My Research Notebook

A yearslong push to get Yeshiva schools to provide an education equivalent to that of public high schools was passed in New York

Some people graduate from these schools claiming to have graduated high school with, “‘the equivalent or less than’ an eighth-grade education.”

Much of the schools day is taught in Yiddish, decreasing english proficiency as well

Noted that even if a parent wants to send their kids somewhere else, however, this is difficult because most have kids very young and no connection outside of their community

“…the expectation is that they’ll send the kids to the school that’s part of the hassidic group they belong to.”

This vote to provide equivalent education comes after 1,000 students were given standardized tests at Central United Talmudic Academy and every one of them failed.

“‘…when one lacks basic education and has only a cursory understanding of how the rest of the world works, it’s very hard to gain solid footing once you embark on a journey of your own choosing.’”

Analysis

This article really did a great job of exposing some of the core issues in this topic. Mainly that students are leaving unprepared to enter the world after school. It is important to note that the school they gave the standardized tests too is the largest Yeshiva school in New York State. That means nearly 5,000 students at that school are leaving with far less than a high school education. One note that was particularly interesting was their take on why it is difficult to escape these school systems. Mentioning that Orthodox Jews have kids very young and at that time have no connections outside there community, is really an issue preventing parents from sending their kids to other schools. This is something I have witnessed first-hand as my Orthodox cousins are already expecting their second kid even though they are very young. Being that they have never really engaged outside their community, if they wanted to send their kids to another type of school, it would be very very difficult.

Took place in Dayton Tennessee, summer of 1925

William Jennings Bryan led the fundamentalists

By the time of the trial, Bryan had gotten 15 states to ban the teaching of evolution

John Scopes was filling in for an ill teacher and assigned reading on evolution for review purposes

Clarence Darrow led the defense

Darrow said that the anti-evolution law made the Bible “the yardstick to measure every man’s intellect, to measure every man’s intelligence, to measure every man’s learning.”

The main punch came when Darrow questioned Bryan, asking him about other, seemingly ridiculous statements in the Bible that Bryan did not necessarily believe in. This was later stricken from the record

Scopes was fined $100 and the case was sent to the Supreme Court where it was ruled unconstitutional

Analysis

This was mostly used just for good background information on the historical event this film is based on. I think the main use of it is opening up some new areas of research that I could incorporate into the film. Perhaps old documents of the exact examination between Darrow and Bryan could be useful. One of the most interesting pieces in this document was that much crucial evidence for Darrow was stricken from the record, indicating a partially biased judge.

Notes

“WHEREAS, the purpose of K-12 education is to educate children in the facts of our world to better prepare them for their future and further education in their chosen field of study, and to that end children must know the difference between scientific fact and scientific theory,” – direct quote from Senate Bill number 235.

This is for Montana which seeks to ban all teachings that are not scientific “fact”

By their definitions of fact, this would exclude crucial scientific teachings like gravity and evolution

The line between theory and fact is blurred so the bill is able to make a definition that fits its ability to block certain teachings

This can block the growth of science by creating students with no updated knowledge of modern science

Analysis

For reference, this article was written on February 8th, so this is a very current issue. Fundamentalist religious movements are growing and penetrating the government. This article validates my audience as non-fundamentalist voters because, in situations such as this, only the voters can make a change. Unfortunately, society seems to be forgetting about the separation of Church and State. My favorite part of this article was the author’s take on how it will impact our students. It is bad enough that technical religious schools discourage certain scientific teachings, but if it spreads into all schools, you will be raising a generation of students who lack critical thinking ability. The scientific world will slow to improve its theories and discoveries if students are not kept up to date on current findings. In fact, I believe it is just as important to teach students what we don’t know as it is what we do.

Citation:

Dunhill, J. (2023). New Montana Bill Would Prevent Schools Teaching “Scientific Theories”. https://www.iflscience.com/new-montana-bill-would-prevent-schools-teaching-scientific-theories-67451

Research: A systematic way of gathering information on a specific question to form an argument

Observation of object:

• Red, worn-down cover
• says 1960
• says esras
• rough texture
• has a mini vinyl record, blue and yellow
• handwritten notes in the back and front in cursive
• Black and white pictures of sports, classrooms, buildings, photos

Assumptions

• Yearbook
• Their colors are gold and blue from 1960
• Potentially the owner was Cissy esra davis
• potentially the owner was on the B-team cheer
• Montgomery county Indiana, Crawfordsville Indiana
• The school’s mascot is the Athenians
• The owner died at 31
• Vinyl is a read-through of the yearbook
• Yearbook was bought freshman year
• At least 8-12 grade

What topics and our observations could give rise to?

One main topic this observation could inform is the changing opportunities of high school students from the 1960s until now. Based on the activities listed in the yearbook, you can determine if students in that area are exposed to the same, better, or worse opportunities. Another topic you could look at is what is socially acceptable to say over time. For example, the yearbook had an award for “best Physique” which wouldn’t fly today

What is the story?

Two people met at Crawford’s high school and both ended up at Butler University. They both joined greek life and were dating at the time. They ended up getting married and having two children. The mother got sick and passed away young and the husband remarried two years later.

