The controversy over teaching evolution or creationism appears in many forms and in almost every state. Below is a sampling of recent events. Geologic map of the contiguous United States draped over a shaded-relief digital elevation model.
Different colors show varying rock ages, from Precambrian to Cenozoic.
By Jose F. Vigil et al. In February, Nigel Hughes, an associate professor of paleobiology at the University of California-Riverside, was watching his local PBS station. A special production featured John McIntosh, a science teacher at Colton High School in Colton, Calif., explaining how he used his search for the biblical Noah's Ark as a way to teach his students the scientific method. Hughes and other scientists were concerned and wrote a letter to the high school's principal. After many phone calls, an offer from the PBS station to go on the air with a rebuttal to McIntosh's message, and a letter from the Church State Council of Westlake, Calif., threatening legal action, Hughes got a letter in May from the school district's superintendent.