2 High school science (1 biology, 1 anatomy& physiology) classes in local districts Procedure Introduce a model unit on human evolution and climate change to the pre- service teachers Interview paired (3 X 2 = 6) pre-service teachers on their knowledge about topics relevant to teaching human evolution based on the 7 major dimensions while developing their unit Classroom implementation of the units Interview paired (3 X 2 = 6) pre-service teachers on their knowledge about topics relevant to teaching human evolution based on the 7 major dimensions after the implementation of their units Group interview of shared learned experiences about teaching the units
How do we know what we think we know in science? Observation: Making a note of or reording a fact using the primary senses (sight, smell, sound, taste, or touch) or using an instrument to detect an object or the occurrence of or event.. Inference: To make an inference is to explain or conclude something based on a direct observation or using data based on an observation. Hypothesis: A formalized statement or explanation for an observed natural phenomenon that is testable. Natural Selection: Is the nonrandom process by which biologic traits become more or less common in a population of organisms as a function of differential reproduction or survival. It is a key mechanism of evolution.
Milankovitch Cycles
Pleistocene 50 Ka http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~rcb7/mollglobe.html
PALEOCLIMATE Foraminifera: Ratio of 18 O to 16 O reflects ice accumulation Temperature decline since 50 Ma Eocene – Oligocene cooling Mid-Late Miocene cooling Expansion of modern grasslands Zachos et al. 2001
Taphonomy – the process of fossilization Courtesey A.K. Behrensmeyer
Dating Fossils The relative age of fossils is Age Range useful, but fossils provide Dating Method Material Dated (years) reliable historical data only if Bone, tooth 500 000 – we can determine their Electron Spin enamel, cave Resonance 1000 absolute age . deposits 1 million – Fission Track Volcanic rock 100 000 A number of methods are 800 000 – Obsidian used to date fossils. Obsidian Hydration present (volcanic glass) 1 million – Amino acid Bone racemization 2000 Pottery, fired Thermoluminescence less than 200 clay, 000 bricks, burned rock Less than Bone, tooth Uranium/Thorium 350 000 dentine 1000 – 50 Bone, shell, Carbon 14 000+ charcoal 10 000 – 100 Potassium/Argon Volcanic rocks million
All of our ancestries are African!
� Ardipitheucs ramidus “ ARDI ” � 4.4 mya Austalopithicus afarensis “ Lucy ” 3.2 mya Homo habilis “ Handy Man ” 1.8 mya Homo erectus “ Upright Man ” 1.2 mya Sahelanthropus tchadensis “ Toumai ” Homo sapiens 6 – 7 mya 160 kya
Hypotheses* Habitat/Directional/Variability/Adaptability/Turnover/Fallback Foods Species ’ responses to climate change represents the principal initiator of evolutionary change. Climate Change => Species Change or Extinction Evolutionary change is a consequence of natural selection on mutational variation in populations. See Potts, R. 2007. Environmental hypotheses of Pliocene human evolution. In: R. Bobe, Z. Alemseged, A. Behrensmeyer, Eds.). Hominin environments in the East African Pliocene: An assessment of the faunal evidence . Dordrecht: Springer. Caveats Umbrella Hypothesis: All hypotheses should be treated with caution, although they are parsimonious, to explain a multitude of unique features of a species as the outcome of a single adaptive breakthrough should be carefully reviewed for its assumptions and evidence. Occam ’ s razor: “ entities should not be multiplied unnecessarily ” explanation of any phenomenon should make as few assumptions as possible, eliminating those that make no difference in the observable predictions of the explanatory hypothesis or theory.
Kingston, J. (2007). Shifting adaptive landscapes: Progress and challenges in reconstructing early hominid environments. Yearbook of Physical Anthropology. 50: 20-58.
The Fossil Record of Human Evolution Millions of Years Ago 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 H. neanderthalensis Sahelanthropus tchadensis H. heidelbergensis Kenyanthropus platyops Orrorin H. rudolfensis tugenensis H. sapiens H. ergaster Ardipithecus Au. garhi H. erectus kadabba Ar. ramidus Au. sediba Australopithecus Au. afarensis Homo habilis H. floresiensis anamensis Paranthropus aethiopicus P. boisei Au. africanus P. robustus Use of Fire Oldowan Acheulean Stone tools Mousterian
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