High School Biology Teachers in U.S. Reluctant to Endorse Evolution in Class

[n2doc]

ScienceDaily (Jan. 27, 2011) — The majority of public high school biology teachers in the U.S. are not strong classroom advocates of evolutionary biology, despite 40 years of court cases that have ruled teaching creationism or intelligent design violates the Constitution, according to Penn State political scientists. A mandatory undergraduate course in evolutionary biology for prospective teachers, and frequent refresher courses for current teachers, may be part of the solution, they say.

"Considerable research suggests that supporters of evolution, scientific methods, and reason itself are losing battles in America's classrooms," write Michael Berkman and Eric Plutzer, professors of political science at Penn State, in the January 28 issue of Science.

The researchers examined data from the National Survey of High School Biology Teachers, a representative sample of 926 public high school biology instructors. They found only about 28 percent of those teachers consistently implement National Research Council recommendations calling for introduction of evidence that evolution occurred, and craft lesson plans with evolution as a unifying theme linking disparate topics in biology.

In contrast, Berkman and Plutzer found that about 13 percent of biology teachers "explicitly advocate creationism or intelligent design by spending at least one hour of class time presenting it in a positive light." Many of these teachers typically rejected the possibility that scientific methods can shed light on the origin of the species, and considered both evolution and creationism as belief systems that cannot be fully proven or discredited.

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http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110127141657.htm

[Zoeisright]

1. And medical and scientific advancement is happening elsewhere.

This trend will accelerate as science is discredited in this sad, backward country.

[phantom power]

2. Throwing hissy fits works

:(

[rfranklin]

3. The Bible explains it all...

Eve was created using one of Adam's ribs. They rode back to his place on his dinosaur. And they lived happily ever after.

[The Backlash Cometh]

4. And you wonder why our jobs are being outsourced.

[TwilightGardener]

5. Science teachers reluctant to teach...science. That's nice. Watch us retreat

into the dark ages again.

[RagAss]

7. We're already there....any further retreat and we'll be in the primordial soup.

[The Doctor.]

6. That's like Physics teachers refusing to address the 'theory' of gravity.

Why are there so many morons?

[gratuitous]

8. God loves morons, which is why so many were created

As mentioned above, throwing hissy fits works. And the people most prone to using hissy fits are those for whom the facts aren't a resource. Where do we go to change this? Certainly science teachers should stand firm for their subject matter. School administrators have to back them up. And school boards need to be on board. In places where administrators are too chickenshit and boards are dominated by the hissy fitters, it's up to . . . yep, ordinary citizens like you and me to stand behind the teaching of science in our city's, state's and nation's classrooms.

[tblue37]

11. A high school science teacher here in Lawrence, KS, was railroaded out of his

job several years ago because a fundie student complained that he didn't show proper respect to her Creationist beliefs in class. (And Lawrence is a college town!).

Some of the teachers are probebaly just badly educated, but I bet a lot of them are afraid of stirring up a hornet's nest.

[somone]

9. Yep, fundies have been trying to bastardize the word 'theory' for years

[HughBeaumont]

10. Jesus Nailed-up Christ.

Fundamentalpatients: It's why the world sucks.

[FBaggins]

12. This appears to be a very biased study. The data indicates that reality isn't nearly so bleak.

If you define the only acceptable position as "consistently implement(ing) National Research Council recommendations" and failure as spending even ONE hour teaching a popular alternative position, you're going to throw the numbers off significantly. Most teachers are actually doing a pretty good job.

Take the following statement:

This is unfortunate, the researchers said, because "this approach tells students that well established concepts can be debated in the same way we debate personal opinions."

This is really a horrible position for a scientist to take. Anyone who studies the subject can point to dozens of examples of "well established concepts" that turned out to be flat wrong - while those who held the position persecuted those who held to a new theory. There have been several points in history where bigoted "scientists" looked back and assumed that we now understood how most things worked. Scientists of the past were ignorant but now we've got it right.

This by no means is a claim that evolution theory is incorrect. It is the prevailing opinion. It just means that you can't teach students to be scientists while closing their minds and claiming that you can't debate "well established concepts".

I assure you that fifty years from now we will look back on at least a couple "well established concepts" and laugh at how little we knew. I'm not saying that evolution will be one of them... but we set a bad precedent by insisting on it.

[PerpetuallyDazed]

18. Yeah, they really need to stop taking such an absolutist position

Science is about finding fact, truth, and sorting out the beliefs. Like you said it's totally okay (and should be encouraged) to make reasonable assumptions and continue to test those assumptions... I think that's a little something called "the scientific method." :)

[LiberalFighter]

13. There should be a requirement of science teachers to be certified by a national organization.

[ChoppinBroccoli]

14. Don't Tell Me Right-Wing Speech Isn't Dangerous

Not only has it gotten a Congresswoman shot in the head, but now it's making the people entrusted with educating our children afraid to teach FACTS in school. I shudder to think what might happen if Republicans decide that 2 + 2 = 4 doesn't "work" for them, and force math teachers to start teaching the "alternative theory" that 2 + 2 MIGHT = 5.

I raised it as a theory years ago, but now I'm beginning to actually believe it: the biggest enemy of the Republican Party is an intelligent voting populace, so they're working every day to ensure that Americans are as stupid as humanly possible. And they're going to the source: our children. Defunding schools, firing teachers, teaching superstition as fact. Whenever you hear of a Republican effort to address education, bet everything you have that that "effort" is to fight AGAINST education.

[Enthusiast]

16. When we examine their efforts

at suppressing intelligent political discourse your theory gains even more credence. The Tea Party phenomenon is just one glaring example.

[SoCalDem]

15. and the rest of the world laughs at us. n/t

[Godhumor]

17. When I taught in DC, one of our biology teachers openly refused to teach evolution...

In a medical biology class (We had some pretty interesting classes for a high school). The fallout from what happened around that decision was really quite interesting.

[Volaris]

19. Theres not a whole hell of a lot that gets me REALLY pissed,

but NOT teaching science in a SCIENCE classroom is one of them.

"They found only about 28 percent of those teachers consistently implement National Research Council recommendations calling for introduction of evidence that evolution occurred, and craft lesson plans with evolution as a unifying theme linking disparate topics in biology."

Then all but 28 % of them can be fired or moved to a different subject.
THIS is how whats left of the Moral Majority has decided to take the fight to the mat....make everyone else as dumb as they are, and they win.
Anyone who still doubts Darwin needs to have a Clockwork Orange moment, with THIS on the BigScreen...

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/evolution/intelligent-design-trial.html

Things like this are why they want to cut funding for PBS...
cause the TRUTH of science is what will knife them in the back as they sleep, and they KNOW IT.