Teaching+the+Controversy

Overview:
Charles Darwin proposed the theory of evolution through natural selection. It is defined as the process by which organisms heritable physical or behavioral traits change over time to allow the organism to better adapt to its environment, aiding in its survival and reproduction (Than, 2015). To be a theory, this idea must have a substantial amount of research and evidence to support it. This theory is one of the most substantiated because the evidence to support it comes from a wide variety of a science disciplines: paleontology, geology, genetics, and developmental biology (Than, 2015). Regardless of the entirety of the evidence to support this theory, teaching evolution in the science classroom has become a longing controversy.

The National Academy of Sciences states, “there is no controversy in the scientific community about whether evolution has occurred. On the contrary, the evidence… is both overwhelming and compelling” (Berkman and Plutzer, 2012). So why is it a controversy then? A large number of individuals oppose teaching evolution in the classroom because they do not think it is true. Instead, they side with the creationist view. The idea of creationism, according to Merriam Webster, is “a doctrine or theory holding that matter, the various forms of life, and the world where created by God out of nothing and usually in the way described in the Bible”. Creationism does have different meanings, however. Creationism does not just refer to Christianity in a sense. “In its broadest meaning, creationism is the idea that the universe is the consequence of something transcendent. Thus to Christians, Jews, and Muslims, God created; to the Navajo, the Hero Twins created, for Hindu Shaivites, the universe comes to exists as Shiva dances (NSTA).”
 * Why evolution?**

A poll from 2005 found that 57 percent of the public feels that evolution and creationism should be taught side by side in public schools (Berkman and Plutzer, 2012). The National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) agrees and strongly supports that evolution should be a major concept in K-12 education framework and curriculum. They agree that teachers today are pressured into eliminate or de-emphasize the teaching of evolution in their science classrooms.

NSTA does propose several recommendations adopted by the NSTA Board of Directors in July 2013, to implement evolution into the science classroom:
 * What do teachers think?**


 * State standards, science curriculum, and teachers should teach evolution as a unifying concept.
 * Teachers should not include their personal and religious beliefs to students.
 * Administrators should support teachers in allowing students to question evolution and its validity through debate.
 * Professional development should be implemented to provide support to teachers as they implement evolution and its ideas.
 * Parental and community involvement should support these goals of science and the curriculum.
 * Science textbooks should properly present evolution as a unifying concept without a publisher disclaimer.

A survey asked teachers across the country from 49 states and 599 school districts. Teachers were asked about their personal beliefs, pre-service education, classroom practices, and their experiences. The teachers surveyed fell into three separate categories: advocates of evolutionary biology (28%), advocates of creationism (13%), and the “cautious middle” (60%). The majority of teachers fall into the cautious middle category, 85% of teachers in this category do accept evolution. However, they refuse to teach what major scientific organizations want them to teach regarding this topic, “that evolution is central to all biology, that evolution has occurred, and that the hypotheses from evolutionary theory have been confirmed by many scientific studies” (Berkman and Plutzer, 2012).

**Trend or Issue?**
As stated previously, a theory is an idea that has a substantial amount of evidence and research to support it. Theories take numerous years to develop. Before his publication of the Origin of Species, Charles Darwin spent over 20 years of accumulating evidence before publishing (Berkman and Plutzer, 2012). The idea of the early existence of humans developed long before Charles Darwin. During the early 20th century Fundamentalists published pamphlets that included the Bible and its creation stories. They described these ideas as a guide for spiritual life, and “an authoritative textbook of human and natural history” (Berkman and Plutzer, 2012). This debate has been ongoing for over a century and for that reason this topic is an issue because it has proved to cause problems throughout history. This problem is an isolated concern, but has not shown a significant path throughout time. As early as 1925 debates of whether these conflicting ideas of creationism and evolution should be taught in public schools began. William Bryan spoke of teaching evolution in colleges and said, “Evolution is deadening the spiritual life of a multitude of students… it would poison the minds of youth and destroy religious faith.” Strong, swayed opinions similar to this are still very active today in multiple varieties.

