Science Education and
 Exploring Darwin at Palomar College


What is Anthropology?

  boy in rice paddy, Bali, Indonesia

Anthropology is the broad study of humankind around the world and throughout time.  It is concerned with both the biological and the cultural aspects of humans.  Included in anthropology are four main subdivisions:

Biological (or Physical) Anthropology

Mechanisms of biological evolution, genetic inheritance, human adaptability and variation, primatology, and the fossil record of human evolution.

Cultural Anthropology

Culture, ethnocentrism, cultural aspects of language and communication, subsistence and other economic patterns, kinship, sex and marriage, socialization, social control, political organization, class, ethnicity, gender, religion, and culture change.

Archaeology

Prehistory and early history of cultures around the world; major trends in cultural evolution; and techniques for finding, excavating, dating, and analyzing material remains of past societies.

Linguistic Anthropology
The human communication process focusing on the importance of socio-cultural influences; nonverbal communication; and the structure, function, and history of languages, dialects, pidgins, and creoles.

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Faculty and Programs

  Fanti chief, West Africa

Palomar College offers anthropology courses that satisfy both natural and social/behavioral science general education requirements.   In addition, students can earn an Associate of Arts Degree in Archaeology and occupational certificates in Archaeological Excavation and Archaeological Surveying.

There are currently four full-time anthropology professors:

Some Anthropology courses are cross-listed with Africana Studies, American Indian Studies, Chicano Studies, and English.  These courses are usually taught by Dr. Philip DeBarros (Anthropology), Steven Crouthamel and Patricia Dixon (American Indian Studies), and Anthony Guerra (Chicano Studies). There also are 5-8 adjunct anthropology faculty teaching each semester.

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Anthropology Web Links
DISCLAIMER:  The Internet links listed below take you outside of this web page.  Dennis O'Neil and Palomar College make no representation concerning the content of these sites, nor do the links to these sites serve as endorsements.

General Anthropology:

  three young Sikh performers, India

Biological (or Physical) Anthropology:

Cultural Anthropology:

  man from Dani Tribe, New Guinea

Archaeology:

Linguistic Anthropology:

  Ami Indigenous girls, Tarako, Taiwan

Regional Anthropology / Archaeology:

Museums:

Virtual Exhibits and Trips:

  musicians, Sumatra, Indonesia

Anthropology as a Career:

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Science Education and Exploring Darwin at Palomar College

 

SCIENCE EDUCATION AND
EXPLORING DARWIN AT PALOMAR COLLEGE

by Dr. Philip de Barros, Professor of Anthropology
Behavioral Sciences


One of the fundamental issues in American society is the role of science. This includes the following issues: 1) science and culture, particularly the cultural debate about evolution; 2) the role of science in making government policy; and, 3) the state of science education in America, especially the level of scientific literacy on the part of the American public.


Science and Culture - the Cultural Debate About Evolution

Part of the culture wars in America involves the issue of evolution and its creationist responses, whether it be the scientific creationism of the 1970s and 1980s or Intelligent Design of 1990s and early 21st century. While the role of religion has been and probably will continue to be important in human societies, it is important that religion and science see themselves as complementary in their world view, as opposed to conflicting. Neither the attempts of certain avowed atheists to ridicule religion, nor creationist attempts to "prove" their religious beliefs and/or discredit scientific discoveries they do not like with pseudoscientific publications benefit society as a whole. Especially damaging is the attempt by creationists to masquerade their religious beliefs as science and insist they be taught in the science classroom, which undermines the scientific enterprise and confuses students about the nature of science.

