Saturday
May 24, 2008
[via Schools Matter]
Wired Magazine’s blog draws attention to a new Penn State study that found that one in eight U.S. high school teachers presents creationism or intelligent design as a valid alternative to evolution.
From the study:
When we asked whether an excellent biology course could exist without mentioning Darwin or evolutionary theory at all, 13% of teachers agreed or strongly agreed that such a course could exist…
Of the 25% of teachers who devoted time to creationism or intelligent design, nearly half agreed or strongly agreed that they teach creationism as a “valid scientific alternative to Darwinian explanations for the origin of species.” Nearly the same number agreed or strongly agreed that when they teach creationism or intelligent design they emphasize that “many reputable scientists view these as valid alternatives to Darwinian Theory”…
[O]ur data demonstrate substantial sympathy for the “young earth” creationist position among nearly one in six members of the science teaching profession. The teachers who chose the “young earth” creationist position devoted 35% fewer class hours to evolution than all other teachers.
The study concludes:
These findings strongly suggest that victory in the courts is not enough for the scientific community to ensure that evolution is included in high school science courses. Nor is success in persuading states to adopt rigorous content standards consistent with recommendations of the National Academy of Sciences and other scientific organizations. Scientists concerned about the quality of evolution instruction might have a bigger impact in the classroom by focusing on the certification standards for high school biology teachers. Our study suggests that requiring all teachers to complete a course in evolutionary biology would have a substantial impact on the emphasis on evolution and its centrality in high school biology courses. In the long run, the impact of such a change could have a more far reaching effect than the victories in courts and in state governments.
So, next step, better science teacher preparation programs. Anyone seen an example of a good program at work?
Labels:
As a biology teacher, I find this shocking. I wonder if there are particular states in which this sentiment is more prevalent. An evolutionary biology course (or an invertebrate biology course which was heavily focused on evolutionary relationships between organisms) was required for my biology degree. Most of my other courses at least touched on natural selection as a mechanism for plant diversity, etc.
Although I don’t know about teacher certification programs, I do know that this website from Berkeley is excellent: http://evolution.berkeley.edu/
