2013 Teaching Controversial Issues 2: Evolution of Life and Earth

Saturday October 26, 2013, Denver, Colorado
Geological Society of America Annual Meeting

Evolution and Earth history are rife with controversy, which provides challenges and opportunities for teaching. This is one of two connected courses on controversial issues that may be taken separately or together. Questions addressed include: Why are certain issues controversial? How do controversial issues differ from one another? How can we help learners focus on deepening understandings rather than fortifying positions? What does the history of controversy teach us about dealing with these issues? Both courses will investigate the teaching of controversial issues from theoretical perspectives and provide nuts-and-bolts strategies to make teaching such topics more effective and less divisive.


Schedule
1:00 PM Introduction and Review of a Controversy
Richard Kissel, Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History

1:15 PM Teaching with Controversy: The Role of the History and Philosophy of Science
Glenn Dolphin, University of Calgary

2:00 PM Quills for thrills: Are we still talking about missing links?
Richard Kissel, Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History

2:30 PM Break
2:40 PM De-extinction and Rewilding
Laura Guertin, Penn State Brandywine

3:20 PM Age of the Earth
Tanya Furman, Penn State University

3:50 PM Panel Discussion
4:50 PM Concluding Remarks / Evaluation