Dear Teachers of

Dear Teachers of Texas ,

Texans for Better Science Education Foundation (TBSEF) wants to provide an educational video free to as many as possible who are teaching biology, or another life science, in a public or private high school or college in Texas . This video, entitled Where Does the Evidence Lead?, is of the highest audio-visual quality and was produced with the assistance of biologists, biochemists, and mathematicians of the Discovery Institute. The purpose of Where Does the Evidence Lead? is to inform the viewer of a variety of recent research results that are being censored from our textbooks because they are contrary to the conventional Darwinist dogma established over the previous century.

Other than the packaging, this is the same video that in other places sells for around $20. It is based on the widely acclaimed "Unlocking the Mysteries of Life" video, that has been shown around the nation on PBS stations and others. Where Does the Evidence Lead? is formatted into six segments of around 10-12 minutes each, to facilitate classroom viewing and discussion.

Why such a generous video offer?

Textbooks have ignored many important research results of the last few decades. Often these results call into question the paradigm that random mutations plus natural selection can explain all in the life sciences. This newer evidence seems to call for new hypotheses to be proposed and tested with this newly observed scientific evidence. But the establishment tends to simply repeat the same old illustrations of the Darwinian version of evolution that have been repeated for so many decades. These long repeated illustrations are sometimes called the “icons of evolution”. But the students of Texas deserve more than a tour of these traditional icons; they deserve an up to date overview of modern research and the scientific questions now facing researchers.

The Texas Educational Code mandates that students be encouraged and enabled to do critical thinking about science using scientific evidence. In fact the Biology TEKS b(3)(A) specifically states:

(3) Scientific processes. The student uses critical thinking and scientific problem solving to make informed decisions. The student is expected to:

(A) analyze, review, and critique scientific explanations, including hypotheses and theories, as to their strengths and weaknesses using scientific evidence and information;

The TBSEF is dedicated to encouraging and enabling the educational community to provide students with a more complete and open minded view of scientific evidence and research. Our objective is to make more information freely available to the educational community so that they can learn from it and then use it in the ways that fit their needs best.

Why offer a Discovery Institute video?

	This video is both of the highest quality and is a scientifically sound presentation of much scientific evidence that is habitually excluded from the textbooks. This includes not only the weaknesses in the ‘icons of evolution’ but several other issues, such as the occurrence of information contained in living systems' DNA and the difficulty for very complex systems to develop gradually when the absence of any one part will disable the whole system.
	The graphical animations of protein chain synthesis and cellular functions are some of the best available anywhere. It clearly shows mRNA exiting the nucleus via the nuclear pore complex, traveling to the ribosome to deliver the protein synthesis instructions or blueprints, construction of protein, and then the three dimensional protein folding that occurs.
	The Discovery Institute approach is appropriate for the public schools. They include the whole range of observational evidence but leave the philosophic and religious implications of scientific theories and evidence out of their presentation. This approach allows science classes to focus on the physical evidence and observations. While the DI considers the possibility that some of the physical evidence suggests that there is intelligent design involved in some way in life systems, they deliberately make no attempt to identify a design agent or to associate it with any religion. They consider only the scientific observational evidence.

We at the TBSEF want to encourage and enable teachers to examine this video and the information it contains and judge for yourself what its value is. But you cannot make an informed judgment unless you actually view the video.

After viewing the video, we encourage you to share it with your colleagues and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of this presentation. It is through open dialog that we can expect progress in science and science education. Without open discussion we can expect only stagnation and indoctrination.

In the future the TBSEF will make other informative materials available to the educational community. We invite all teachers and professors to register on our web site, www.tbsef.org, to receive further information on these offers.

More information on the video can be found at its producer website, http://www.illustramedia.com/wdtelinfo.htm . There is a five-minute preview (from Unlocking the Mystery of Life) at http://www.illustramedia.com/umolpreview.htm if you have a high speed internet connection.