Meet our new Advisor, Dr. Scott Moody

Dr. Scott Moody from the biology department here at OU recently signed on as our group's adviser. As a fellow skeptic he was glad to see a student organization committed to critical thinking and scientific inquiry. I've posted his teaching philosophy below, in order to give you an idea of what he's all about:

Scott M. Moody – Brief comments on my teaching philosophy

“My Mom takes me to church every Sunday; my Dad gives me all the science books he can. Personally, I don’t know what to think.”

This is a quote from 15 year old Jeremy Hurst of Lebec, California, January 2006. His father is suing the school board of his high school for offering a course on creationism although they called it “philosophy of design.” And what is wrong with his statement philosophically? Actually, he should have concluded: “I don’t know how to think.”

I teach two general education courses here at Ohio University as well as several major-only courses:
BIOS 103 Human Biology I which is a Tier II natural science class
T3 420d Biology thru Biography which is a capstone Tier III synthesis class
BIOS 364 Forensic Biology primarily for majors in the Forensic Chemistry Program

The primary goal of my teaching is to help students develop their critical thinking and analytical skills. Hopefully, I am able to show them how to recognize and correct logical fallacies when evaluating ideas, hypotheses, theories and models presented in textbooks, lectures, documentary films, newspapers and magazines, discussions with other students and faculty, and so forth.

I really enjoy having contact both with mostly incoming freshmen in the first course and then later with the soon to graduate seniors in the second course. Personally, I would love to be able to teach all freshmen to help them with the transition from high school (which in most regards doesn’t prepare students for independent learning) to college. I would also love to have all of them again four years later in a senior capstone course emphasizing synthesis such as my T3 course.

Unfortunately the nature of secondary high school education leads to the failure to educate students on “how to think” but instead focuses on spoon-feeding content to memorize and regurgitate as “what to think.” In addition, many students simply are afraid to think for themselves and are not rising to the challenge when in college to learn how to think critically and to understand the process of science which is a way of learning. Perhaps what George Orwell wrote in his thought-provoking book 1984 about the social programming of the masses is now becoming true in the USA:

"War is peace, freedom is slavery and ignorance is strength."

A good college education and indeed the philosophy of a “liberal education” as originally intended by the academic professors who taught at the great universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Paris, Heidelberg, Crakow, Prague, Florence, Bologna, Amsterdam, Vienna, etc., during the latter part of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, is designed to challenge beliefs, ideas, hypotheses and theories, in all disciplines: philosophy, economics, history, sociology, anthropology, psychology, biology, chemistry, physics, astronomy, mathematics, etc.

"Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think. "
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The questions of scientific hypotheses and theories must be based on:

1. Logical inquiry following the rules and definition of scientific reasoning, which are:

a. Guided by observation and study of natural phenomena, living and non-living
b. Explanatory, logical and bounded by natural laws, not supernatural hocus pocus
c. Empirically measurable & testable through observations and experiments
d. Tentative, never fully proven, as hypotheses and theories
d. Falsifiable as explanatory hypotheses and theories if data doesn’t fit the model

2. Factual information and evidence, not beliefs based on anecdotes, lies, distortions, wishful and whimsical thinking, misinformation, bias, prejudice, hatred, mythology, etc.

Statement made by Dr. Barbara Snyder, executive vice president and provost, on the introduction of Senate Bill 24 (so-called academic bill of rights) in 2004 in the Ohio General Assembly: "Universities adhere to fundamental values of academic freedom and open inquiry so that students learn to become independent thinkers. To that end, we support and encourage wide-ranging and robust explorations of the universe of ideas. The Ohio State University has long been committed to principles of academic freedom and responsibility in carrying out our missions. Further steps by the General Assembly to codify academic freedom, such as those outlined in proposed S.B. 24, are unnecessary. Such a move also calls into question the professionalism and integrity of academics who have devoted their lives to teaching and to the principles of free expression and the open exchange of ideas."

