Bubba

For those of you who teach or are in school, how should creationsm be handled in the classroom?

In other words, if a 15 year old girl were to bring a copy of Icons into class and leave it on her desk curing biology class, would you say something if you were her teacher?

What if a 19 year old boy didn't confront you in class but started a "creation club" at a secular univseristy?

Do you ever run into hostility from Christians or thiests who are perhaps on the faculty in perhaps the English department and don't believe in evolution?

How would you handle it if you taught a class of 400 in a school such as Ohio State and had to face 35 vocal creationists in an Intro class?

I really don't know what you guys face.

What do you face and how do you handle it?

Bubba

pz

Probably not.
I wouldn't do much, unless a student asked me to sponsor a competing "evolution club" -- then I'd help out.
Not really. I've heard of a few creationists in odd corners of the university faculty & staff, but there has been no confrontation. We all respect each other's expertise in our fields, so it is about as likely that someone from English would try to argue with me about biology as I would be to argue grammar with one of them.
Oh, I've been there, almost. Vocal creationists aren't as common as you think. I've taught classes of 200, and you can usually expect a handful -- anything from none to 5 or 6 -- to show up in class. They sometimes work up enough nerve to try and ask what they think is a difficult question, but really...these are usually freshmen straight out of high school, and I'm the guy who's been doing this for 20 years. I usually just answer the question with more detail than they'd even imagined, and they slump back down in their seat.

It's more common and more awkward when they come to your office hours with their weird ideas. The hard part is to tell them how wrong they are without discouraging them.

Of course, the reality of the classroom is such that creationism loses out fast in any head-to-head war of ideas. Creationists either 1) give up and change majors (the most common resolution, I've noticed), 2) find ways to partition their beliefs and at least parrot back the right answers, even if they don't believe it (seen sometimes in pre-meds), or 3) rarest of all, actually learn the power of evolutionary thinking and become good biologists.

seebs

The trick is to discourage the creationism, but not the student. A difficult art, I suspect.

Dr.GH

In other words, if a 15 year old girl were to bring a copy of Icons into class and leave it on her desk curing biology class, would you say something if you were her teacher?

[b]First, note that as her teacher I have some idea about her abilities, and background. That alone will shape how I respond. But in the general case, I would ask if they have read the book. I have read the book, and I would discuss the blatant falsehoods made by Wells point by point. To wit:

http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/wells/

http://www.nmsr.org/iconanti.htm

and these very helpful links:

http://www.ncseweb.org/resources/art...10_31_2002.asp {edited to shorten post width- Jobar.}

What if a 19 year old boy didn't confront you in class but started a "creation club" at a secular univseristy?

I was the faculty advisor to the Anthropology Club, and this was a good way to respond to the Campus Crusade type organizations.

Do you ever run into hostility from Christians or thiests who are perhaps on the faculty in perhaps the English department and don't believe in evolution?

Not very often. When I did, I suggested they take it up with the Dean of Biology

How would you handle it if you taught a class of 400 in a school such as Ohio State and had to face 35 vocal creationists in an Intro class?

There are rarely any vocal students in an Intro to anything class. It is hard to get anybody to talk at all, especially in a very large lecture hall. What does piss me off are the creationist students who whine on their teacher evaluation forms that I hate Christians, and use my class to "preach atheism."