Sarah Chaffee

Now a teacher, Sarah Chaffee served as Program Officer in Education and Public Policy at Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture. She earned her B.A. in Government. During college she interned at Representative Jaime Herrera Beutler’s office and for Prison Fellowship Ministries. Before coming to Discovery, she worked for a private land trust with holdings in the Southwest.

Archives

Ten Myths About Dover: No. 1, “Jones Judged Actual ID Theory, Not a Straw Man”

_{Sarah Chaffee
December 20, 2025}

At the end of the day, the ruling by Judge Jones really is not a refutation of intelligent design at all.

Ten Myths About Dover: No. 2, “Judge Jones Is a Brilliant, Neutral Legal Scholar”

_{Sarah Chaffee
December 19, 2025}

A full 90.9 percent of a key section was copied, either verbatim or nearly verbatim, from a brief submitted by the plaintiffs’ attorney.

Ten Myths About Dover: No. 5, “Discovery Institute Supported Dover School Board Policy”

_{Sarah Chaffee
December 17, 2025}

Both Judge John E. Jones and the media have promoted the myth that Discovery was somehow behind the events that sparked the case.

Ten Myths About Dover: No. 6, “Judge Jones, No Activist, Stayed Strictly Within Authority”

_{Sarah Chaffee
December 16, 2025}

Federal judges are to decide constitutional questions. Deciding what is and is not science is a matter for philosophers of science.

Ten Myths About Dover: No. 9, “The ID Movement Had Its Day in Court”

_{Sarah Chaffee
December 14, 2025}

Judge Jones lumped Dover’s policy with the intelligent design movement, as if they were inextricably linked.

Ten Myths About Dover: No. 10, “The Intelligent Design Movement Died After Dover”

_{Sarah Chaffee
December 12, 2025}

In December 2005, Judge John E. Jones ruled that intelligent design is not science, but religion. Critics predicted this would mean the end of the ID movement.

If Your Free Speech Is Threatened, Let Us Know

_{Sarah Chaffee
September 4, 2020}

As the school year starts, I’m wondering how many students and professors will find themselves in difficult positions.

In Australia, Academic Freedom Case Will Have Far-Reaching Consequences

_{Sarah Chaffee
August 3, 2020}

Professor Peter Ridd doubted that the Great Barrier Reef was almost dead due to global warming, and argued as much.

NCSE Pushes Unscientific Pro-Darwin Survey

_{Sarah Chaffee
July 20, 2020}

On this episode of ID the Future, Robert Crowther interviews Sarah Chaffee, Education and Public Policy Program Officer for the Center for Science and Culture, on a recent survey conducted by the dogmatically pro-Darwin National Center for Science Education (NCSE), and published in Nature. The NCSE claims that the survey shows that science teachers “advocate evolution” even more now than in 2007. But as Crowther and Chaffe’s discussion suggests, the survey appears gamed to produce a pro-Darwinist outcome, so much so that even teachers who follow Discovery Institute’s policy of promoting critical thinking skills by teaching biology students both the strengths and weaknesses of modern evolutionary theory could be counted as evolution advocates by the survey. Then too, as Crowther …

In Nature, NCSE Downplays Critical Analysis of Evolution

_{Sarah Chaffee
July 3, 2020}

The rosy picture the NCSE paints for advocates of pro-Darwin-only education is not quite accurate.

In the NGSS, a Dogmatic Standard on Evolution

_{Sarah Chaffee
June 24, 2020}

Inaccurate teaching about evolution is widespread, as Jonathan Wells’s review of textbooks shows.

Online Education and the Evolution Debate

_{Sarah Chaffee
May 4, 2020}

Given recent developments in education, our mission has become more urgent than ever.

Here’s How to Use Precious Family Time, Wisely

_{Sarah Chaffee
April 6, 2020}

Despite their sometimes-nonchalant attitudes as they try to act cool, children do care what their parents think.

An Artist Examines Evolution

_{Sarah Chaffee
March 29, 2020}

We may dispute what Darwin felt or thought in the privacy of his study — but the bulk of his writings fall clearly into advocating for one perspective: naturalism.

Bring “Visible Thinking” to Evolution Education

_{Sarah Chaffee
March 2, 2020}

This work reminds me strongly of the Center for Science & Culture’s emphasis on analysis, evaluation, and examining the evidence in public school evolution education.

To Create or Destroy, Via Twitter

_{Sarah Chaffee
January 21, 2020}

Wood here is the creator. Teytelman is the would-be destroyer. He could work with people sympathetic to his view to hold an alternate conference.

Science Education and the Growth Mindset

_{Sarah Chaffee
January 6, 2020}

Growth mindset is an idea popularized by Stanford psychology professor Carol Dweck.

From FIRE, Good News on Campus Free Speech

_{Sarah Chaffee
January 6, 2020}

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education is out now with a new report. It’s their yearly analysis of speech codes.

Breakthrough? Nature Calls for Openness in Science Education

_{Sarah Chaffee
December 2, 2019}

“Diversity and doubt produce creativity; we must make room for them,” according to Jerry Ravetz.

Fact and Fiction: Ohio Bill Stirs Needless Alarm

_{Sarah Chaffee
November 29, 2019}

This proposed law largely echoes the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment on free speech (including on religious matters).