The following quotations hopefully guide my teaching:

“Those who think they know what in fact they do not are not wise at all.” Socrates, Greek Philosopher

“Most of our so-called reasoning consists of finding arguments for going on believing as we already do.” James H. Robinson, historian

“The uncreative mind can spot wrong answers, but it takes a creative mind to spot wrong questioning.” Antony Jay, philosopher

"The only difference between a problem and a solution is that people understand the solution."
Charles K. Kettering (1876-1958) American Engineer, Inventor

“What we observe is not nature itself, but merely nature exposed to our method of questioning” Werner Heisenberg, physicist, early 20th century

"In the fields of observation chance favors only those minds which are prepared."
Louis Pasteur, chemist and biologist, France 19th century

“Theory dictates how we should interpret observations” (NB, this is a sarcastic tongue-in-cheek statement) Albert Einstein, 20th century theoretical physicist

"The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires." William Arthur Ward, author, editor, pastor, teacher

"I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand."
Confucius (551-479BC) Chinese Ethical Teacher, Philosopher

“Read not to contradict and confute, nor to find talk and discourse, but to weigh and consider.” Sir Francis Bacon, English Renaissance Scientist

“Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call on her tribunal for every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear.” President of the USA: Thomas Jefferson, Scientist, Architect, etc.

DARWIN DAY OHIO UNIVERSITY

Feb. 12th is the 200th birthday of Charles Darwin, as well as the 150th aniversary of his book 'Origin of Species.'

So, in light of this, there are 'Darwin Day' events going on all over the world, and fortunately for us, we have a few things going on in Athens. Also:

Darwin Bicentennial Seminars at Ohio University

THE OHIO CENTER FOR ECOLOGY & EVOLUTIONARY STUDIES AT OHIO UNIVERSITY presents…..


THE 2009 OCEES DARWIN LECTURE

Dr. Nina Jablonski will present “Darwin’s birthday suit: the evolution of human skin and skin color” featuring biological and cultural aspects of human skin - a highly visible and excellent example of evolution by natural selection acting on the human lineage.
Dr. Jablonski is internationally known for her work on primate biology, culture and language and is Professor and Chair of the Department of Anthropology at the Pennsylvania State University.
Celebrating Darwin’s 200th birthday on February 12th at NOON in Baker Center Ballroom.

****A Book signing/ meet & greet will follow in the Trisolini Gallery in
Baker Center
****A Social for Darwin’s 200th Birthday will be held at the Dairy Barn
from 5- 7 on the 12th – all are welcome.

THE 2009 OCEES KITZMILLER LECTURE honoring the people who established that intelligent design is creationism.


Dr. Kevin Padian will present “Darwin, Dover and intelligent design” featuring his experiences with the Kitzmiller vs. Dover court case.
Dr. Padian is Professor of Integrative Biology and Curator in the University of California Museum of Paleontology, Berkeley.

The Kitzmiller lecture will be on April 6th, 2009, at 4:10 pm in Baker Center Ballroom.

See www.ocees.ohio.edu for info

I'll see you there,

David

Public Education Ethical Dilemma

Columbus Dispatch Editorial: Teaching moment

Mount Vernon school district learning the hard way to nip problems in the
bud

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

"Supporters of fired Mount Vernon Middle School teacher John Freshwater are
right about one thing: It's a shame the school district has spent $200,000
to date to defend the firing.

Since the Mount Vernon City Schools Board of Education voted in June to
fire Freshwater, the district has racked up legal expenses. The appeal
hearing, to which Freshwater is entitled by state law, began in October and
has been delayed two months by attorneys' scheduling issues.

This is an expensive lesson.

The unfortunate experience should be a cautionary lesson to other school
districts dealing with teachers whose personal beliefs get in the way of
their responsibility to educate: Don't look the other way for years, even
if the teacher is well-liked and personable. The mistake was not in firing
Freshwater but in waiting so long to do it.

Freshwater, who was hired to teach science, lost his job because an
independent report concluded that he pushed his Christian beliefs onto
students in his classroom and that he used an electrical device to burn
marks onto students' arms.

Though Freshwater says the marks were meant to be Xs, branded students say
they were to represent crosses.

The complaint of the "branding," brought by one student's parents, was
shocking, but it wasn't new to school officials; neither were the
complaints about Freshwater's religious comments nor, most important, that
he used a science classroom to promote nonscientific, religiously based
ideas of creation.

The controversy gained notoriety last spring, when Freshwater defied orders
to remove a Bible from his desk and other religious items from his
classroom. His popularity throughout the case has been evident. Some
parents and students have denied that he pushed his religion on anyone;
others have said that, even if he did, he was representing the beliefs of
most people in the school district.

