Original broadcast: November 13, 2007 BEfoRE WatCHIng Judgment Day: 1 Ask students to describe the nature of science and the process by Intelligent Design on Trial which scientists investigate the natural world. Define “hypothesis” and “theory” for students and have them come up with examples PRogRAM OVERVIEW of each (see The Nature of Science Through courtroom scene recreations and interviews, on page 3). NOVA explores in detail one of the latest battles in 2 Organize students into three the war over evolution, the historic 2005 Kitzmiller v. groups. Assign each group to take Dover Area School District case that paralyzed notes on one of the following a community and determined what is acceptable program topics: evidence support- ing intelligent design as a scientific to teach in a science classroom. theory, evidence that ID is not a scientific theory, and evidence The program: supporting the theory of evolution. • traces how the issue started in the small, rural community of Dover, Pennsylvania, and progressed to become a federal court test case for science education. AFTER WATCHING • defines intelligent design (ID) and explains how the Dover School Board was the first in the nation to require science teachers to offer 1 Have each group meet and create ID as an alternative. a synopsis of its notes to present • chronicles the history of legal efforts involving the teaching of to class. What was the judge’s final evolution, beginning with the Scopes Trial in 1925 and culminating decision? Discuss his ruling with the class. What evidence did he in 1987 when the Supreme Court ruled against teaching creationism. base his decision on? • summarizes Charles Darwin’s original theory of evolution, as Ask students to describe some presented in his seminal 1859 work, The Origin of Species. 2 of the characteristics of science. • recreates portions of the trial from court records, noting that parents (Science is a systematic form of who initiated the lawsuit set out to show that the board had religious inquiry, based on observation, motivations for teaching ID. prediction, reasoning, and testing, • presents evidence for the prosecution, including transitional fossils that seeks to explain how the natural universe works. Scientific hypotheses and genetic confirmation of Darwin’s theory. can be tested and experimental • reports testimony about the nature of science, including what a results reproduced or observations scientific theory is, how science is done, and why ID is not science. repeated.) What kinds of questions • presents evidence for the defense, including the idea of irreducible do scientists ask? (A biologist might complexity in structures like the bacterial flagellum, a system that ask, “How do bees find pollen? When do they collect it? How do provides propulsion for some bacteria. they find their way back to the hive? • shows a structure similar to the flagellum, but less complex, that What is the pollen used for?”) functions in bacteria as an apparatus for transmitting disease. Would an investigation into animal • recounts how the prosecution found evidence showing that the text migration be science? The predictions of an astrologer? referred to as a resource for ID, Of Pandas and People, had originally The decoding of the human been a creationist text. genome? Psychic mind-reading? • presents closing arguments and the judge’s decision finding both that Why or why not? members of the school board had religious motivations for introducing intelligent design into the classroom and that ID was not a scientific theory. Taping Rights: Can be used up to one year after program is recorded off the air. 1 NOVA TEACHER’S GUIDE www.pbs.org/nova/id CLASSROOM ACTIVITY LEARNIng ObjECTIVES Activity Summary Students will be able to: Students evaluate a variety of data for the common ancestry • define and differentiate fact, of humans and chimpanzees, and consider their level of confidence hypothesis, law, and theory. in their conclusions as they review each piece of data. • explain what a karyotype is. Materials for Each Team – Part I • describe the similarities and • copy of “Weighing the Evidence” student handout differences between human and • photographs of chimpanzees (see page 5 for photo resources) chimpanzee chromosomes. • copy of “Hominidae Family Tree” student handout • summarize the chromosomal • copy of “Karyotype Idiograms: Human and Chimpanzee” evidence showing that humans and student handout chimpanzees share a common • copy of “The Chromosome Shuffle” student handout ancestor. • copy of “Comparing Chromosomes” student handout • scissors Video is not required • 1 light blue and 1 yellow highlighter for this activity. Materials for Each Student – Part II • copy of “Sequence Search” student handout DEalIng WITH • optional: printout