The newest component of TSRI's educational outreach is the Science Partnership Scholars Program. The day I visit the Scholars Program, Gerald Joyce, professor in the Department of Molecular Biology, is well into an engaging presentation on Darwinian evolution at the molecular level. Twelve middle and high school teachers sit in various poses around a large conference table scattered with briefcases, coffee cups, cookie remnants, and water bottles. There's nothing controversial in that itself. Later, after Dr. Joyce has left and graduate student Eugene Wu has taken over, the discussion veers into Evolution vs. Creation territory, and how these teachers deal with the topic in their classrooms.
Some parents get upset if the theory of evolution is presented to their children, notes one teacher.
Sarah Allen Peddie, biology teacher at Kearny High School, shares her recent approach that involves setting up a mock trial and assigning half the class to argue Evolution and the other, Creation. It is now 6 PM and well past the tutorial's scheduled end. You are the most important scientists in this regard. He adds that he had planned to discuss how microbes reproduce clonally, but since they've run overtime, he can give them notes instead. I ask her what it's like to be taught by graduate students.