Evolution Education in Chattanooga

Are you a biology, life science or Earth science teacher who would like to improve your teaching about evolution? Apply now online (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/13vRqYrmgDvlP9Ykz_Ea25Ptz70J1id5GI5mHF-giaoY/viewform?c=0&w=1) for funding to attend conference sessions dedicated to “Teaching Evolution in the Southeast” in Chattanooga on Friday, March 20, and/or to join fellow teachers and geologists on a related theme field trip to Dayton, Tennessee, the following day.

These events are part of the 64th Annual Southeastern Section Meeting (http://www.geosociety.org/Sections/se/2015mtg/) of the Geological Society of America. Chattanooga is about a two-hour drive from Atlanta, Birmingham, and Nashville, so you will have the opportunity to mix with teachers from several states. A wide range of topics will be presented in the morning and afternoon sessions on Friday, including:

How evolution education in our region lags behind the rest of the US

The practical need for evolution science in the workplace

Response to claims made by creationists about lack of transitional fossils

Alternative approaches to presenting the material

College level seminars that allowed exchange of views about science and religion

On the Saturday all-day (9:00 to 5:00) field trip, discuss teaching evolution as you visit the courtroom and museum at the site of the famous Scopes “Monkey Trial,” only 38 miles from Chattanooga, and tour rock outcrops that illustrate evidence of the history of life and changes at Earth’s surface over more than 150 million years, during the Paleozoic Era.

A limited number of grants, provided by the Paleontological Society and the National Association of Geoscience Teachers, are available to reimburse expenses to attend the meeting including K-12 conference and field trip registration costs. Apply by Darwin Day, February 12, at the following link: http://goo.gl/forms/jN7GBIEbcw.
Questions? E-mail Bill Witherspoon, bill at georgiarocks.us (replace “at” with “@”).