Integrated Approach
Members of the education committee discuss how to cover all four objectives themes discussed in the Blueprint. They decide that some of the themes can be carried through all sections of the workshop, and that some are best addressed within one particular section. But as they choose their warm-up activity, the keynote speaker, etc., they keep in mind that it is critical to incorporate these 4 themes. They use the Workshop Template provided in the Blueprint to guide and organize their planning.
Warm-up
From the suggested warm-up activities offered in the Blueprint, the education committee chooses the "not just a theory" warm-up exercise, because it reflects an important point about the nature of science. It helps to clarify one of the problems that teachers face—the difference between the use of the word "theory" by the general public and by the scientific community.Keynote lecture
Paleoanthropologist Fred Smith is asked to speak on new discoveries of Neanderthal fossils in the Neander Valley. His talk exemplifies the excitement of evolution theme, and shows the importance of evolution to physical anthropology.Presentations and Activities (P/A sets)
The committee members brainstorm what to do for the three presentations and activities. First they note that the Blueprint recommends going back and forth between discussions/lectures and activities. At this point the committee gets stuck: the lecture part they understand, but does anybody have any good ideas for activities? One member suggested they might try to come up with an activity that addressed the same content that Fred would present. A second member then recalls a web-based activity on the relationship between Neandertals and modern humans. The committee decides that this would be an excellent activity to follow the keynote presentation: it accomplishes the "grabber" function of showing the exciting discoveries being made in human evolution research, and also extends the fossil information presented by the keynote speaker with genetic data. They also recognize that the teachers would need some background information in order to do this activity (e.g, What is mitochondrial DNA? Why is mitochondrial DNA sequence used in constructing phylogenies? What is phylogeny? What is a molecular "clock"?), which could be delivered in a brief lecture preceding the activities. Committee members note the importance of keeping such background material targeted and brief.Result: P/A # 1: Provide background information. Do web site activity on Neanderthal mtDNA.
One of the committee members notes that the Blueprint suggests that the middle portion of the workshop is also a good place to address misconceptions about evolution. So the committee decides to address a common misconception about human evolution: "if we evolved from monkeys, why are there still monkeys?" The committee turns to the list of common misconceptions in the Blueprint, and in fact, this is one of the misconceptions listed. There are links to activities that address this and other misconceptions. They find and select the exercise Classroom Cladogram because it addresses the misconception about monkeys and because it helps to communicate another important concept: that evolution is a branching relationship among species.
Result: P/A # 2: Classroom Cladogram web activity.
One of the committee members points out that if they included an exercise having to do with the comparative anatomy of the primates, they could accomplish the additional objectives of pointing out that evolution functions like other sciences (theme #1: Evolution is good science). Like other sciences, human paleontology uses multiple lines of evidence, and these will be illustrated in the workshop. The keynote address dealt with fossils, one of the activities dealt with genetics, and an additional activity dealing with comparative anatomy would provide yet another line of evidence for understanding human evolution. The committee checks the Activities and finds that there is an activity having to do with comparative anatomy of humans and primates. However, one of the committee members has a comparative anatomy laboratory activity that she has used successfully, and they decide to use it instead. They note that the fact that there are multiple lines of evidence supporting human evolution also supports the claim that human evolution is not controversial among scientists. They decide to be sure to make this point explicitly during the P/A sets.
As part of the discussion, one of the members notes that another principle of science is the generation of multiple hypotheses, which is illustrated in the discussion of Neandertal evolution. There is an activity on this topic, but the decision is made that "we can't do it all," even if particular principles are important. They decide to provide teachers with a list of additional activities and information so that learning can continue beyond the one-day workshop.
Result: P/A # 3: Committee member's comparative anatomy exercise.
Finally, the committee is ready to plan the final portion of the workshop: the discussion. Considering the coverage of the four themes, they decide that the necessity of teaching evolution (theme #4) has not been covered as well as the other three themes. This theme includes the building of a sense of community and support among teachers so that their "comfort levels" about teaching evolution are raised. It also includes helping teachers find ways to deal with pressure against the teaching of evolution and/or pressure to teach creationism as science. The discussion format is particularly valuable for emphasizing this theme, so they decide to focus on it in this part of the workshop.
They check the Blueprint and find some suggestions for starting this discussion. They recognize that this is best done by teachers discussing their own problems. They decide to use the option of beginning with a panel discussion in which each of the presenters and two of the teachers will take a minute or two to discuss why students and the general public need to know about evolution. The committee notes that this panel discussion not only communicates the importance of evolution, but also supports the importance of the partnership between teachers and scientists. One of the committee members notes that teaching evolution at the college level doesn't prepare one very well to deal with the problems high school teachers face in teaching evolution. Realizing that their job is to facilitate the discussion rather than to direct it, they decide to familiarize themselves with the Blueprint's list of typical questions asked of teachers. This information should help the facilitators to contribute to the discussion.
In checking over the Template, the committee members note that a workshop evaluation is strongly recommended, and they decide that this is a way for them to learn how to improve the workshop the next time it is held. They opt to use the basic form provided, modified with questions specific to their own society. They will hand this form out at the end of the workshop and ask participants to complete it before leaving.
(The upshot committee presents its workshop and both teachers and society members learn a lot! The presenters return to the NCTE web page to give feedback so that others can learn from their successes—and other occurrences!)
