McEnnis on Ohio "critical analysis" lesson plan

An excellent opinion piece by Dr. Brian McEnnis on the “critical analysis” lesson plan for the new Ohio model science curriculum has been published in the Marion Star newspaper.

Here’s the ending:

Mr. Hedges refers to the support of Sen. Edward Kennedy, echoing a claim made by Sen. Santorum in the Washington Times of March 14, 2002. Kennedy responded in a letter to the editor, published in the same newspaper on March 21, 2002: "The March 14 Commentary piece, 'Illiberal education in Ohio schools,' written by my colleague Sen. Rick Santorum, Pennsylvania Republican, erroneously suggested that I support the teaching of 'Intelligent Design' as an alternative to biological evolution. That simply is not true. Rather, I believe that public school science classes should focus on teaching students how to understand and critically analyze genuine scientific theories. Unlike biological evolution, 'Intelligent Design' is not a genuine scientific theory and, therefore, has no place in the curriculum of our nation's public school science classes." So much for the claim of Kennedy's support! This type of misrepresentation and shading of the truth is typical of the way that Intelligent Design proponents present their case. The lesson plan that they wrote is similarly riddled with deceit and error. If it is honest science you want, this lesson plan is not it. It is scientific fraud, and has no place in the classroom.

I have a situation report from just before the Ohio Board of Education approved the lesson plan for inclusion into the model curriculum that gives the background.

Technical analysis of the lesson plan was performed by geologist Thomas A. Baillieul on both references used and website links used in the lesson plan.

Further news about the situation in Ohio can be had on the Ohio Citizens for Science website.