Evolving Science Instruction Schools can navigate through the controversy over origins by teaching about the controversy. In the summer of 1999, the news was filled with reports on the controversial decision of the Kansas state school board which decided that, while increasing state standards regarding evolution, it would not go as far as the science establishment wanted it to. Instead, the standards allow local school districts greater latitude in what they teach. In the midst of the ensuing uproar from the science establishment, an important issue was too often overlooked: academic freedom. What happened in Kansas is only the latest outgrowth of an interesting, albeit still-emerging, trend in the field of science instruction. A growing number of scientists are advancing what they call the Theory of Intelligent Design to explain the origin of life. Critics argue that this is merely a slick repackaging of the biblical account of Genesis and brings religion into the science classroom. However, Design Theory (as it is also called) does not seek to defend the Bible nor speculate on who or what caused the design. It looks at the growing body of scientific evidence which indicates patterns of design in nature rather than random chance. Design Theory has been advanced by scientists such as Baylor University probability theorist William Dembski in his book, The Design Inference (Cambridge University Press); Michael J. Denton, the Senior Research Fellow in Human Molecular Genetics at the University of Otago in New Zealand, who wrote, Nature's Destiny: How the Laws of Biology Reveal Purpose in the Universe; and Michael J. Behe, Professor of Biological Sciences at Lehigh University, who wrote Darwin's Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution. The education community (with a few exceptions) has been slow to recognize this new view of origins. The result has been a stifling of academic freedom reminiscent of the Scopes trial of 1925 when John Scopes was put on trial for daring to teach what was not government approved at the time: evolution. For instance, Dr. Dean H. Kenyon, a biology professor at San Francisco State University, faced removal from his teaching post because he dared to teach that portions of Darwin's theory are disputed by reputable scientists. In 1969, Dr. Kenyon co-wrote Biochemical Predestination which promoted the theory of evolution. Yet, his later examination of evidence (including his own experiments) caused him to change his view. Still, he taught the accepted theory of evolution while only inserting a few lectures on the growing controversy. For this he nearly lost his teaching post until the university's academic freedom committee came to his defense. Rod LeVake wasn't so fortunate. LeVake holds a master's degree in biology education and taught biology at Faribault Senior High School in Minnesota. He was blasted by his superiors simply for telling his department chairman that he wanted to teach students some of the flaws in the theory of evolution. He didn't want to teach creationism, just some of the inconsistencies of evolution. He quickly found himself reassigned. His case is now in court — an ironic twist on the Scopes trial of 75 years ago. In an even more bizarre twist, in March of 2000, the West Virginia chapter of the ACLU -- normally a champion of free speech — called on the Kanawha County school board to ban a science textbook which was to be used only as a teacher's reference. Of Pandas and People is a secular textbook co-authored by Percival Davis and Dean H. Kenyon which presents the scientific case for the Theory of Intelligent Design. With qualified scientists on both sides of the debate, the real issues for schools are academic freedom, freedom of inquiry, and encouraging students' critical thinking skills. A credible way to navigate through the controversy over origins is to simply teach about the controversy. How interesting that John Scopes' words now echo down the hallway of time in support of those who promote a reasonable questioning of evolution: "Education, you know, means broadening, advancing, and if you limit a teacher to only one side of anything, the whole country will eventually have only one thought, be one individual. I believe in teaching every aspect of every problem or theory." © 2000, Gateways to Better Education