It is with this in mind that in 2005 I created a new course at Palomar entitled: Evolution, Science, and Religion (ANTH 125). The course content includes the following:

1) explain and discuss with students the role of science in human society and how the scientific process actually works – including the nature of facts, hypotheses, laws and theories and the process of peer review;

2) explain and discuss with students the difference between KNOWLEDGE and BELIEF;

3) explain and discuss with students the nature and functions of religion in human society, including: the issue of supernatural causation; providing a code of ethics and a hierarchy of values; providing answers to eternal questions about origins, death and the afterlife; dealing with the human condition and the potential meaningless of life; and, religion’s adaptive communal functions that increase cultural cohesiveness;

4) present and discuss with students a series of informal logical fallacies that often permeate the debate of many polarizing issues in American society, such as abortion, climate change, and the evolution vs. creationist debate;

5) examine the evidence for evolution and explain and discuss with students how evolution occurs through natural selection using a large body of text material, films, and where applicable, field trips; and,

6) examine the history of the rise of Creationism in American society, with a look at the multiple facets of creationism, including a more detailed examination of Biblical Literalism (Young Earth Creationism) and its associated "scientific creationism," theistic evolutionism, Intelligent Design, and metaphysical naturalism.

I have taught the class for four years and the current Spring 2009 class is the biggest ever with 38 students. Students viewpoints range from atheism, agnosticism, theistic evolutionism, s general spirituality, to forms of creationism. The class has been extremely rewarding for me as a professor, and based on student feedback essays at the end of the class, extremely positive and beneficial for students. Discussions are often lively and lead me and the students to think in new ways.

The Role of Science in Making Public Policy

In recent years, the role of science has become highly politicized in the Federal government and its agencies, particularly under the administration of President George W. Bush. Several important books have been published documenting the intimidation, censorship, and replacement of scientists who are not favorable to industry interests: 1) The Republican War on Science, Revised and Updated by Chris Mooney, 2006; 2) Undermining Science: Suppression and Distortion in the Bush Administration by Seth Schulman 2006; and, most recently, Doubt is Their Product: How Industry’s Assault on Science Threatens Your Health by David Michaels, 2008.

Since the summer of 2008, reading one of the above books and writing a 5-6 page essay have become required in my Introduction to Biological Anthropology courses (ANTH 100). This has proved very illuminating to students who had no idea this was going on. Aside from providing the historical background on this topic since President Nixon, the main points emphasized for this assignment are the following: 1) science is the foundation of our technological prowess and national wealth and should be bipartisan; 2) science provides the explanations and data for making sound public policy: politicians can choose to ignore scientific advice from time to time, but the manipulation of scientific data and the censorship and rewriting of scientific studies to benefit industry and ignore the health and welfare of American citizens has no place in America and is detrimental to science, especially because it undermines public confidence in science, the media, and government agencies.


Science Education and the Level of Scientific Literacy of the American Public

Teaching About Science and Evolution at Palomar College

I have been teaching anthropology for more than 25 years (14 years at Palomar), including cultural anthropology, biological anthropology, and archaeology. From this experience it has become clear to me that incoming students have relatively impoverished notions about science and the scientific process rendering them particularly vulnerable to pseudoscientific attacks on science. It is also clear from my work and the work of others (e.g., David Sloan Wilson, Berkman et al., Eugenie Scott, Brian Alters, and others) that students come to college with key misconceptions about the nature of evolution and the theory of natural selection; for example, 1) that evolution is a random process; 2) that animals adapt to their environment during their own lifetime; and, 3) that evolution is equivalent to progress and is supposed to lead to complexity -- and, thus noncomplex creatures are somehow "behind" and students ask "why aren’t they evolving?" In addition, there are those who come to the classroom believing that evolution did not happen, that it (and perhaps science itself) is evil, and that the world is only 6000 years old!

 

Annual Exploring Darwin Speaker Series

To combat this lack of scientific literacy, I spend a good deal of time in my introductory classes in biological and cultural anthropology discussing how science works and alerting them of the danger of the frequent use of informal logical fallacies. I also decided to launch an annual event at Palomar College, entitled Exploring Darwin (sometimes referred to as Darwin Days) where students and professor can explore the multidisciplinary explanatory power of Darwin’s Theory of Natural Selection in a variety of fields: cosmology and the evolution of the universe, the evolution of life, paleontology, human evolution, evolutionary psychology, human perception, economics, computer programming in the form of genetic algorithms, architecture, evolutionary medicine (including the workings of the immune system, the origin of cancer, and aging), and even art, literature and music (see especially David Sloan Wilson’s book Evolution for Everyone, 2007; see also the article entitled, "The Ascent of Darwin," by Karen Wright (pp. 34-38) in a Special Issue of Discover magazine for February 2009 in honor of Charles Darwin’s publication of The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection in 1859).

