Content area
Full text
ABSTRACT. Teachers are often exhorted by creationists to "teach the controversy." Although such encouragement sounds on the surface like a proposal for critical thinking instruction, the history of the creationist movement in North America belies this claim. Rather than teach students to analyze and evaluate actual scientific controversies, the intent of "teach the controversy" exhortations is to have teachers instruct students that evolution is weak or unsubstantiated science that students should not take seriously. Such instruction in alleged "evidence against evolution," or "critical analysis of evolution" would seriously mis-educate students, and should be resisted by teachers and administrators.
EN QUOI LE SLOGAN « ENSEIGNER LA CONTROVERSE » POSE T'IL LE PROBLÈME ?
RÉSUMÉ. Les créationnistes encouragent souvent les professeurs à « enseigner la controverse ». Même si au premier abord de tels encouragements peuvent ressembler à la proposition d'une méthode de pensée critique, l'histoire du mouvement créationniste en Amérique du Nord dément cette affirmation. Plutôt que d'enseigner aux étudiants comment analyser et évaluer des controverses actuelles scientifiques, la finalité des exhortations à « enseigner la controverse » consiste à faire en sorte que les professeurs enseignent aux étudiants que l'évolution est une science faible ou non corroborée et que les étudiants ne devraient donc pas la prendre au sérieux. De telles directives quant à la présumée « preuve contre l'évolution » ou l'« analyse critique de l'évolution » contribueraient à sérieusement inculquer aux étudiants des connaissances erronées, et les professeurs et les administrateurs doivent résister à ces directives.
"Teach the Controversy" is a phrase that teachers may encounter in many venues: in newspaper and magazine articles, in letters to the editor, in conversations with neighbors, or even in the supermarket checkout line. Where teachers are unlikely to encounter "Teach the Controversy" is in the science education journals, or the journals of professional scientists. So what does this phrase mean in the context of science curriculum and instruction?
"Teach the Controversy" might mean that teachers should teach controversies taking place in science. And of course, science is full of controversies. In a recent issue of Science, biologists debated dangers associated with the chemical dioxin, while astronomers discussed competing theories about a long-standing problem concerning the shape of the moon, its orbit, and its motion....