INTELLIGENT DESIGN AND ALTERNATIVE CONCEPTIONS

The intelligent design debate has acquired significant political and press attention in recent years, bringing with it vocal debate between scientists, creationists, and educators. Intelligent design, which seeks to offer an alternative to scientific theories such as the origin of life and evolution, is a neo-creationist movement that was started by The Discovery Institute. Intelligent design proponents generally favor the use of creationist ideas as scientific theories in the classroom. School districts have tried to implement intelligent design into science courses as an alternative to evolution and, more recently, schools have added classes that are strictly devoted to the teaching of intelligent design (e.g., a Philosophy of Design course at Frazier Mountain High in Lebec, California). Allowing Intelligent Design into schools as a scientific theory threatens a students' understanding of what a scientific theory is, and how scientific theories are developed and tested. Unlike scientific theories, Intelligent Design cannot be tested by experiment to make hypotheses. Instead, Intelligent Design supporters generally seek out data that fit pre-determined predictions and/or hypotheses. This discrepancy between scientific theories and Intelligent Design suggests that teaching intelligent design may actually hinder learning in other areas of science. More research is needed to determine if the teaching of intelligent design impacts the entrenchment of alternative concepts, particularly in the geosciences.