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AN EVOLVING DEBATE
Can Evolution and Creationism Coexist in the Science Classroom? May 8, 1998 |
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Questions asked
in this forum:
Why is the faith of one group given prominence over the other? Can science and religion coexist in people's minds? How does teaching creation or evolution help people? Why should a high school science class be burdened with teaching creationism? Which version of creation should be taught, if any? What academic credentials would qualify one to teach an unbiased Evolution vs. Creationism class in public school? Additional Comments...
NewsHour Backgrounders
April 21, 1998:
Four educators debate the push to teach evolution.
April 20, 1998:
David Gergen talks with Edward Larson about his historical study of the Scopes Monkey Trial.
February 24, 1997:
Three medical ethicists debate the scientific and religious impact of cloning.
April 4, 1996:
Theologins discuss differing interpretations of creation and the Bible.
Browse the NewsHour's coverage of religion and science.
Outside Links
The new guidebook, Teaching about Evolution and the Nature of Science.
Creationscience.com: a Web site promoting creationism.
Since the famed "Scopes Monkey Trial" 73 years ago, educators, policy-makers, parents and some religious leaders have debated how to teach the origins of life. The choices: evolution, as outlined originally by Darwin or creationism as put forward in the Bible. A new guidebook, published by the National Academy of Sciences [NAS] to improve the teaching of evolution, has re-ignited the decades-old dispute.
Although the NAS does not attempt to disprove the idea of creationism, religious groups worry that guide will eliminate its teaching.
HOW THE GUIDEBOOK DEFINES EVOLUTION:
"Evolution in the broadest sense explains that what we see today is different from what existed in the past. ..."Biological evolution concerns changes in living things during the history of life on earth.
It explains that living things share common ancestors. Over time, evolutionary changes gives rise to new species.
[Charles] Darwin called this process 'descent with modification,' and it remains a good definition of biological evolution today."
"We believe communities have the right to have their values reflected in the curriculum," said Arne W. Owens, a spokesman for the Christian Coalition. "Public schools are harmed when they exclude important, legitimate points of view."
Defenders of the NAS' new guide say that the book is not an attempt to abolish the teaching of creationism, but maintain that evolution must be the primary goal of science teachers.
"Creationists should have equal time, or all the time they want, in any venue," Stanford professor Donald Kennedy, who chaired the panel that wrote the new guidebook, said in a recent interview, "as long as that venue is not a science classroom."
Should evolution be taught as scientific fact or as another theory to explain life? Will this new guidebook eliminate the teaching of creation science? Is science education suffering because of the evolution/creation debate? Can the two ideas coexist in the science classroom?
Your questions will be Dr. Donald Kennedy and Dr. Carl Herbster. Dr. Kennedy chaired the NAS committee that drafted the guidelines. Dr. Herbster is president of the American Association of Christian Schools.
Questions asked in this forum:
Why is the faith of one group given prominence over the other? Can science and religion coexist in people's minds? How does teaching creation or evolution help people? Why should a high school science class be burdened with teaching creationism? Which version of creation should be taught, if any? What academic credentials would qualify one to teach an unbiased Evolution vs. Creationism class in public school? Additional Comments...
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