Teaching Evolution at Rutgers

Workshop and Symposium

8 February, 2006
 

Download the report from this event here (pdf)
(includes reports from workshops, seminars, media coverage, assessment, etc)

Program

Evolution resources for teaching (pdf from workshop) or webpage

This workshop is for all Rutgers faculty who teach in the life science or in other areas where evolution is relevant, for example: biology, geology, psychology, philosophy, anthropology, history, environmental sciences, chemistry, linguistics, and education.

Recently, evolution has been characterized by non-scientists as a theory in crisis. Biologists have tended to ignore evolution¹s critics as insignificant, precisely because evolution is so strongly supported that virtually all scientists see evolution as fact. Yet, when high school curricula are changed in order to encourage non-science be taught in science classes, perhaps we in higher education should reassess the issue.  Are Rutgers students aware of the overwhelming evidence for evolution?  Speakers and workshops will be offered to encourage discussion and offer suggestions on how we might address this critical issue in
our teaching. 

Evolution is the central theory of life and an understanding of evolutionary process and evidence is necessary for considering, not only the history of living things, but also many modern questions. Increasingly evolutionary understanding is required for appreciating basic questions in fields traditionally apart from basic biology and anthropology.   For example, major areas of psychology, philosophy, computer sciences, and other fields now require a solid grounding in evolutionary thinking.   

Objectives
The goal of the morning symposium is to explore the gap in student’s understanding of evolution from several perspectives, including on a national level (Eugene Scott),  as well as at the level of student’s individual misconceptions (Ebert-May), and at the level of how a university curriculum might be structured in light of a need for providing a solid evolutionary background for students (Goodman).
      The goals of the afternoon workshops are to engage faculty members on questions of  how to provide evolutionary content in their classes.   See program for more information on workshops.

Symposium speakers:

Eugenie Scott (keynote speaker), Director of the National Center for Science Education, an eminent scholar and expert on evolutionary thinking

Diane Ebert-May, Professor of Plant Biology, Michigan State University, an evolutionary biologist and distinguished scholar of undergraduate education

Robert Goodman, Executive Dean of Cook College, Rutgers University, who worked extensively with undergraduate education in biology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison

Date: Wednesday 8 February 2006

Place: College Avenue Campus Center, Main auditorium and associated rooms, College Avenue Campus, Rutgers University

Time: 9.00 AM - 3.00 PM, free lunch for registered participants

Questions?
Contact Jody Hey (hey@biology.rutgers.edu), Chi-hua Chiu (chiu@Biology.rutgers.edu), Karl Kjer (kjer@aesop.rutgers.edu), Lena Struwe (struwe@aesop.rutgers.edu), or Rebecca Jordan (rebeccacjordan@yahoo.com).

View or download program.

Why is evolution important in teaching, science and society?

This workshop is sponsored by:

Executive Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences 

The Executive Dean of Cook College

The Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs

CHES (Center for Human Evolutionary Studies)

Biotechnology Center for Agriculture and the Environment

Dept. of Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources

Dept. of Genetics

Dept. of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry

Dept. of Plant Biology and Pathology

Waksman Institute