The issue of the proper goals of science education and science teacher education have been a focus of the science education and philosophy of science communities in recent years. More particularly, the issue of whether belief/acceptance of evolution and/or understanding are the appropriate goals for evolution educators and the issue of the precise nature of the distinctions among the terms knowledge, understanding, belief, and acceptance have received increasing attention in the 12 years since we first published our views on these (...) subjects. During that time, our own views about these issues have evolved, and this article presents a reconsideration of both these distinctions and the propriety of these goals. In particular, the present paper continues our discussion of the nature of belief as it relates to science education, and more specifically to evolution education. We extend that work to consider the import of the distinction between belief and acceptance. (shrink)

There are widely held premises that suicide is almost exclusively the result of mental illness and there is “strong evidence for successfully detecting and managing suicidality in healthcare”. In this context, ‘zero-suicide’ policies have emerged, and suicide risk assessment tools have become a normative component of psychiatric practice. This essay discusses how suicide evolved from a moral to a medical problem and how, in an effort to reduce suicide, a paternalistic healthcare response emerged to predict those at high risk. The (...) evidence for the premises is critiqued and shown to be problematic; and it is found that strong paternalistic interventions are being used more often than acknowledged. Using a Principles approach, the ethics of overriding autonomy in suicide prevention is considered. Ethical concerns are identified with the current approach which are potentially amplified by the use of these risk assessments. Furthermore, it is identified that the widespread use of risk assessments in health settings is equivalent to screening without regard to the ethical principles of screening. The essay concludes that this is unethical; that we should abandon the use of standardized suicide risk assessments and ‘zero-suicide’ policy; and that this may improve outcomes. (shrink)

Science educators and policy makers have long justified science education and science literacy on the basis of its utility/usefulness in daily life outside the classroom. The purpose of this article is to analyze utility justifications for science education in general and evolution understanding in particular, focusing on whether or not situations that require science/evolution understanding are common in everyday life and how likely citizens are to apply their classroom-acquired knowledge to the problem at hand. In response to this analysis, I (...) maintain that efforts to convince students of the practical utility of evolution in their daily lives are often misguided and largely irrelevant to individual students. I propose a small set of justifications that might be more relevant, interesting, and convincing to young people, then close with some educational implications of my position. This chapter is meant to initiate a wider conversation among evolution educators about what student-centered justifications for evolution education might be, including expansion and criticism of the list presented here. (shrink)

Photographer Smith allows a rare and intimate glimpse of the unique region of Southern Apalachia. Smith's images evoke a range of emotions and reveal the reality behind the stereotypes of rural Southern life.