Charles Darwin’s Living Legacy
February 12, 2025 marks the 216th anniversary of English naturalist Charles Darwin’s birth. Recognized now as the “father” of evolutionary biology, Darwin’s ideas about evolution and natural selection continue to live and be built on today–as does anti-science backlash to evolutionary thought.
Even today we find that some biology teachers fail to emphasize this key dimension of the life sciences for fear of backlash, or worse because they personally do not accept the validity of evolution. Sadly, countless laws continue to be proposed in one state after another attacking teaching of the science of evolution with a variety of schemes that curiously often mirror one another.
It is time to lift the shadow of the Scopes trial and rededicate ourselves to teaching evolution and honor Scopes who allowed himself to be a vital test in a trial of ignorance vs. reason during a sultry summer in 1925. We hope that this theme issue of The American Biology Teacher contributes to both goals.
–From ABT Editor William F. McComas' editorial, "Teaching Biology and the Long Shadow of Scopes"
To mark the occasion, UC Press is pleased to make the February, 2020 issue of The American Biology Teacher–the National Association of Biology Teachers’ annual issue focusing on evolution–free to read.
From the issue:
Teaching Biology and the Long Shadow of Scopes
William F. McComas
How Do Species Change Over Time? Designing a Hybrid Teaching Unit on Five Factors of Evolution
Berrit K. Czinczel, Daniela Fiedler, Ute Harms
Teaching Biology & Evolution Through the Watery Matrix of Life: A Genomic Medicine Perspective
Caryn Babaian, Sudhir Kumar, Sayaka Miura
Evidence for Macroevolution: Using a Microbial Phylogenetics Laboratory to Teach Endosymbiosis
Joshua S. Hoskinson, Jeremy G. Wideman
Armin P. Moczek, Kirstin J. Milks, Frank Brown Cloud, Lin Andrews, Raya Haghverdi
Promoting Metacognitive Awareness and Self-Regulation of Intuitive Thinking in Evolution Education
Tim Hartelt, Helge Martens
Modeling Herd Immunity: An Introductory Course Activity
Amber M. Eade, Cortney Dean, Stacy L. Hrizo
The American Biology Teacher is an award-winning, peer-refereed professional journal for K-16 biology teachers. Topics covered in the journal include modern biology content, teaching strategies for the classroom and laboratory, field activities, applications, professional development, social and ethical implications of biology and ways to incorporate such concerns into instructional programs, as well as reviews of books and classroom technology products.