Log In | Register
I have often been asked why we scientists are so resistant to introducing ideas such as "creation science" in the biology classroom. My first reaction is to say that these ideas are not really scientific and therefore do not belong in a biology class, and I would be similarly opposed to teaching lacrosse rules or musical "song and dance" routines in a biology class. I have also realized that one of my key concerns is the harm that teaching creationist ideas in a biology classroom can do to the development of scientific thought in schoolchildren.
One thing that I have noticed, however, is that students who were already exposed to rigorous scientific thinking during their middle school or high school years have an easier time when they interpret experiments at the university level. My personal impression is that this clarity of thought can be of immense benefit to these students if they decide to pursue undergraduate and graduate studies in the sciences later in life.
However, I am concerned that inclusion of creationism in biology classes may represent an obstacle to developing this clarity of thought in middle school or high school students. There is much discussion in the United States about the role of Christian biblical creationism in the classroom, however it is important to note that Muslim creationism is also becoming more visible. To evaluate the nature of these writings, I downloaded the book entitled The Miracle in the Ant. This book is visually appealing with very nice photographs and summary boxes, written in an easy to understand English. It covers many aspects of ants, ranging from their anatomy to their social biology and many interesting details such as the production of pheromones. However, interspersed between these scientific details about ant biology are many phrases referring to these scientific findings as being proof of the work of a Creator as well as verses from the Quran. Furthermore, the author frequently mentions the errors of evolutionary biologists since their theories cannot adequately explain the diversity of ants. Finally, the author has a book chapter entitled "The Evolution Deceit," which seems very much out of place in a book on ants, because it uses hostile terms to attack numerous aspects of evolutionary biology which are unrelated to ants. It refers to Darwin as an "amateur biologist" whose ideas were "unscientific" and would have been "banished to the dustbin of history" if certain ideological movements had not promoted them.
This may not only deter students from wanting to pursue a scientific career because of alleged "conspiracies," but it may also promote a culture that allows blanket statements without critical evaluation. Authors such as Harun Yahya or his counterparts in the area of Christian creationism are of course free to believe in and promote any theory. However, I think that one of the main goals of a biology class is to introduce students in middle schools and high schools to basic knowledge in biology as well as help them develop critical scientific thought. Teaching creationism in a biology classroom may undermine these goals.
