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  Dr. Keller received her Ph.D. in biophysical chemistry from the University of New Mexico in 1992.

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  2010

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  • Weather happens! Should scientists be wedded to to their theories and politicians wedded to scientists?
    2010/04/14
  • Why do parents need to "add" a Biblical worldview to a world-view neutral curriculum? What happened to Romans 1:19-20?
    2010/04/07
  • Making my Twitter profile look good with Themeleon by @COLOURlovers colourlovers.com/themeleon Love it?
    2010/04/07

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Flying Spaghetti Monster

Author Name: Dr. Rebecca W. Keller | Jul 06 | Category: Uncategorized

From our mailbox:

Does your “science” curriculum include equal time for Flying Spaghetti Monster theory? No? Why? Too dogmatic? Intelligent design is not science and has no place in any science curriculum. Evolutionary biology is not dogma, it is theory supported by overwhelming scientific evidence from many fields, including physics, geology, microbiology, biochemistry, paleontology, genetics and others, unlike intelligent design which is simply creationism shrouded in pseudo-scientific technobabble. Be honest!

Music boxes

Author Name: Dr. Rebecca W. Keller | Jun 30 | Category: Education

When I was little, a relative gave me a music box for Christmas. It had a small steel drum inside a plastic case and a crank that turned a gear that turned the drum. The drum had several nubs sticking up at various distances. Tthe nubs would get dragged under a set of long thin metal strips as the drum turned. Voila! Out came a short, metallic tune.

Preserving the Art of Science

Author Name: Dr. Rebecca W. Keller | Jun 01 | Category: Education, Science

As a science book writer and former scientist, I keep up with the changing trends in science and science education. One such trend is the movement towards “digital experiments.” Students can now do virtual dissections on frogs and perform virtual chemistry experiments. I understand the excitement over exploiting the digital age for classroom education. Instead of having to invest in costly equipment, all a school, classroom, or homeschool needs is a computer and an account with the virtual lab provider.

The day after Judgement Day

Author Name: Dr. Rebecca W. Keller | May 22 | Category: Religion

Yesterday the world was supposed to end. It was, according to Harold Camping and his followers, “Judgement Day.” However, no massive earthquakes rocked the world and as far as I can tell no faithful Christians have been raptured.

Just the facts please

Author Name: Dr. Rebecca W. Keller | May 03 | Category: Education, Religion, Science
Tags: Creationism, Darwinism, philosophy of science, Science

About twelve years ago I sat down to write a science curriculum. I was homeschooling my children and wanted to teach them science. At that time I was working on a post-doctoral project in molecular biology and fell in love with molecular machines. Molecular machines were a “new” concept in biology, and having received my Ph.D. in biophysics a few years earlier, the idea captivated me. I was mesmerized by the work of Michael O’Donnell and the transcription machinery his lab was just beginning to discover ¹.

Critical Thinking & Absolute Truth

Author Name: Dr. Rebecca W. Keller | Apr 18 | Category: Religion
Tags: Bible, Christianity, critical thinking, religion

Last Friday while attending our local homeschool conference, I gave a talk on critical thinking for children. Critical thinking tends to be an educational “buzz word” that means many things to many people. The most common approach to teaching critical thinking is to use a “critical thinking book”  full of puzzles and games. However, the main thesis of my lecture was to point out that critical thinking is actually a process. If you teach your child this process, you will have taught them critical thinking even if you never “solve the puzzle.”

Science and play

Author Name: Dr. Rebecca W. Keller | Apr 12 | Category: Education
Tags: Education, Science

We are headed into the final weeks of our online classes. I have really enjoyed teaching my Level I Chemistry and Level 2 Biology students. They are smart and dedicated and genuinely interested in the subject material. It has been a real treat for me since my own children are grown and almost out of the house.

Hot Seat for Biology Teachers

Author Name: Dr. Rebecca W. Keller | Feb 21 | Category: Education
Tags: biology teacher, Education, Politics, Science

On January 28, 2011, the journal Science published an article called “Defeating Creationism in the Courtroom, But Not in the Classroom.” They reported results by the National Survey of High School Biology teachers which found that of 926 “nationally represented participants” 13% of high school biology teachers advocated the teaching of creationism. In the same survey,  it was reported that only 28 percent followed the guidelines for teaching evolution. The rest of the article is dedicated to the “cautious 60%” who “are neither strong advocates for evolutionary biology nor explicit endorsers of nonscientific alternatives.” The authors conclude that this undecided 60% is “undermining science” and “hindering scientific literacy in the United States.” In my opinion, this is completely unfair, and places biology teachers in the hot seat. It burdens them with the responsibility of having to wade through the political mud fights currently obscuring authentic scientific discourse.  It also illustrates just how little awareness the scientific community has about the nature of real scientific investigation and demonstrates an ignorance about how to give our kids a “good” science education.

Level I Astronomy and the Age of the Earth

Author Name: Dr. Rebecca W. Keller | Feb 09 | Category: Education, Homeschooling, Science
Tags: astronomy, Creationism, homeschool, Science

The new Level I Astronomy Student Textbook is finished and ready to hit the shelves! The softcover edition will be available in a few days, and the hardcover edition will arrive in a few weeks. As of today, we at Gravitas Publications Inc. are taking pre-orders.

The question I’m often asked is how the age of the Earth will be addressed in this book. What people are really asking is whether the new Level I Astronomy Textbook takes an old Earth or a young Earth point of view–an important question I’d like to take the time to answer.

Personal Responsibility

Author Name: Dr. Rebecca W. Keller | Feb 03 | Category: Education
Tags: Education, news, Politics

Personal responsibility doesn’t get much media attention these days. I mean real personal responsibility. The kind of real personal responsibility that acknowledges that we, as individuals, are 100% responsible for our own actions, thoughts, behaviors, words, deeds, perspectives, and feelings. What we get instead is either finger-pointing or censorship.