Instructional Leadership and Academic Curriculum

Epilogue

To the Oxford Round Table:

Science and Faith: The Great Matter

Thank you and kudos to Dr. Alexander and the staff at Oxford University for assembling a diverse and venerable group of participants for the Round Table, Science and Faith: The Great Matter. We are a group that includes scientists, philosophers, theologians, science educators and highly decorated high school science teachers; and we gained much from each other during our week of scholarly discussions and papers.

As a result of our Round Table some suggest that we avoid the controversy associated with evolution and special creation. Some suggest that we confront the controversy. Our data show that our audiences misunderstand or hold incomplete understandings of evolution and special creation, often referred to as Intelligent Design (ID) today. As college or pre-college educators, our audiences are children, adolescents, college students and other adults; and most do not understand evolution or special creation. So how do we confront the controversy with our students?

We know we must be careful thinking a course devoted to evolution, and a separate course devoted to special creation, will result in understandings of either, let alone the associated controversy raging (in the United States). Evolution and special creation are complex, formal, abstract concepts soundly understood by few. Furthermore, trying to reconcile a union between the factually based theory of evolution and the biblical presentations of special creation is difficult and unlikely.

Many understandings and conclusions emerged from our discussions of evolution and special creation. Here are two.

Special creation and intelligent design are not science; don’t include them in our students’ science curriculum.

The concept named evolution can be experienced directly, in other words, learned; include it in our students’ science curriculum.

Oxford Round Table, July 23-28, 2006, Oxford University, Oxford, England

Edmund A. Marek, PhD
Presidential Professor and Center Director
Science Education Center
The University of Oklahoma
Norman, OK 73019-0260
eamarek@ou.edu