Kurt Flammer

Biography

Larry Flammer, the author, passed away December 13, 2017. His son Kurt now supports his body of work. Larry had an MS in zoology, taught high school biology for 38 years, and "retired" in 1997. He also taught earth science, physical science, life science and computer programming. In 1998, he developed a website for the ENSI program (Evolution and Nature of Science Institutes). The website provides classroom-tested interactive lessons on the nature of science and evolution (including geological age dating). These lessons are freely available for download. The ENSI site resources are not updated since Larry's death, but the site materials are still available at an archival site called the Wayback Machine. The ENSI site continues to provide many timeless teaching tips and other resources for teaching evolution, the nature of science and related topics. The site has been very popular over the years, with upwards of 2,000 hits per month, and more than 800 science teachers on the ENSI listserves. Its lessons are used mostly in high school biology classes as well as many middle school life science classes. They are also used in undergraduate classes and increasingly in AP Biology classes. The textbook "Science Surprises" evolved out of a text supplement the author developed for teaching the nature of science in the 1980s. He has also enjoyed mentoring new science teachers, both directly and online (with the eMSS program out of the UC Santa Cruz New Teacher Center).

The author has published a few articles on teaching evolution and the nature of science:
“The Evolution Solution” in the NABT's "American Biology Teacher" in March, 2006. You can access it easily at http://www.indiana.edu/~ensiweb/evo-solution.html . The article details his approach to teaching evolution and NOS that he used successfully for most of his teaching career.

"Chromosome Connections: Compelling Clues to Common Ancestry" in the NABT's "American Biology Teacher" in February, 2013, available at http://www.indiana.edu/~ensiweb/ABT.ChromConn.2013.pdf . It uses the visible banded features of chromosomes to reveal different lines of compelling evidence of human ancestry.

"Patterns in Time" in NSTA's "Science Scope" in February, 2011, available at
http://www.indiana.edu/~ensiweb/pat.time.article.pdf . Engaging lessons for developing a personal time sense for deep time, and the patterns of separate emergence for the major classes of vertebrates over tens of millions of years.

Where to find Kurt Flammer online

Books

Teach
Price: $59.99 USD. Words: 50,940. Language: English. Published: September 13, 2014 . Categories: Nonfiction » Education & Study Guides » Teaching methods & materials / science & technology
Teach is the teaching guide for Science Surprises: Exploring the Nature of Science. It's a comprehensive eBook with abundant ancillary materials, science-supported teaching strategies, science standards met with SS, selection of teaching schedules, and extensive references and resources. For science teachers only.
Science Surprises: Exploring the Nature of Science
Price: $3.99 USD. Words: 30,090. Language: American English. Published: March 5, 2014 . Categories: Nonfiction » Science & Nature » Research & Methodology, Nonfiction » Education & Study Guides » Teaching methods & materials / science & technology
(5.00 from 7 reviews)
A text supplement for students in any grade 7-10 science class, it is used with several freely available interactive lessons for a unit on the nature of science (NoS). The unit addresses many of the common misconceptions about NoS. It satisfies virtually all the latest NoS standards (in NGSS, CCSS). It includes strategies for critical and skeptical thinking. Teacher's Guide is also available.