The first issue of the new journal Evolution: Education and Outreach is now available on-line, and it's a doozy! Featured are original scientific articles by Daniel R. Brooks and Eric P. Hoberg, Niles Eldredge, and William Miller III; lesson plans and thematic expansions by Anastasia Thanukos, Michael A. Gaspar, and Gregory Eldredge; reflections on evolution by Ian Tattersall, John N. Thompson, David Ziegler, and T. Ryan Gregory; and curricula focusing on evolution from Joseph Fail Jr. and Lori Zaikowski, Richard T. Wilkens, and Kurt Fisher. There are also reviews of Gordy Slack's The Battle Over the Meaning of Everything and the American Museum of Natural History's newly opened Hall of Human Origins as well as reports on creationist activity and sentiment in Germany, the United Kingdom, and New Jersey.
NCSE is represented, too. NCSE's executive director Eugenie C. Scott was interviewed by Mick Wycoff, who asked her, "After devoting the majority of your adult life to fighting creationism, do you feel there has been any progress?" "Heck yes!" she replied. "If NCSE hadn't been here the situation would be a whole lot worse than it is now! But seriously, this is a controversy that's not going to be solved merely by throwing science at it." Scott also collaborated with NCSE's deputy director Glenn Branch to write "Overcoming Obstacles to Evolution Education: In the Beginning," introducing a planned regular column by NCSE staff. Discussing the need for such a journal, they remark, "it remains distressingly true that both pre-service and in-service teachers are not getting the guidance or scientific information they need to teach evolution effectively in a climate of ignorance of, skepticism about, and hostility toward evolution."
Evolution: Education and Outreach is edited by NCSE Supporter Niles Eldredge and Gregory Eldredge. According to a November 26, 2007, press release, "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. ... 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." The journal will be freely available on-line through all of 2008.