Nicole looked up from her table in the teachers’ lounge. She was halfway through grading her last pile of student papers, almost finished with the year’s work. It had been an uneventful year teaching sophomore biology at Park City High School, with the usual mix of motivated students and students who would rather be doing anything other than taking a required science class. So she was surprised and curious to find her principal standing next to the table with a serious look on her face.
“Nicole, can you take a break for awhile and come to my office? I have something important I need to discuss with you,” said Principal Skinner.
“Sure, I can finish these grades later,” replied Nicole as she gathered her things and followed her boss.
In the office, Nancy Skinner handed Nicole a sheet of paper. “Nicole, I’ve been hearing a lot this semester from several parents and board members about a hole in our science curriculum. Apparently the standard treatment of evolution that we follow is overlooking an important new development called “Intelligent Design.” You know I’m not that well-versed in science, but it seems that this idea has some merit, and teaching the controversy that’s floating around in the scientific community about evolution versus Intelligent Design should be great for our students’ critical thinking skills. You know how we’re always looking for new and better ways to introduce those skills into the curriculum. Would you be willing to take the lead in writing an expansion of the evolution unit for our district that includes Intelligent Design? Here are some resources that I’ve skimmed through on the Internet. I’m sure there are others out there.”
Nicole sat stunned. She had heard about school districts across the country facing pressure to include Intelligent Design, as it was called, in their curricula, but she had not expected to receive such a direct request from her principal.
“I’m not sure that this is a good idea, Nancy,” Nicole said. “I haven’t paid close attention to this issue, but I know that including ID in the science curriculum has been highly controversial in other districts. How about for starters I do some more research on ID and how other school districts have approached it? I’ll present my findings to the science faculty and you, and then we can make a decision on whether or not to proceed with the curriculum change.”
“OK, sounds good,” answered the principal. “From what I read it sounds solid, but like I said, I’ve never been big on science. When I was in college I was pretty relieved to get my science requirements finished and get back to my English and education classes. You’ll be a better judge of the merits of the claims than I am. Why don’t you report back to me in a week with your preliminary findings and we can see if we want to call in the rest of the faculty for discussing an addition to the curriculum or if we just want to let the matter rest.”
“Well then, I’d better knock off the rest of my grading so I can focus on this,” smiled Nicole. “See you in a week.”
Write well-constructed answers to each of the three questions Nicole faces as she investigates Intelligent Design. Come to class prepared to “present” your findings to the principal.
Date Posted: 11/08/05 nas
Image Credit: Based on a detail of Michelangelo’s The Creation of Adam (1508–1512, fresco, Sistine Chapel, Vatican).
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