Federal courts have been compelled to take a part in this topic. Since there is a separation of church and state, this has caused the federal courts to step in. They have consistently reinforced that states cannot ban the teaching of evolution and also they cannot introduce creationism, creation science, or intelligent design into the public school curriculum (Berkman and Plutzer, 2012). The courts have repeatedly declared it unconstitutional, but many of the public do not care or accept these scientific ideas. These court cases have dated back to 1968 and continue today.
 * Court cases:**



//In 1968, the Arkansas state court passed a law that prohibited teachers in public or state schools from teaching or using textbooks that teach human evolution. A public school teacher, Susan Epperson, disagreed with this and claimed it violated her First Amendment freedom of speech rights. The United State Supreme Court stepped in and reversed the Arkansas statue.// //The Court declared the state unconstitutional (National Center for Science Education, 2007).//
 * //Epperson v. Arkansas//**

//In 1987, Louisiana created and put into place the “Creationism Act”. This act allowed the teaching of evolution in public schools, but it must be accompanied by teaching of creation science. Creation science taught that “a supernatural bei////ng created humankind… the act impermissibly endorses religion”. The act was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court because teaching creationism in school was advancing a particular religion (National Center for Science Education, 2007).//
 * //Edwards v. Aguillard// **

//In 2005, Cobb County Sch////ool District was deemed to be violating the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The school district was putting an evolution-warning label on their textbooks,// //“This te////xtbook contains material on evolution. Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living things. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully, and critically considered.” People claimed that its purpose was to promote certain religious beliefs in school, which violated the separation of church and state (National Center for Science Education, 2007).//
 * //Selman et al. v. Cobb County School District//**

Being a teacher in the "Bible belt", there will be students that have been raised with strong religious views. Terry Wortman is a high school biology teacher and he says he encourages his students to separate their religious beliefs while in the classroom so that they can learn the required material. Some educational researchers claim that creationists beliefs do prevent students from learning and understanding evolution. One researcher, Rissler, gave questionnaires about church attendance to almost 3,000 students at the University of Alabama. Rissler asked questions about the evolutionary theory to determine how much background knowledge they had and how much of it they believed to be true. Rissler came to the conclusion students whom were more religious are less likely to understand or accept evolution. Vanessa Wamsley was a former student of Wortman who grew up in Sunday school and learned to discredit evolution at home and church. When learning about evolution in his class she said, "The subject made me uncomfortable because the process of new species coming about via natural selection directly contradicted what my church and parents taught me about the origins of life." She added, "I just memorized what I needed to know for the test, found a way to answer the test questions without compromising my beliefs, and then quickly dumped the information from my memory." At the end of Wamsley's blog post, she asks Wortman if this is something common he comes across with other students. He explains it does create internal conflicts because students "think about their beliefs instead of the theory... they just shut you out."
 * A look into a Creationist student's eyes...**

To read a proposal focused on this wiki's topic, please download this document:

Berkman, M., & Plutzer, E. (2012). An Evolving Controversy. American Educator, 13. This pdf article examines the struggle of teaching evolution in the science classroom. It examines the background of evolution and creationism along with research regarding this issue.
 * Annotated Bibliography:**

Myer, S. C. (2002, March 30). Teach the Controversy. Retrieved June 02, 2016, from [] An experts opinion from the Center for Science and Culture regarding the scientific controversy of evolution.

NSTA Position Statement. (n.d.). Retrieved June 03, 2016, from [] The National Science Teachers Association's position statement about their stance on the issue.

Ten Major Court Cases about Evolution and Creationism. (n.d.). Retrieved June 03, 2016, from [] Major court cases that are about the controversy in public schools.

Than, K. (2015, May 13). What is Darwin's Theory of Evolution? Retrieved June 02, 2016, from [] This article defines why evolution is a controversy and gives experts opinions on the topic.

Wamsley, V. (2015). When My Science Teacher Taught Evolution, I Asked: “Were You There?”. Retrieved June 03, 2016, from [] This magazine blog post is a student's first hand experience growing up as a creationist, but facing learning about evolution in school.