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This school year, Alabama is making headlines for revising its state science education standards. For the first time, teachers in the state will be required to teach evolution and the fact that humans contribute to climate change. But buried in that news was acknowledgement of a “sticker” that the state requires be placed on its biology textbooks, telling students that evolution is a “controversial theory,” not a fact.
That sticker is actually a one-page insert placed in the front or back cover of every biology textbook a child reads in public schools in the state, according to Steve Ricks of the Alabama State Department of Education. “It encourages students to question the theory [of evolution] and ask questions about it.” The insert was advocated for by conservative Christians, according to the Associated Press.
The state superintendent and state board of education is currently in the process of reviewing Alabama’s science textbooks to decide how they might change according to the new standards.
In the meantime, Ricks says the new science standards are a major step forward for the state. In addition to including one mention of evolution, and a section about human influence on climate change, the standards will promote a more hands-on approach to learning science, he says. “It’s a major change for us. We feel like this course of study is really going to push Alabama forward.”
Read full, original post: Here’s the Evolution-Questioning ‘Sticker’ Alabama Puts on Its Biology Textbooks