Below are the list of speakers and their presentation titles for Fall 2007 and 2008 for two days in early November. For Fall 2009, I plan to have a keynote speaker on Tuesday evening for a public audience, followed by two days of speakers for students and faculty audiences during the day. Professors are encouraged to bring their entire classes and/or provide extra credit for student attendance at one or more presentations. Roll is taken to ensure credit is given for actual attendance. The feedback from both students and faculty has been tremendous with two very positive articles in both the Palomar Telescope and the North County Times newspapers (see also below).

 

Fall 2007 Exploring Darwin Flyer

EXPLORING DARWIN at Palomar College
Wednesday-Thursday
October 31st-November 1st, 2007

In Honor and In Memory of Sara L. Thompson
Professor of Life Sciences & Dean of Math/Natural & Health Sciences

The purpose of this event is to expose students and faculty to the multidisciplinary explanatory power of Darwin’s Theory of Natural Selection. We have invited speakers from a variety of disciplines in the spirit of David Sloan Wilson’s recent book, Evolution for Everyone. We are also honored to hold this event in honor and in memory of the highly esteemed Professor of Life Sciences and Dean, Sara Thompson.

SCHEDULE OF SPEAKERS AND PRESENTATIONS

Wednesday, October 31 – Governing Board Room

9:30 - 10:50 John Bragin, UCLA Human Complex Systems Program & UCLA Center for Behavior, Evolution, and Culture (BEC) -- Darwinian Evolution and a Complex Systems View of the Origin of Life on Earth

11:00 - 12:20　 Jim Moore, UCSD --　Dispersal, Incest Avoidance, and Evolution.

12:30 - 1:50 Russ Doolittle, UCSD -- Gene Duplications Are What Drive Evolution

Wednesday, October 31, Earth Sciences Lecture Hall, ES-19

2:00 - 3:20 Philip de Barros, Professor of Anthropology, Palomar College -- Evolution for Everyone and the Impacts of Technology on the Study of Evolution

Thursday, November 1　-- Governing Board Room

9:30 - 10:50 Karthik Panchanathan, UCLA Center for Behavior, Evolution and Culture – How Game Theory Help us Understand the Evolution of Cooperation.

11:00 - 12:20 Cristina Moya -- UCLA Center for Behavior, Evolution and Culture – Human Social Evolution and its Implications for How and Why Humans Form Stereotypes About Others

12:30 - 1:50 GREAT TRANSFORMATIONS – Transitional Fossils in the Evolutionary Record, including the Evolution of Whales. [Tom Demere cancelled due to the fires.]

2:00 - 3:20 Lisa Smolich, Adjunct Professor of Anthropology, Palomar College -- The Evolution of Human Sex Differences and Mate Choice: Real Life Situations and Applications for Sexual Selection



Fall 2008 Exploring Darwin Flyer

EXPLORING DARWIN at Palomar College
Wednesday-Thursday
November 5th and 6th, 2008

The purpose of this event is to expose students and faculty to the multidisciplinary explanatory power of Darwin’s Theories of Natural Selection and Sexual Selection. We have invited speakers from a variety of disciplines in the spirit of David Sloan Wilson’s recent book, Evolution for Everyone. Last year’s event was very successful and we are looking forward to hearing exciting speakers from various college campuses in southern California!

SCHEDULE OF SPEAKERS AND PRESENTATIONS

Wednesday, November 5th – Governing Board Room

9:30 - 10:50 John Bragin, Lecturer and Academic Coordinator, UCLA Human Complex Systems Program – Darwin in the Digital Age: Simulating Variation and Selection to Search for Optimum Adaptive Strategies Among Large Numbers of Options for Human Problem-Solving.

