The Happy Scientist took a look at the test questions for Florida’s FCAT exam, used to assess whether or not fifth graders have achieved expected levels of scientific literacy for their age group, and found some problems. I expected the Test Item Specifications to be a tremendous help in writing simulated FCAT questions. What I …
Category Archive: Education
Apr 11 2012
Preach the controversy
Chalk up another win for the “Preach the Controversy” gambit injecting creationism into public schools. The governor of Tennessee has decided not to sign the bill, and not to veto it either. This will allow the bill to become law without necessarily making the governor personally accountable for its contents—which are pretty bad. In any …
Mar 29 2012
Conservative trust in science in sharp decline
From the color-me-surprised department comes news of this study showing a very clear trend towards anti-science hostility among conservatives and/or people who regularly attend church. Relying on data from the 1974-2010 waves of the nationally representative General Social Survey, the study found that people who self-identified as conservatives began the period with the highest trust …
Jan 16 2012
On the effectiveness of prayer
From time to time various people attempt to study the effect of prayer under real-world conditions, and it occurs to me that we have ideal conditions for undertaking such a study right now. The Cranston West High School has recently concluded a 48-year experiment in which students were exposed to a specific “School Prayer” on …
Nov 03 2011
Florida committee takes aim at First Amendment
Looks like some “concerned Christians” in Florida are setting themselves up for a fairly blatant violation of the First Amendment. This time, however, it’s not going to be a local school board. It’s the state itself. School prayer is one step closer to being legalized in Florida after a proposal was passed in a state …
Oct 02 2011
October Challenge
If there could ever be such a thing as a good religion, I think it would have to be based around three core principles: integrity, community, and purpose. Integrity: being true to yourself and those around you. Community: living with peace, tolerance, and charity towards those around you Purpose: making life better for yourself and …
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