Media interview and round table discussion at popular scientific conference.
Media interview and round table discussion at popular scientific conference. Audience at the conference hall. Business and entrepreneurship symposium.
Share
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Flipboard
Print
Email

Key Resources for Parents and School Board Members

Are you a parent or a school board member interested in improving the teaching of evolution in your local schools? Below are resources you will find helpful as you try to do this, including materials you can print out and submit to your school board. These materials and resources describe why teaching “the full range of scientific views” about evolution is important; document current peer-reviewed scientific controversies over evolution; explain how to teach the controversy over evolution legally; and provide responses to attacks you may receive from those opposed to teaching evolution fully and fairly.

As a general approach, Discovery Institute favors teaching students more about evolution, not less. We think students deserve to know not only about the strengths of modern evolutionary theory, but also about some of the theory’s weaknesses and unresolved issues. In other words, students should be taught that evolutionary theory, like any scientific theory, continues to be open to analysis and critical scrutiny. According to opinion polls, this approach is favored by the overwhelming majority of the American public, and it has also been endorsed by the U.S. Congress in report language attached to the No Child Left Behind Act Conference Report

Overview of Issues Relating to the Teaching of Evolution

The following resources explain why it is important to teach students about the full range of scientific views on evolution as part of a good science education.

Resources Summarizing the Scientific Controversies Over Evolution

The following resources document some of the important scientific issues regarding the modern theory of evolution known as neo-Darwinism. These are excellent materials to circulate among parents, school board members, and teachers.

Icons of Evolution

Resources Summarizing the Legal Framework for Teaching About Evolution

It is sometimes claimed that teaching about scientific controversies over evolution is unconstitutional. This claim is false. It is plainly constitutional to teach about scientific criticisms of any scientific theory, including the theory of evolution. As the controlling Supreme Court case of Edwards v. Aguillard makes clear, “scientific critiques of prevailing scientific theories” can be an appropriate part of science education. The following resources explain how to teach about evolution within existing legal precedents:

Resources for Responding to Those Opposed to Teaching Evolution Fully

Misinformation and mischaracterization are rampant in the media coverage of the debate over evolution. Because Discovery Institute’s views and positions recently have been inaccurately reported, and because Discovery Fellows have been maligned in the media in the past, we have published a number of “Truth Sheets” to set the record straight.

We have gathered all the Truth Sheets here to make it easy for the public to learn the truth about the Institute, its Fellow and the work it supports.

The Truth About Discovery Institute’s Center for Science & Culture A resource center for setting the record straight.

For daily coverage of how the media reports on the debate over evolution please visit our news site, Evolution News & Views at evolutionnews.org.

Discovery Institute

Discovery Institute promotes thoughtful analysis and effective action on local, regional, national and international issues. The Institute is home to an inter-disciplinary community of scholars and policy advocates dedicated to the reinvigoration of traditional Western principles and institutions and the worldview from which they issued.