EVOLUTIONARY THEORY AS A TEACHING TOOL IN UNDERGRADUATE SCIENCE COURSES FOR ELEMENTARY EDUCATION MAJORS: SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY VERSUS INTELLIGENT DESIGN "THEORY" AND OTHER FORMS OF CREATIONISTIC "SCIENCE"

Undergraduate courses in astronomy and physical science are often taught with little mention of biologic evolution. Earth science and physical geology may often slight evolutionary concepts. The theory of biologic evolution is one of the strongest and most robust theories in science and should be referred to as often as possible in undergraduate science classrooms (particularly those that include a high proportion of elementary education majors) to reinforce how scientific inquiry differs from faith-based philosophies, such as intelligent design “theory” and other types of creationism. This may be done for illustrative purposes even in science classes that normally do not have evolutionary theory as part of their content.

Elementary education majors (K-6) at many colleges and universities are required to take physical science and earth science in addition to introductory biology, and those specializing in science often must take astronomy and physical geology. Many of these students have strong religious beliefs and prior to attending college many have not been properly educated in the methods of scientific inquiry or the theory of biologic evolution. Surveys of students (many of whom are elementary education majors) in several science classes at West Virginia University at Parkersburg indicate that many are opposed to biologic evolution concepts and most believe that it is only fair to teach creationistic concepts alongside evolutionary theory. To diminish the effect of this type of thinking when these students become public school teachers, evolutionary theory should be taught in all science courses for elementary education majors as an example of the methods of scientific inquiry and the nature of a valid scientific theory. In all of the science courses taught by the author of this paper (including astronomy, physical science, earth science, physical geology, historical geology, and paleobiology of dinosaurs), evolutionary theory is used as an example of a most robust and paradigmic scientific theory that has withstood the test of time.