11:00 - 12:20　 Nancy Caine, Professor of Psychology, Cal State San Marcos –
Seeing Red: Behavioral Consequences of Individual Differences in Color Vision in New World Monkeys

12:30 - 1:50 Elizabeth Pillsworth, UCLA Center for Behavior, Evolution, and Culture and UCLA Center for the Study of Women – Human Mating: Adaptations for Sexual Preferences and Long-Term Mate Choice

Wednesday, November 5th, Room P-32 (Campus Explorations)

2:00 - 3:20 Philip de Barros, Professor of Anthropology, Palomar College -- Solving Modern Crises Using Our Understanding of Evolution

Thursday, November 6th　-- Governing Board Room

9:30 - 10:50 Russell Jackson, Professor of Psychology, Cal State San Marcos – Evolution and Human Distance Perception

11:00 - 12:20 Russell Doolittle, Professor of Biochemistry, UCSD – Gene Duplications Are What Drive Evolution

12:30 - 1:50 Naomi Pike, Adjunct Professor of Psychology, Palomar and CSUSM -- Short and Long Term Mating Strategies: Possible Niches Resulting in the Extroversion Continuum

2:00 - 3:20 Tom Demere, Curator of Paleontology, San Diego Museum of Natural History -- Transitional Fossils in the Evolutionary Record and the Evolution of Whales


　Copy of Letter from UCLA Praising the Exploring Darwin Program

　

 

Article in the North County Times on November 2007 Exploring Darwin

Palomar College 'Explores Darwin'
By: NOELLE IBRAHIM - Staff Writer
Discussions meant to offer new perspectives

SAN MARCOS ---- More than 100 Palomar College students packed into a room to learn how Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection could help explain why humans form stereotypes during the college's "Exploring Darwin" activities Thursday. "These days, people are very narrow-minded," said student Brandon Pope of Escondido. "I want to understand why we feel certain ways about certain people, and try to educate others from the knowledge I gain here today."

The discussion, along with others on gene duplication, the evolution of cooperation and technology's effect on the study of evolution, was meant to expose faculty and students to the explanatory power of Darwin's theory across a wide variety of disciplines, said anthropology professor Philip de Barros, who organized the first-time event. "Natural selection in the past has often been thought of as strictly an issue of biology, but now it's being applied to different areas," he said, including anthropology, sociology and biochemistry. "We want to open people's eyes."
The aim was to steer clear of the controversial discussion of creationism versus evolution, because it is one that does not tend to be productive, de Barros said. "People have certain religious beliefs and some are not willing to accept scientific evidence that contradicts that," he said, adding that there are common misconceptions about natural selection, which preserves creatures that are better adapted to their environment than others.

"The reason it's possible is because of genetic variation caused by mutations," de Barros said, adding that evolution is not a random process, as many people think. "Also, individuals don't evolve, populations do." Cristina Moya, a graduate student at UCLA's Center for Behavior, Evolution and Culture, opened her discussion on human social evolution by giving an example of how ethnicity above all other factors, including age and major, was used by news media to identify Cho Seung-Hui, a South Korean English major who went on a shooting spree at Virginia Tech this April.

"Nobody expected an apology from English majors, but South Koreans were expected to feel some guilt," said Moya. "We see a single example and assume all other members of the same (ethnic) category have the same traits." Moya went on to describe how, unlike other species, humans were selected to be highly cultural beings. People place others in social categories to make predictions based on prior experience with other members of those categories, because we simply do not have enough time or information to know everything, she said. Generalizations are meant to keep us safe by avoiding potential costs and to give us guidelines on how to interact with others, Moya said. "Whatever genes that helped people make those (good) decisions through stereotypes were selected for over time in the population," said de Barros, describing the topic's relationship to natural selection. But as areas of the world have become more ethnically diverse in recent history, such as in America, for example, negative stereotyping of groups has become more common, he said. "We want to see if there is evidence of adaptation in the human brain in dealing with certain types of social categories," Moya said. [Contact staff writer Noelle Ibrahim at (760) 761-4404 or nibrahim@nctimes.com.]

