Darwin, Dover, 'Intelligent Design' and textbooks.
ID ('intelligent design') is not science, but a form of creationism; both are very different from the simple theological proposition that a divine Creator is responsible for the natural patterns and processes of the Universe. Its current version maintains that a 'Designer' must intervene miraculously to accomplish certain natural scientific events. The verdict in the 2005 case Kitzmiller, et al. v. Dover School District, et al. (in Harrisburg, PA, U.S.A.) was a landmark of American jurisprudence that prohibited the teaching of ID as science, identified it as religiously based, and forbade long-refuted 'criticisms of evolution' from introduction into public school classes. Much of the science of the trial was based on biochemistry; biochemists and other scientists have several important opportunities to improve scientific literacy and science education in American public schools ('state schools') by working with teachers, curriculum developers and textbook writers.
Padian
Kevin
K
Department of Integrative Biology and Museum of Paleontology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3140, USA. kpadian@berkeley.edu
Matzke
Nicholas
N
D005075:Biological Evolution; D012070:Religion and Science; D012586:Science / Q000193:education*; D013782:Textbooks as Topic; D014481:United States