tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post3535303342100604269..comments2024-03-27T14:50:47.345-04:00Comments on <center>Sandwalk</center>: Out-of-Date TextbooksLarry Moranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05756598746605455848noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-65742855595665483572008-01-24T22:21:00.000-05:002008-01-24T22:21:00.000-05:00I teach HS biology in the US. While we certainly h...I teach HS biology in the US. While we certainly have many problems of our own with creationism, our textbooks are written by scientists. The one I use is Prentice Hall: <I>Biology</I> by Ken Miller and Joe Levine. It's pretty good, particularly in the area of evolution.Kdaddyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18161309010091043493noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-7031687928481470472008-01-24T11:31:00.000-05:002008-01-24T11:31:00.000-05:00Please ignore those spelling errors. I'm in a hurr...Please ignore those spelling errors. I'm in a hurry! Dang.Linzelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01514267602859699974noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-77246746351454926042008-01-24T11:30:00.000-05:002008-01-24T11:30:00.000-05:00Holy Crap! People actually read my 'blog'? I'm goi...Holy Crap! People actually read my 'blog'? I'm going to have to be more accurate about how I produce my entries! <BR/>Figures, I post a little rant and Larry not only picks up on it but does a better job of identifying the problem! :)<BR/>I currently wok at an eschool and although texts are available I tend to make my students find the information on their own, organize it and spit it back to me in some creative manner. If anyone is interested I can blog about the web2.0 tools we attempt to use to facilitate the information flow and presentation. <BR/>I will say I always likes the Campbell text. Its a GIGANTIC hog of a book but did most things well. <BR/><BR/>Thanks for reading my blog Larry. I must admit I admire your opinion and was really anxious about a bad review. I'll accept your post as a neutral/generally accept rating. Is that accurate?<BR/>Blah, now I'm going to have to THINK before I start writing. <BR/><BR/>CheersLinzelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01514267602859699974noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-31682041218802100632008-01-23T17:28:00.000-05:002008-01-23T17:28:00.000-05:00Interesting, one of the teachers is at Dr. E.P. Sc...Interesting, one of the teachers is at Dr. E.P. Scarlett High School, where I spent three years (Grades 10, 11, 12), and took AP Biology.<BR/><BR/>My experiences here might be (very tangentially) relevant in two ways:<BR/>1. My biology teacher was not Mr. Jasper, but she was an excellent teacher who (if memory serves) covered the evolution section quite thoroughly.<BR/>2. This thorough coverage of evolution was directly in the face of objections from perhaps 1/3 of the Advanced Placement biology class. Parts of Calgary have high proportions of evangelical christians of various denominations, which led directly to several students interrupting class occassionally with inane statements like "what about the second law of thermodynamics?" and "people are too perfect to have come from pond scum or whatever" and so on.<BR/><BR/>So, I salute Mr. Jasper on his contribution to this textbook, and I wish him the best of luck in a surely-difficult job.<BR/><BR/>As for the point of the post...<BR/>Summer classes for up-to-date information for high school teachers sounds like a great idea. What kind of agreements have to go into such a program? Would teachers get paid for attendance?TheBrummellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08973380652057861796noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-42964084311520184562008-01-23T10:45:00.000-05:002008-01-23T10:45:00.000-05:00Hi LarryThe book you looked at is the one I use. ...Hi Larry<BR/><BR/>The book you looked at is the one I use. I prefer it over the Nelson text (the other alternative, and generally the more popular) because it makes fewer egregious errors in the areas I'm able to spot them in. <BR/><BR/>There are some things to keep in mind about high school texts: their purpose is to help teachers follow the prescribed curriculum documents (available on the Min of Ed's website), so their content must follow those documents. The assignments, experiments, questions, organization of the book, things that are emphasized all must follow those documents: in other words, the first and last word in what students learn is not the textbook, but the curriculum documents. And *everything* taught must be evaluated and assessed according to the achievement charts in those curriculum documents. Those are our constraints. <BR/><BR/>So the authors are the people who do the teaching in the schools. Their personal areas of scientific expertise will vary wildly, but their experience with both teaching and ministry requirements is supposedly high. You will note that the list of pedagogical reviewers is longer than the list of accuracy (university profs) reviewers. <BR/><BR/>(Interestingly, the lead author on the Nelson text, which makes some bad mistakes in the evolution section, is a really serious advocate for teaching evolution in biology and for making it the connecting theme for the course).<BR/><BR/>I agree with Linzel's comments for the most part, but in my experience decent teachers do not need to be told to supplement their texts with up-to-date material. They do it anyway. I do--your blog is a major source (as is your text, now...*grin*). <BR/><BR/>And yes, we are in fact interested in professional development. I assume your department will be talking to the school boards about whether they think it is feasible and how best to organize them.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-19039762905011366632008-01-22T19:03:00.000-05:002008-01-22T19:03:00.000-05:00I think summer courses for highschool teachers is ...I think summer courses for highschool teachers is an excellent idea.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-42527345929787410332008-01-22T12:02:00.000-05:002008-01-22T12:02:00.000-05:00Weird, I used Campbell 6/e in high school. Then ag...Weird, I used Campbell 6/e in high school. Then again, I didn't exactly go to public school...Alexhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02590604089043425452noreply@blogger.com