Even if that's true, it doesn't excuse Freshwater's actions. All
public-school students are entitled to education free of religious
indoctrination, yet he told students that homosexuality is a sin and
declared that some non-Christian religions are false. He told his students
that the law required him to teach the theory of evolution but that it
can't be true because it isn't supported by the Bible.

A high-school teacher testified that she often had to re-teach the basics
of evolution to students who had been in Freshwater's classes, for fear
that they would fail that part of the state proficiency test.

Parents had been complaining of Freshwater's proselytizing for at least 11
years. If officials had reined in his behavior when it first surfaced,
perhaps he would have been more likely to respect his bosses' orders to
stick to science.

Allowing him to become entrenched made a warranted dismissal much harder.

The supporters packing the hearing room where Freshwater's appeal is being
heard show that he has lots of community support. That suggests he could
build a career as a motivational speaker, an activist for Christian causes
or a teacher in a religious school.

But his demonstrated disregard for science, not to mention his poor
judgment with the electrical device, disqualifies him to teach in public
schools.

Other school districts with budding John Freshwaters should take heed.
Confronting a popular teacher is controversial, but preserving sound
education is essential."

If you were on the school board 11 years ago, what would you have done?

Meetings for Winter Quarter

UPDATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MEETINGS are held weekly on Wednesdays at 6:10PM in Baker 341 for the Winter Quarter.

For any other information or any other questions just email us @ ohiouskepticsociety@gmail.com.

Thanks,

David

Anecdotal evidence and Expelled!

At OU Skeptic Society meetings, we’ve discussed the problems associated with anecdotal evidence, and how this sort of evidence is not enough when trying to establish greater phenomena as a fact. Examples of this include UFO accounts, faith healing stories, superstition, alternative medicine testimonials, etc. Usually someone who is giving such an account believes that their experience is attributable to some greater, mystical occurrence when usually this isn’t the case. Although shocking anecdotes can serve as a starting point to an investigation as to what is going on – they do not serve as proper conclusions.

As it turns out, a shocking anecdote is what inspired the financiers of Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed to make their movie. Walt Ruloff, the idea man behind the film, was inspired by an account given by a few friends of his in biotechnology that basically said they weren’t allowed to think outside the box in science, especially on origin-of-life issues and especially not to question the “atheistic materialism” that dominates science.

"You're supposed to question the current paradigm, the orthodoxies, of science. But we're not allowed to challenge the premises of so-called neo-Darwinism. It's crazy," Ruloff said.

Ruloff was not happy about this – properly so. Especially when he later had his fears confirmed by university professors who claimed to have been fired for being intelligent design supporters. He then went on to create a film to show that this was happening, and that it was a serious problem.

However, in making the film – Ruloff and his associates went off the deep end.

I’ve seen the movie, and the claims it makes are so absurd and exaggerated that it’s tough to even imagine. After adding Ben Stein to the mix, the crew making the movie decided to spice it up by making the climax/conclusion less about science and university professors and more about how Darwinian thinking bee lines society to Nazi Germany and eugenics. This blurring of the lines between the insane, mad scientist-like application of the concepts of evolution and what evolutionary fact/theory actually says is rather insane.

They do actually cover the claims of the college professors that maintain they lost their jobs due to being ID proponents, and that evolution has nothing to say about how life began – but the central theme is that Darwin’s ideas are evil and false.

Those who have claimed to have been ‘expelled’ for being ID supporters have turned out to have been lying. They were university professors who, mostly, were simply denied tenure for not publishing enough to contributing enough to the university or scientific research. However, they would wish we believe the reason is because they believe in intelligent design. To be granted tenure, one has to really prove they are worthy of the honor by contributing in terms of research, education, and service. These professors hadn’t, thus they weren’t given tenure. The anecdotes given by these people have been shown to misleading and even outright false. From this, Ruloff made his conclusion – and I would assume it was because it was confirming some sort of bias he has.

And it’s true, evolutionary theory/fact does not have much to say about the origin of life. This is something covered by a different field called abiogenesis.

Anyway, the point is that Ruloff didn’t do his homework – and used the money he’s earned in technologies to promote an agenda via propaganda, misconception, lying, and shock and awe – all based a few bias confirming stories.

Moral of the story, anecdotal evidence isn’t enough. As a skeptic and critical/freethinking person, understanding this concept is very important – otherwise you might end up believing and acting on something that can ultimately harm you, like buying Airborne next time you get a cold.