Creationism and evolution: The role of Christian colleges in the preparation of public school teachers

The Assembly of God Church, The Southern Baptist Convention, and the Seventh-day Adventist Church sponsor Brighton University, Collier University, and Lynwood University respectively. Each of these Christian denominations holds creationism as a tenet of the faith. Each university also operates a state approved teacher education program. A number of preservice elementary teachers at these three schools are choosing to teach in public schools where the teaching of creationism is not an option in the science curriculum. Thus, creationist institutions and instructors are training more and more preservice teachers, to teach science from an evolutionist perspective. From an examination of documents used in science and science methods classes, and through interviews with science and education professors, and former students, data was collected and analyzed. All of the professors expressed interest in the issues surrounding creationism and evolution. The science professor\u27s concerns centered on the difficulties in harmonizing apparent discrepancies between scientific evidence and church doctrine. The education professors were content with church policy regarding creationism, and stated that they fortified creationist thinking in their science methods classes. Documents from the science and science methods classes, along with the information supplied by former students, do not show that creationism issues are being considered in science methods classes to the extent the professors thought they were. Few students were able to recall creationism, or how a creationist could teach evolutionary science, as topics given serious consideration in their science or science methods classes