 

Consortium of Colleges for the Teaching of Evolution in Higher Education

After extensive email exchanges and telephone conversations with David Sloan Wilson, evolutionary biologist at SUNY Binghamton, I became involved in his efforts to revise a National Science Foundation grant application, evolutionary biologist at SUNY Binghamton. A grant of several hundred thousand dollars is now funding a national consortium of 4-year and 2-year colleges with the focus on the promotion and evaluation of the teaching of evolution in higher education. Palomar College is a member of this consortium. More information on this NSF funded program can be seen at http://evolution.binghamton.edu/evos/News_Consortium.html. Here is a sample from this web page listing Palomar College (highlighted).

The inaugural consortium members are Albright College, Broome Community College, California State University at Fullerton, Cornell University, Grand Valley State College, New England University, Northern Illinois University, Palomar College, SUNY Oswego, University of Arizona, University of California at Los Angeles, the University of Kansas, and the University of Miami.　 Additional institutions wishing to join the consortium should contact David Sloan Wilson (Binghamton University), Glenn Geher (SUNY New Patlz), or Jennifer Waldo (SUNY New Paltz).

This spring, evolution surveys developed by Wilson and his staff were taken on the web by 30 or more students in each of four classes at Palomar College. This survey will be revised and updated for use in assessing student understandings and attitudes about evolution at the beginning and the ending of classes in Biological Anthropology as a means of assessing the effectiveness of the course at teaching the basic concepts of evolution of natural selection, dispelling misconceptions, and improving student attitudes toward evolution (see "Evolution for Everyone: How to Increase Acceptance of, Interest in, and Knowledge about Evolution," by David Sloan Wilson, PLoS Biology 3(12), December 2005).

In addition, a new journal called EvoS has been launched that is a peer-reviewed journal about the teaching of evolution in higher education. I am on the editorial board of this journal which hopes to get its first submissions for peer reviews this year. Below is a copy of the email invitation to join the editorial board of EvoS: The Journal of the Evolutionary Studies Consortium:

　

 

October 16, 2008

Dear Dr. De Barros:

We are pleased to invite you to join the Editorial Board of EvoS: The Journal of the Evolutionary Studies Consortium (EvoS), the journal designed to promote the education of evolutionary theory in colleges and universities. As an outlet for academic articles, EvoS has two particular aims. The first is to publish peer-reviewed articles related to evolutionary theory in higher education. The second is to publish undergraduate peer-reviewed publications that have arisen from courses offered through Evolutionary Studies Programs. As such, we plan to have a traditional editorial board consisting of faculty members, and an undergraduate editorial board to review the undergraduate publications in conjunction with a faculty advisor.

The medium of the Internet has many advantages for publishing scholarly articles, including a quick turnaround between the time an article is accepted and the time it is published, easy and inexpensive (free) access to the journal articles, and the ability to publish pictures, video, and audio alongside the article.

As an important member of the international intellectual community dealing with Evolutionary Studies, we would like to extend you an invitation to join the editorial board of this new journal. EvoS is a peer-reviewed journal, and as such we will rely on our editorial board to review articles in a timely fashion.

We are very excited about this journal and hope you will join us in this endeavor. For now, you may visit the journal website at www.evostudies.com - once there, click on the menu button "Journal". Please let us know if you are interested in and ready to join the Board.　 We look forward to working with you!

Warm Regards,
Rose

Rosemarie Sokol Chang, Editor (evostudies@gmail.com)
Glenn Geher, Editorial Consultant
Jennifer Waldo, Editorial Consultant
David Sloan Wilson, Editorial Consultant

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Created and Maintained by Dennis O'Neil with additions by Philip de Barros (Exploring Darwin)
Behavioral Sciences Department, Palomar College, San Marcos, California
This page was last updated on March 10, 2009.
Photos on this page reproduced with permission from Corel Corporation, Ottawa, Canada