The Intelligent Lizard

Posted April 28th, 2008 by Jen in humor, religion, science
12 Comments »

Hmmm, I say, what is this slick, button-y surface and colorful pixeled screen?

Oh, I see, if I grip the keys just so, and push….

Now, that was pretty simple, and it only took me about 4 billion years to figure out. Or not.

p.s., the lady of the house was really freaked out to see her little girl’s pet lizard taking over her laptop computer. My sincere apologies and lizardly regrets for causing such a commotion. Well, being so evolved and all, I enjoy the cinema as well as computers, so I’m off to the movies.

Technorati Tags: lizards, Creation Science, Intelligent Design, animal humor, Expelled the Movie, Ben Stein’s Expelled

Scopes in reverse

Posted March 26th, 2007 by Jen in education, politics/world news, religion, science
5 Comments »

Here in my pretty part of the world, I read a very ugly story in my local paper last week. The Bend Bulletin’s front page story on March 20 was titled “Sisters fires a new teacher for presenting creationism.” The posh little town of Sisters, Oregon has a great quilt show in July, the most kickin’ rodeo around, the most exceptional coffee house in the world, and a really bovine school board.

So, this firing happened a week ago, and I wasn’t going to write about it, because I didn’t want to get completely worked up…but, I will anyway. The reporting was not accurate. But I should add that a follow-up article was helpful in understanding Mr. Helphinstine’s presentation. Kris was not teaching creationism. He has a master’s degree in science from Oregon State University, and obviously knows what evolution is; as far as Creationism, he said “I know what it is, and I went out of my way not to teach it.” He reiterated in a phone interview with The Bulletin that he did not teach the concept of God creating the world, but rather included some supplemental materials to teach the students how to discern bias. “My whole purpose was to give accurate information and to get them thinking.” The headline should have read, “Sisters fires a new teacher for presenting critical thinking.”

Pebble Chaser has covered this superbly, so I won’t go into the whole terrible ordeal; go see what Heidi said.

I did just want to add that I found it incredibly ironic that a brief glance back in history shows that the Butler Act, 1925, prohibited teachers from teaching anything but the Divine Creation of man as set forth in the Bible, and specifically banned teaching that man was descended from a lower order of animals. (Of course, the ridiculous publicity stunt of the Scopes trial changed that.) But here we are, just 80 some years later, and those same teachers are prohibited from teaching anything but that man was descended from a lower order of animals.

photo by: Gary Albertson
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Here comes the train

Posted March 19th, 2007 by Jen in arts & crafts, education, science
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I love a picturesque, rural landscape, and my kids adore trains. I caught this scene a few days ago, as we were stopped at a train crossing in Terrebonne, OR. You can see Smith Rock in the background, and if you could hear, you’d be listening to my kids whooping in delight above the loud cry of the train whistle.

We were too inspired to pass up Smith Rock after seeing this, so the next day we headed over to the climbing mecca of the Northwest. Yeah, we go here a lot, and you would, too, if this was in your backyard.

Here I am with the kids, about to head down into the gorge where you see the Crooked River running through.

This was part of our school day, and so here we are sketching the amazing spires of rock (…how did this get here, the kids ask). A local artist happened to be hiking by as the kids were happily engaged in their creative drawings, and had some kind words to offer.

What you see here is a wonderful little snapshot of the flexibility I love about home education. An inspiring moment with a train can lead to an afternoon of hiking, exploring, discussions about volcanic origins, creative art, and more nuances of my children’s development than I can know.

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Name that owl! Science outside the classroom

Posted March 16th, 2007 by Jen in education, family life, science
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I owe a big Thank You to our 20 acre juniper forest and to the High Desert Museum for our latest science adventure. Science is definitely a subject that calls you outside the classroom.

Our adventure began nearly two years ago, when we first saw the owl. My husband and I, along with our children, were looking at some real estate in Central Oregon. We fell in love with this big juniper filled parcel the minute we set foot on the rugged soil. The rock outcroppings, the tall, scraggly juniper trees, and the untouched feel of the land had us mesmerized. Then, suddenly, a screech, a whoosh, and gone in a flash. We knew we had an owl.

We ended up purchasing the property. Over the course of the next year, we discovered the owl’s nest high in one of the thousands of junipers - maybe 50 feet up. My husband and I had at least six sightings between the two of us. But, as you know, owls are nocturnal, so evening sightings are a glimpse at best. Our oldest boy collected several of the owl’s feathers, and we went on many hikes to look for any other possible nesting places. On one such hike, we disturbed the resting owl, and with a screech, he took wing. How exciting for the kids to hear the noise, and they raced around in a vain attempt to find him again.

I’m not sure I realized it at the moment, but as parents, we were shaping and developing our children’s scientific thinking. Our owl hunt was just an everyday activity born out of natural curiosity, but more valuable than any classroom science lesson.

We visited our local High Desert Museum during this period of time, and were thrilled to discover a Birds of Prey exhibit. There were live birds to study, and even recorded vocalizations to listen to. By now, we were narrowing the field of possible owl varieties - our kids really wanted to know what we had on our hands! We knew the coloring, the habitat, the nest, the call…we had either a Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus), a Long-eared Owl (Asio otus), or a Western Screech-Owl (Otus kennicottii).

The kids and I visited the Museum again last week, and spent most of our time with the Birds of Prey exhibit, naturally! We decided that most likely (but we could totally be wrong!), our owl is a Long-eared Owl. He sounds like a Screech-Owl, but those owls nest in natural cavities in trees, and ours has a nest. He looks a bit like the Great Horned Owl, but their strongest Oregon habitat association is grassland with fir and ponderosa interspersed. And the Long-eared Owl has a high nest, typically an abandoned nest of another large bird of prey, and their strongest Oregon nesting habitat association is in western juniper woodland.

That fits! At first, we nearly discounted the great nest we discovered, because it looked old and abandoned. Yes, exactly what our owl likes - these nocturnal creatures do NOT like to build their own nests. And of course, the juniper woodland describes our property to a “T.”

I can’t stress enough the idea that when families pursue scientific inquiries together, and when children are carrying on their own intellectual quests, a natural and deep science foundation is taking root. If you’re lucky enough to have an owl, all the better.

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