Deb Whittington, a teacher in Lake City, South Carolina, encourages science teachers in her district and state to pair evolutionary evidence and interesting, relevant examples embedded throughout instruction and not just during a “unit” on evolution. Teachers might, for example, discuss antibiotic resistance, sickle cell anemia, bird evolution, or family trees. “It helps them see where evolution affects life every day,” she says.

In 2005, she helped organize South Carolinians for Science Education after realizing that some fellow teachers were apprehensive about presenting evolution in the classroom. Whittington has also participated in, and helped run, HHMI-supported summer courses on the topic for biology teachers at Clemson University.

“We take the teachers into the labs, show them evolution in action, try to present it as something that's happening every day, not some abstract concept,” says Barbara J. Speziale, associate dean of summer programs and undergraduate studies at Clemson.

Providing information and dispelling myths can open doors to students and to their families and friends, as well.

“A few years ago in our precollege program, we had a young woman whose father and grandfather were Baptist ministers,” Findley says. “At the end of the program, she said she was excited to go home and talk to her father about evolution. I thought that was great—she can at least start a dialogue in her community. That's what I'd like to achieve.”

Black agrees. “For a student to see the power and beauty of evolutionary theory...that's worth any of the barbs you might get along the way.”

		Even in the title of its revised book, Science, Evolution, and Creationism, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and the Institute of Medicine faced the controversy head on. But the book's developers went to its audience to make sure its messages were on target, and made big changes as a result. “The book is very different than I expected it would be,” says Jay Labov, NAS senior advisor for education and communications. Several focus groups in Indiana and South Carolina led the editors to downplay legal decisions, focus on how science works, and present real-world examples of evolution. The book, released in 2008 (nap.edu/sec or nationalacademies.org/evolution), includes quotations on the compatibility of religion and evolution from several scientists—including Francis Collins, former director of the National Human Genome Research Institute, an evangelical Christian—as well as Pope John Paul II and other religious leaders.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Visit http://ncseweb.org to find information and advice for teachers.

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