==> I have no idea how authoritative this study is, but the Milken Institute State Technology and Science Index has bad news for Florida. The Sunshine State was ranked among other states as number 29 back in 2002, but then slipped to 32 in 2004, and slipped yet again to 37 this year. A brief description of what the study is:
The index ranks the states in terms of their technology and science assets and their ability to use those resources for economic growth.
==> Cute title: Treasures of NOAA’s Ark. The St. Petersburg Museum of History is hosting an exhibit about the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and its ancestor agencies’ 200 years of science and service.
==> Decorated statues of the space shuttle will soon be placed in public places around Central Florida.
The statues will be built for educational purposes and will be paid for by sponsors. It’s an effort by astronauts to get more college-bound students interested in science and math.
“This country is way behind in science and math,” astronaut Capt. Bob Crippen said.
More about the Shuttles Orbiting the Space Coast program.
==> STEM Camp (Science, Technology and Mathematics) is going on in the Florida panhandle. The purpose is to encourage students to pursue careers in those fields.
Teachers say sometimes students are turned off by bad stereotypes.
“Pocket protector, thick glasses, working in a lab doesn’t really appeal to many students. However, what they’re telling the kids now and showing them is they do some really cool stuff,” said Todd Flanary, a Bonifay Middle teacher.
==> Other science camps are ongoing this summer. Here’s one in Sebring. What’s really promising is:
Libby said despite the economic hard times, “we got more money this year for scholarship money than we have ever gotten.”
Parents pay a portion the expenses for the camp, but Libby said he appreciates the roughly 63 businesses, organizations and individuals who have made donations allowing the students to enjoy a learning experience they won’t soon forget and may never forget.
==> This is not a Florida story, but definitely interesting enough for this news roundup.
MOUNT VERNON, Ohio — An outside investigation has found that an Ohio public school teacher taught creationism in his science class and used a device to burn the image of a cross on students’ arms.
Dispatches has more on what is going on:
He kept creationist books and videos in his classroom, including at least one video and one book by Kent Hovind. He also kept the book Refuting Evolution there. Parents showed the investigators handouts from religious groups slamming evolution and claiming that dinosaurs and humans lived together, among other things.
…
They also had reports from all the high school science teachers talking about how every year they had to reteach basic science for the kids who had Freshwater as a teacher, that those kids came to high school steeped in creationist material and very hostile toward evolution and practically all of modern science.
==> This post’s headline challenge should be a tough but interesting one. Take all the words in the post title and make a news headline out of them. “Crying statues and Noah’s Ark rank high on science camp kids’ goofy ‘Holy Cross’ stereotypes.” Sheesh, did that even make sense?
==> I’ll be camping this weekend at Lake Griffin State Park and so will be away from the computer. Play nice!
Comments on the Freshwater whackaloon @ Columbus Ohio newspaper blog:
OP:
“Many of the claims about Freshwater had already been well-debated, but the report details more than ever before how his teaching of intelligent design affected students. It says that students often had to be retaught critical concepts because Freshwater had so undermined lessons about evolution. (Read the report.)
What do you think? Does the report confirm what you already thought about the case or does it change anything about how you view Freshwater’s actions?”
http://blog.dispatch.com/edblog/2008/06/science_vs_religion.shtml
@ Noodilicious – I couldn’t believe those comments! I had to stop reading them after this one…
” He has a right, no a duty, to teach these children of the other non-evangelical faiths what the real God’s truth is. Just because their parents want their own kids to learn religon in church or at synagogue or at Sunday mass, should not stop Freshwater from teaching those kids his own personal evangelical truth. If we had more teachers like Freshwater, the moslems would never have bombed New York.
Aauurrgghh! – I thought Ohio was a normal state but I guess child abuse is OK there – in one report, I read that complaints were being filed against him for 11 years.
Anyway…
Statues of the cross became rank after Noah let stereotypical people from Freshwater’s camp on board the ark with their fecal matter.