1. Find a source that aligns with the focus of the project
2. Separate into sections resembling those in the journals (Introduction, methodology, Study 1, Study 2, etc.)
   1. Makes data more searchable
3. Copy quotes from each section as you read that you find important
   1. Highlight important parts of each quote, keywords, phrases, etc.
4. Put citation and link at the bottom
5. Interpret each quote and its relationship to the project
   1. Jot down ideas to remember later in the project development
   2. Sometimes you can save a source and don’t remember how to use it in the future
6. Add tags/keywords into notes to find research easily later
   1. Choose whether to save images in a separate category for better searchability

America is ranked 27th out of 64 countries in science literacy

Religious beliefs are negatively correlated with many scientific ideas including things like climate change and vaccinations which do not directly conflict

They are looking at elements that are common across many religions to analyze them with the rejection of science

The elements they used are religious practices and religious beliefs

They used mass datasets on science knowledge questions and other religiosity comparisons for the first two studies

Study 3 tested participant’s religiosity

Study 4 gave another science literacy test but excluded the topics disputed by religions like evolution

They also tested whether the relationship between science and religiosity was due to their parents

Religiosity is associated with lower levels of literacy in both contested and non-contested science topics

Growing up in a religious household leads to greater rejection of science and lower scientific literacy

They indicate that one reason for the lack of literacy is a negative attitude toward science

Citation: McPhetres, Jonathon, and Miron Zuckerman. “Religiosity predicts negative attitudes towards science and lower levels of science literacy.” PloS one vol. 13,11 e0207125. 27 Nov. 2018, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0207125

Analysis

Although not focused directly on religious schools, this study supports the idea that religious practices and beliefs taught in those schools have a negative correlation with scientific literacy and belief in the importance of science. One interesting thing this journal did was expand it outside of the commonly contested scientific beliefs like evolution and the Big Bang. The fact that people still did poorly on other topics shows an underlying issue of the belief that science is not important. This can trickle down into changing opinions on topics like climate change and vaccinations as well. One of the most interesting parts of this journal was the study that analyzed the impact one’s parents have on their religiosity and scientific beliefs. Finding significance in that area highlights the true problem, kids are not being allowed to think for themselves. School should be a place where you get to receive an unbiased education, learn how to think, and develop your own opinions. Although the article does not specifically mention Yeshiva schools, their results can be extrapolated to account for parents forcing their kids into those heavily biased schools.

Claim: Fundamentalist schools decrease competence in STEM subjects

SC: Kids in religious schools have lower math and science proficiency scores than those who aren’t

SC: Students in these schools spend less time throughout the day learning about math and science 

SC: Students in these schools are discouraged to pursue STEM careers and are instead encouraged to pursue religious careers

Conclusion: changing the primary teaching focus of these schools can make kids better critical thinkers and contributors to STEM fields

Everyone scans QR code to have the whole image

Separate out edges and corner pieces from middle pieces

3 people separate out the middle pieces into pieces that look like the car and pieces that look like the background while 3 starts assembling the edges

The three people working on the middle will start assembling the middle pieces and when the people working on the edge finish, they will join

1 person who was working on the edges will help the initial 3 with building the other chunks while the other 2 will begin assembling the constructed chunks around the edges.

(Zach, Matt, Riley, Ethan, Wilson)

“These results provide a way to bridge moral divides. Many researchers have explored polarization between liberals and conservatives (66, 67) and its downstream consequences (68), but fewer
scholars have revealed scalable mechanisms to overcome this polarization. These results suggest that sharing personal experiences may be one route to help build moral understanding between political opponents. Using anecdotes to ground political discussions may feel flimsy in the age of modern science, but some argue (69) that the constant deluge of data and the rise of social media have
moved us to the era of “post-truth.” Of course, appreciating facts and statistics is essential for effective governance, and because of this, many people—especially scientists—have been taught to value
facts above all else in the pursuit of truth. However, when people deeply believe in opposing moral values, facts seem untrue and therefore fail to create political tolerance. On the other hand,
personal experiences furnish perceptions of both truth and rationality in political opponents, leading to mutual respect.”

Kubin, E., Puryear, C., Schein, C., & Gray, K. (2021, p. 8). Personal experiences bridge moral and political divides better than facts. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 118(6), e2008389118. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2008389118

Article’s thesis:

Utilizing a balance of both personal experience and facts is essential to building common ground and creating respect between two morally opposed parties.

Facts vs Personal Experience:

Facts are “objective” but easily refuted whereas personal experience is “subjective” but unable to be dismissed.

Assumptions: When you hear personal experiences you believe them. Assumes what neutral looks like.

How this will impact your personal research:

Given that my project is a screenplay it is naturally developed around more of a story, where you live the personal experiences of a character. However, I believe people will respond better to the personal experiences of the characters if it is rooted in my own personal experience since it will feel more real. Given that based on the article personal experience is great for building that initial mutual respect and better for moral issues (which my project revolves around) I will focus more attention on gathering stories and information based on my family experience.