As mentioned previously on my blog, UC Berkeley was threatened with a lawsuit over its wonderful educational evolution website.
Recently, on October 3, it was reported that a federal court sided with UC over the dispute, stating that the couple trying to sue the school lacked legal standing to file a lawsuit.
You can read more about it here.
This cute webquest activity called “What did T. Rex taste like?” comes from Berkeley. This online activity addresses how life is related. The parts teaching how to read and use a cladogram are very well done. It clearly demonstrates how scientists use different features from living animals and fossils to determine how closely certain organisms are related to one another (for example, why Tyrannosaurux rex is considered by most to be more closely related to birds than to reptiles like crocodiles). Life science and biology teachers, be sure to bookmark this one!
Apparently the offending site on UC Berkeley’s evolution site is this one: http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evosite/misconceps/IVAandreligion.shtml.
Anyone seeing anything offensive here? Anyone seeing an endorsement of one religion over another? I’m not.
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The Christian Post published the following article today saying that UC Berkeley is being sued over it’s evolution website, a great website used for educational purposes. You can see the Berkeley site here.
Now, I’ll admit I have not read through their evolution site entirely. It is VERY large and comprehensive. However, I am simply not seeing the controversy stated in the article: that thte site endorses religious views that support evolution while deriding those that do not, thus constituting an illegal and public endorsement of religion by the university.
There are some links to NCSE’s site, which has a collection of religious statements about evolution. Other than that, I haven’t found anything else religious, but I know I may be overlooking it. Is anyone else seeing anywhere on this site where religion is ridiculed, derided, etc? I’m certainly not. Please point it out if I’m missing it.
I’ve found this site very helpful in class in the past, and I’d hate to see it go away.
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