Analyses of the game "Spore" have centered on the important issues of accuracy of evolution content and engendering interest in science. This paper suggests that examination of the degree of scaffolding necessary to use the game in pedagogy is a missing part of the discussion, and then questions the longevity of the "Spore" discussion relative to…

Until recently, little attention has been paid in the school classroom to creationism and almost none to intelligent design. However, creationism and possibly intelligent design appear to be on the increase and there are indications that there are more countries in which schools are becoming battle-grounds over them. I begin by examining whether…

This commentary dialogues with three articles that analyze the same database about science and religion discourse produced 17 years ago. Dialogues in these three articles and this commentary across space and time allow us to develop new and different understandings of the same database and situation. As part of this commentary, I discuss topics…

In his article "Scientists at Play in a Field of the Lord", David Long (2010) rightly challenges our presumptions of what science is and brings forth some of the disjunctures between science and deeply held American religious beliefs. Reading his narrative of the conflicts that he experienced on the opening day of the Creation Museum, I cannot…

Discussing themes from my paper "Scientists at play in a field of the Lord," three forum participants identify and discuss continuing social and epistemological issues which continue to challenge effective evolution education. I extend these themes and further amplify the vexing nature of an effective dialectic regarding evolution, especially for…

In this paper I respond to Long's paper in which he uses an ethnographic snapshot of a rally of scientists against the perceived "dumbing down" effect of the new Answers in Genesis Museum in Kentucky to raise educational concerns about the effects of creationist influence on the science curriculum in American schools. In my response I…

The teaching of evolutionary theory has historically been problematic, often times marred with legal and moral battles. In recent years, state boards of education have prohibited or somehow compromised the role of evolutionary theory in school science. Consistent with the diversity of beliefs in contemporary society, preservice science teachers…