An intelligent new way to support the teaching of evolution

New journal Evolution: Education and Outreach debuts on 28 November




The world-renowned evolutionary scientist Niles Eldredge and his son Greg Eldredge, a high school science teacher, believe it’s time to help science educators fight back against the strong pressure creationists exert on public education. So they joined forces with the scientific publisher Springer and, on Darwin’s birthday in February this year, announced plans to publish a new journal, Evolution: Education and Outreach.

The print version will debut at the National Association of Biology Teachers conference on 28 November 2007 in Atlanta, GA, USA. Well-known authorities such as Eugenie C. Scott, a leader in the fight to include evolution in public education, Andrea Barrett, acclaimed writer and National Book Award winner and renowned scientist Ian Tattersall have all contributed to the first issue. The journal will be free online at www.springerlink.com during all of 2008.

Evolution: Education and Outreach promotes understanding and teaching of evolutionary theory for a wide audience. Targeting students of all ages including undergraduates, teachers and scientists alike, the journal publishes articles to aid members of these communities in the teaching of evolutionary theory.

Niles Eldredge said, “An overwhelmingly positive response to the initial announcement of the journal last February shows that this is an outreach whose time has come – a long-overdue approach to increasing links between the realms of science and education. Our aim is to produce a riveting issue every time – a “must read” from cover to cover!”

The quarterly journal connects teachers with scientists by adapting cutting-edge, peer-reviewed articles for classroom use on a variety of instructional levels. Teachers and scientists collaborate on multi-authored papers and offer tools for teachers such as unit and lesson plans and classroom activities, as well as additional online content such as podcasts and PowerPoint presentations.

Niles Eldredge has been a paleontologist on the curatorial staff of the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) since 1969. His theory of “punctuated equilibria” (co-authored with Stephen Jay Gould) is a milestone in contemporary evolutionary biology. Greg Eldredge has a Masters Degree in Education and has been a New York City school teacher for the past three years. He is a co-author of the children’s book The Fossil Factory. The two are supported by an international editorial board, made up of some of the most renowned scientists in the field.

Springer is committed to enhancing research and teaching of evolution by providing prizes of up to $10,000 annually. Further scholarship prizes will be announced throughout the year. Springer is the second-largest publisher of journals in the science, technology, and medicine (STM) sector and the largest publisher of STM books. Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media, one of the world’s leading suppliers of scientific and specialist literature.

Visit Evolution: Education and Outreach at the social networking website MySpace.