teaching evolution

Ohio Science Standards Resource Page

In 2004 the Ohio State Board of Education led the nation by adopting a landmark model lesson plan on the "Critical Analysis of Evolution." However, those who favor a Darwin-only approach to teaching evolution are now trying to strong-arm the Board into repealing this lesson plan. Read More ›
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Senior teacher teaching biology to high school students.
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It’s Constitutional But Not Smart to Teach Intelligent Design in Schools

A legal battle is currently raging over whether it is constitutional to teach the theory of intelligent design (ID) in public school science classrooms. The controversy started when the school board in Dover, Pennsylvania, required science teachers to read a 4-paragraph disclaimer that mentions intelligent design as an alternative to Darwinian evolutionary theory as an explanation for biological origins. Within Read More ›

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Back view of group of students attending math class and listening to teacher who sits on top of desk

How Should Schools Handle Evolution? Debate it

Though many have portrayed the hearings that led to the Kansas policy as a re-run of the Scopes trial, the reality is much different. Rather than prohibiting teachers from teaching about evolution (as Tennessee law did for John Scopes in 1925), Kansas is poised to adopt a policy that would enable students to learn more about the topic. Read More ›
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Construction concept , Foreman officer inspector defect about engineer&architect work home building before complete project

Darwin Himself Argued for Critical Evaluation

In February a Shelby County school board member suggested placing a sticker on high school biology textbooks urging students to consider “all theories” of origins “with an open mind.” This proposal is a symptom of a growing national controversy about how best to teach Darwinian evolution in public school science classrooms. For example, a suburban Atlanta school district in Cobb Read More ›

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Technology block chain - security

Students Should Learn the Weak Points of Evolutionary Theory, Too

Accurate teaching of evolution (along with the continuing debate) could be improved greatly by educating students about the important difference between microevolution and macroevolution. Microevolution refers to variation within a species. There is 100 percent consensus in this “fact of evolution,” as we see it every day in instances like the breeding of dogs and the creation of hybrid corn Read More ›

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Teaching about Scientific Dissent from Neo-Darwinism

In their recent Opinion article in TREE1, Eugenie Scott and Glenn Branch argue that teaching students that there is a scientific controversy about the ‘validity of evolution’ is ‘scientifically inappropriate and pedagogically irresponsible’. In so doing, Branch and Scott assume that they have critiqued my position on the teaching of evolution. But they fail to define their terms and engage the Read More ›

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Bibliography of Supplementary Resources For Science Instruction

NOTE: On Monday, 11 March 2002, Stephen Meyer and Jonathan Wells of the Discovery Institute submitted the following Bibliography of Supplementary Resources to the Ohio State Board of Education. These 44 scientific publications represent important lines of evidence and puzzles that any theory of evolution must confront, and that science teachers and students should be allowed to discuss when studying Read More ›

Let’s change science standards and let students do real science

Should Pennsylvania’s science standards be changed? Draft language for the standards is expected to go before the state legislature early in 2001. According to standards adopted in 1998, students are expected to “know” that “organisms arose from materials and life forms of the past” because of “evidence of evolution in the form of fossils . . . embryological studies and Read More ›

Biology texts, state teaching policies criticized, defended

The teaching of biology is getting poor grades this year amid criticism of confusing textbooks and lackluster state science standards. Despite the complaints about materials, biology teachers are doing a fine job, said the president-elect of the National Association of Biology Teachers. “Our teachers are just excellent, and they work with what they have,” said Ann Lumsden, professor of biology Read More ›

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Young male teacher paleontologist in the classroom

Natural Selection Found in Report on Science Education

Science teaching, and the teaching of evolution in particular, continue to be a flashpoint in American education. Hoping to correct the problem, the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation just released a report (with the American Association for the Advancement of Science), “Good Science, Bad Science: Teaching Evolution in the States.” Written by Lawrence Lerner, the report recommends increased emphasis in America’s Read More ›