Ohio Board of Education Achievement Committee
Discusses "Critical-Analysis" of Evolution & Global Warming

At the February meeting of the Ohio Board of Education, the "Critical Analysis of Evolution" lesson plan was deleted from the state board-approved curriculum, along with Indicator 23 and part of Benchmark H. The Board's Achievement Committee was charged with considering

... whether the deleted model lesson, Benchmark H and Indicator 23 should be replaced by a different lesson, benchmark, and indicator, and if so, to present any recommendation to the entire State Board for adoption.

In the July 10 meeting of the Achievement Committee, board member Colleen Grady submitted for discussion an amendment to an existing indicator:

Describe that scientists may disagree about explanations of phenomena, about interpretation of data or about the value of rival theories, but they do agree that questioning, response to criticism and open communication are integral to the process of science.

According to a version made available to some board members before the meeting, the amendment added:

Discuss and be able to apply this in the following areas:
Earth and Space
a) Global warming
Life Sciences
a) Evolutionary Theory
Physical Sciences
No indicators in grade 10
Science and Technology
a) Emerging technologies and how they may impact society, e.g. cloning or stem cell research

The version submitted to the Achievement Committee on July 10 omitted the references to cloning and stem cell research. The committee took no action on the proposal, but will be reconsidering it at its next meeting in September.

Here is an audio recording of the relevant portion of the Achievement Committee meeting, in mp3 format.