To science colleagues: Mike Lach requested info on science issues topics in a recent e-mail. Although I did not know the name of the book he inquired about (others did) I responded to him that I taught "Science Issues in the Eighties" and "Science Issues in the Nineties" at Hinsdale South High School for 10 or more(I'm getting old--I forgot) years. He suggested I send this reply to all of you. As the course began (it was a one semester course) the students and I scanned the news media using the Internet, newspapers, magazines, and television for topics we thought were controversies related to science. Each student then briefly presented the topics they found and I added explanation about the topics as I could. Then we voted on 8-10 topics that we would cover for the semester. This worked well. Various topics we covered over the years are as follows, as I can remember now. Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide Abortion Organ transplants AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases Smoking Creation Science versus Evolution Science and Religion Nuclear War Nuclear power and other electrical energy sources Radiation Legalization of Drugs Ozone Depletion Global Warming Extinction of species Rainforest destruction Genetics (Genetic engineering, human genome project, gene therapy, DNA fingerprinting, prenatal testing) New methods of reproduction (fertility treatments, test tube babies, surrogate mothers) Animal Rights (using animals for experimentation, hunting, dissection, furs, etc.) Extraterrestrial life? (and UFOs) Potentially bogus science...ESP, UFOs, the Loch Ness Monster, Crop circles, and others we thought of at the time. Love Canal, Times Beach, Bhopal, India and other incidences of toxic dumping or corporate poisionings Human Impact on the Environment (land use, landfills and other topics in this list) Population of the Earth...are we overpopulated? The News Media...editorials, bias, analyzing what we read therein We certainly never covered all these topics in one semester. The objectives of the course were to raise awareness of issues and to gather facts on these issues, teach (practice) open-mindedness and communication skills, and practice developing opinions based on fact, realizing that emotions, values and all sorts of other intangibles go into developing the opinions we form. Feel free to contact me for more info...on-line, or at school where I have my files! Susan Camasta Hinsdale South High School (630)887-1730 x311 -- This is the ISTA-talk mailing list. To unsubscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For more information: <http://www.ista-il.org/about/mail_list.html> To search the archives: <http://www.mail-archive.com/ista-talk@lists.csi.cps.k12.il.us/>
