| Teaching
Guide Menu Have you ever had difficulty teaching evolution in your classroom? If you said yes, then you need to view this curriculum web. Many Biology teachers struggle with the concept of Evolution and how to deal with Creationism/Intelligent Design. By working through this curriculum you will understand the concepts of evolution and misconceptions of Creationism and ID. By the end of this curriculum web you should have several concrete lessons that you can incorporate into the curriculum. This curriculum web is geared towards Biology teachers who want to gain knowledge about teaching evolution in the classroom and how to combat the idea of Intelligent Design. With the release of the movie, "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed" many debates have surfaced across the country. As a Biology teacher it is stated in chapter 6 of the National Science Education Standards from the NSTA web-site it states that teachers must teach evolution, specifically Biological Evolution. The web-site defines it as, "Biological evolution accounts for the diversity of species developed through gradual processes over many generations. Species acquire many of their unique characteristics through biological adaptation, which involves the selection of naturally occurring variations in populations. Biological adaptations include changes in structures, behaviors, or physiology that enhance survival and reproductive success in a particular environment."
Readers of this curriculum web are Science teachers, specifically Biology teachers, who would like to better teach Evolution in their classroom and gain more understanding about what Intelligent Design is and how to create lessons in order to refute the Intelligent Design idea and support the Theory of Evolution.
The subject matter of this curriculum is the truth about Intelligent Design, and how to successfully teacher Evolution in the classroom. At the end of this curriculum web the learner will be able to:
Teacher will research evolution, creationism, and intelligent design. Within a blog teachers will post their definitions. Next teachers will look for evidence that supports each of the three, then evidence that refutes and post to the blog. Next, teachers will look at expelledexposed and watch the youtube videos and journal their thoughts of the videos inside the blog. Finally, I will ask the teachers to create a letter to the parents of their students that they would send home discussing how they teach Evolution in the classroom. This letter will include sample lessons and their methods of combating Intelligent Design.
The ideal outcome for this curriculum web is that the educator is able to take away at least one lesson that he or she can incorporate into the unit. Also, my hope is that the teacher has a better understanding of what Evolution is, and what Intelligent Design isn't. By adding messages to a Blog, and obtaining evidence for and against, the teacher should have a well rounded idea on how to better teach Evolution in the classroom. In addition, I'm requesting feedback from each participant assessing the curriculum web and ways that it can be improved. Please see the Resources page for a detailed list of all the resources available for this curriculum web. |