Another Post from the Super Science Teacher

I was in a Mountain View gem & rock shop today buying cheap fossils for our two-day "Fossils as Evidence for Evolution" activity--we have two days on fossils, two days on homologous structures (bones in coughed-up owl hairballs--they have to articulate the rodent skeletons), and two days on DNA evidence. Now my students will be well-equipped to argue the evidence for evolution!

One of my brainiacs quite anxiously asked if I was "required by the state of California to teach intelligent design" but I happily told him that the California Science Content Standards are actually based on science! He was relieved. Today I clarified to a Muslim student that I did not "believe" in evolution but that I accepted it as a scientific theory, not as a belief system. One of my Hindu students is totally happy to accept reincarnation as part of her belief system and evolution as a scientific theory. I look forward to having more discussions about the controversy! Last year I had a Christian student who refused to consider evolution whatsoever, but "agreed to learn the material for the test."

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...a falcon family has taken up residence in the San Jose City Hall, and every middle school around is watching them on the UCSC/Santa Cruz Predatory Bird Group webcam. The city employees named the parent falcons Jose (for San Jose) and Clara (for our county, Santa Clara). The SCPBG hosted a chick naming contest, and our school sent in the names Cruz, Bella and Destiny. If we win, we get a visit from the SCPBG falcon expert armed with a falcon named Curtis. Since we are also studying the evolutionary morphology of bird beaks and Darwin's finches in particular, the webcam is a great part of our evolution unit. One day we tuned in on Jose using his beak to rip the heck out of a poor City Hall bird and regurgitate it for the chicks. The feast was viewed by my 3rd period, and 4th period caught sight of one of the chicks pooping quite visibly (in "an incredible trajectory," as I put it--they thought that was hilarious). The chicks took the rest of the day off and snoozed periods 5, 6 and 7.

On the big day when the SCPBG guy repelled down to band the chicks, they squawked in terror, and the parents dive-bombed the poor guy--fortunately for him, he was in a helmet and leather gloves. Their swooping shadows were caught on the webcam...