ESI97 Recommended Reading List

• Books
• Videos
• Other Media
• Websites

(Compiled by Karin Westerling and Tom Hoskin. Thanks to Steve Ferris for his many contributions.)

Books

Diamond, Jared. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies. Norton.

(cited by Steve Ferris)

Diamond, Jared. The Third Chimpanzee. Harper perennial Library.

(cited by Steve Ferris)

Healy, Jane M. Endangered Minds: Why Our Children Don't Think - & What We Can Do About It. 1991. ISBN 0-671-74920-X.

That old geezer in the teacher's lounge who complains that the "kids aren't as smart as they used to be" may not be correct. But s/he has noticed a real phenomenon. This book dissects the problem and presents ideas for solutions. (reviewed by K. Westerling)

Petterle, Joe. Schools Flunk . . . Kids Don't. 1993. ISBN 1-882180-16-X.

One of the fastest, surest ways for a kid to get attention and resources at school is to misbehave. Is it any wonder so many children act out? This book has practical suggests for turning your school toward excellence by allocating your resources toward BRATs (kids who Behave, Respect others, Attend, and Try!) Using these principles, my "at-risk" students have earned grades 20% higher than before. My school has lowered suspension rates 25% for regular ed. and 35% for special ed. while raising standards! (reviewed by K. Westerling)

Ponting, Clive. 1991. A Green History of the World: The Environment and the Collapse of Great Civilizations. Penguin Books.

(cited by Steve Ferris)

Quammen, David. 1997. The Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinction.

(cited by Steve Ferris)

Sagan, Carl. 1996. Candle in the Dark.

Discusses why people may prefer superstition to science, and why science works better. A gripping read which includes detailed discussions of alien abduction, recovered memory, witchcraft, etc. (cited by Joan Kadaras)

St.Expuery, The Little Prince.

This book can be found in the children's section on any decent book store. But don't let that fool you. It was written by a German ww-one fighter piot who was killed in action. It is about a young star traveler trying to unlock the secrets of life. It will change the way you look at life and living!!!! I might have spelled the author's name wrong..... (cited by Lee Wagstaff)

Weiner, Jonathan. The Beak of the Finch: A Story of Evolution in Our Time. 1994. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.

Dr. Peter Grant and Dr. Rosemary Grant are members of the Department of Ecology and Evolution at Princeton. The Grants have studied finches on Daphne Major in the Galapagos since 1973. This highly readable book discusses their studies of real time evolution, and the implications of evolution in our lives. A real page turner! (reviewed by K. Westerling)

Reading the Forested Landscape : A Natural History of New England. Tom Wessels, Brian D. Cohen (Illustrator). 1st Edition, Hardcover, 199 pages, Published by Countryman Pr, 1997. ISBN: 0881503789.

Here's a book I heard reviewed this morning (Sunday, 7/20) on NPR. To me it sounded like a book for anyone who wants to ASK questions of their envrionment. I scavenged the info below from Amazon.com (one of my favorite places). According to the reviewer, the author is about to publish a similar book about the forests of the southern Rockies.

Synopsis from Amazon.com: Forest ecologist Tom Wessels teaches us how to read forest histories and the disturbances that created them. Each chapter addresses a form of forest disturbance common in New Englandfire, logging, and blight, for exampleand depicts the situation in an extraordinary, full-page etching. Thereby we see a full portrait of New England's forests, tracing their evolution from precolonial days to the present through an examination of the patterns we see today. 32 illus.

(cited by Steve Ferris)

VIDEOS

The Blind Watchmaker. (BBC Films/Video)

This 45 minute television show, hosted by Richard Dawkins, surveys his book by the same name. An excellent overview. Be aware that Dawkins has a snippy sense of humor which some students may view as disrespectful to religious people, thus some preliminary groundwork may be appropriate. (reviewed by K. Westerling)

OTHER MEDIA (CD-ROMS, LASERDISKS, MULTIMEDIA and MORE)

LifeMap. (California Academy of Science, distributed by Warner)

Developed to explain the 1993 exhibition, "Life Through Time," LifeMap is a lavishly illustrated cladogram showing how living organisms are evolutionarily related. The complete program is on three MAC format CD-ROMS and is available for under $100. (reviewed by K. Westerling)

Mlot, Christine. "Is Science Talent Squandered?" in Science News Vol. 151, May 31, 1997.

Reviews research on why scientifically talented college students chose to change to non-science majors. Very interesting. (cited Steve Ferris)

WEBSITES

Access Excellence - http://www.gene.com/ae/

"When science teachers were asked what Genentech could do to make an impact on changes in science education, the teachers said they needed a way to "break the isolation" they feel from other science teachers and be able to share their teaching ideas, strategies, and activities with their colleagues. Access Excellence has enhanced biology teaching by providing a computer network forum on which teachers can share their innovative teaching ideas and activities; access information, expert assistance, the advice and experience of other teachers to create new ideas, and best practices. Teachers who are interested in participating in the program today can immediately join in the discussions, sharing, and collaborations." (cited by K. Westerling)

National Center for Science Education, Inc. - http://www.natcenscied.org/

"NCSE -- a nonprofit, tax-exempt membership organization working to defend the teaching of evolution against sectarian religious attack. We are a nationally-recognized clearinghouse for information and advice to keep evolution in the science classroom and "scientific creationism" out. While there are organizations that oppose "scientific creationism" as part of their general goals (such as good science education, or separation of church and state), NCSE is the only national organization that specializes in this issue. When teachers, parents, school boards, the press and others need information and help, they turn to NCSE. . . . We also work to increase public understanding of evolution and science 'as a way of knowing.' We also have programs to help teachers who want to improve their teaching of evolution. Here you'll find information and resources for all these activities." (cited by K. Westerling)

Talk.Origins - http://www.talkorigins.org/

Talk.Origins "is a Usenet newsgroup devoted to the discussion and debate of biological and physical origins. Most discussions in the newsgroup center on the creation/evolution controversy, but other topics of discussion include the origin of life, geology, biology, catastrophism, cosmology and theology." (cited by K. Westerling)

School Sucks - http://www.schoolsucks.com/

A collection of student produced term papers on a wide variety of topics. Some are excellent, others are not. Students can use these papers as "starters" or models of their own research projects. "Students know you are fully aware of this site and therefore should not be turning in papers from this site" because plagarism sucks too! (cited by K. Westerling)

Woodrow Wilson Leadership Program in Environmental Science lpt@www.woodrow.org
The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation webmaster@woodrow.org
CN 5281, Princeton NJ 08543-5281 Tel:(609)452-7007 Fax:(609)452-0066