of “Human Chromosome 2: Region 2q13” (55 pages) at ContROVERSY www.pbs.org/nova/teachers/activities/3416_id_06.pdf In some communities, teaching Background evolution can be controversial. Evolutionary biologists assert that close biological relationships indicate To learn more about strategies for common ancestry. Humans have long been classified with the great apes preventing potential conflict when (the orangutans, gorillas, and chimpanzees) based on their very similar teaching evolution, see “Dealing with Controversy,” a unit that accom- anatomy and physiology. More recently, molecular genetic data (DNA) has panied the PBS Evolution series, at confirmed humans’ close biological relationship with the chimpanzee (and www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/educators/ to a lesser extent the other great apes). teachstuds/pdf/unit7.pdf or “Overcoming Roadblocks to the In this activity, students evaluate anatomical and genetic data regarding a Teaching of Evolution” from the shared ancestor for humans and chimpanzees. Students consider whether University of California Museum each piece of data supports the hypothesis that humans and chimpanzees of Paleontology at evolution.berkeley.edu/evosite/ share a common ancestor, and reflect on how confident they are in their Roadblocks/index.shtml conclusions with each piece of data they review. In this way, they come to understand how scientists become more confident in their conclusions as To support educational leaders and other stakeholders in their confirmation for their hypotheses accumulates. It is important in this understanding of and response to activity to dispel the misconception that humans descended from apes challenges to teaching evolution, and to emphasize that humans and chimpanzees share a common extinct NOVA has developed a briefing ancestor that was different from either of them. packet for educators. Find it online at www.pbs.org/nova/id/media/nova-id- This common ancestor likely did not look like either of the modern species briefing.pdf but shared characteristics of both. Both humans and chimpanzees are Learn more about what both sides equally evolved from this ancestor but in different ways, like cousins with say about the issue and find more the same great-great-great grandfather. The attributes of the cousins come resources—including a two-session from the grandfather, not one another. online professional development workshop on teaching evolution— at the NOVA Web site at www.pbs.org/nova/id JUDGMEnt Day: IntEllIGEnt DESIgn on TRIAL 2 NOVA TEACHER’S GUIDE www.pbs.org/nova/id CLASSROOM ACTIVITY (Cont.) THE NatURE of SCIENCE The activity should take one to three class periods. If students have not The terms fact, law, hypothesis, learned how to read DNA code, you may want to do just Part I of the and theory are used frequently and sometimes interchangeably in activity that compares karyotypes, explores phylogenetic relationships, and day-to-day conversations. But for investigates chromosomal rearrangements. Part II of the activity further scientists, they have very specific explores the DNA data that supports the fusion of two ancestral meanings. The following definitions* chromosomes to produce a single chromosome in humans. For this part were developed by members of the of the activity, students should be familiar with how DNA bases National Academy of Sciences: complement each other and how DNA fits together (5'–3' orientations). fact: In science, an observation that has been repeatedly confirmed. The following table from the "Weighing the Evidence" student handout law: A descriptive generalization shows how the lesson progresses. It outlines the evidence students will be about how some aspect of the natural considering and shows when students will rate how confident they are that world behaves under stated circumstances. the hypothesis is true based on the evidence. hypothesis: A testable statement about the natural world that can be Hypothesis: Humans and chimpanzees share a common ancestor. used to build more complex inferences and explanations. Evidence and Task theory: In science, a well- Data Set 1 Data Set 2 Data Set 3 Data Set 4 Data Set 5 substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world that can compare compare investigate the investigate examine incorporate facts, laws, inferences, human and human and chromosome human human and tested hypotheses. chimpanzee chimpanzee shuffle chromosome 2 telomere DNA physical traits chromosomes code In science, a theory is often the end product of decades or centuries of Confidence in Hypothesis (1 – least confident to 10 – most confident) scientific research that incorporates numerous observations about the scientific phenomenon it is trying to Confidence explain. A theory represents