To Teach or Not to Teach Evolution
The National
Science Teachers Association (NSTA), the largest science
teacher organization in the world, has published an updated
position paper to reaffirm its standpoint on the teaching
of evolution. The statement upholds and reinforces the position
of the Association that NSTA “strongly supports
the position that evolution is a major unifying concept in
science and should be included in the K-–12 science education
frameworks and curricula.”
“This new statement offers further support
for science teachers, administrators, and textbook authors
and publishers in their efforts to provide quality science
instruction for the nation's students,” said Gerry Wheeler,
NSTA Executive Director. The statement reaffirms the need to
better support science teachers “against pressure to
promote nonscientific views or to diminish or eliminate the
study of evolution;” reaffirms the important of evolution
in bolstering scientific literacy; and reaffirms the recommendation
that science textbook publishers “should not be required
or volunteer to include disclaimers in textbooks that distort
or misrepresent the methodology of science and the current
body of knowledge concerning the nature and student of evolution.”
NSTA, along with other major organizations of scientists
and science educators, has concluded that evolution must be
emphasized in the science curriculum if students are to develop
the level of scientific literacy needed to understand the natural
world and to be able to make informed decisions in today's
society. NSTA also joins other organizations and scientists
in concluding that so-called theories of intelligent design
and creationism have no scientific credibility and will lead
to many misconceptions about scientific concepts and the nature
of science.
“Evolution is included in the science standards
of the majority of states and, as a result, teachers are expected
to emphasize this important concept. At the same time the misrepresentation
of evolution and the ever-present pressures not to teach evolution
persist,” said Gerald Skoog, Paul Whitfield Horn Professor,
College of Education, Texas Tech University and a member of
the NSTA Review Committee for the position statement.#
The NSTA position statement on the Teaching
of Evolution can be found on the NSTA web site at www.nsta.org.
