Despite numerous court cases that have ruled the teaching of creationism and intelligent design as unconstitutional in public schools, the majority of high school biology teachers do not advocate evolution in the classroom.

A study done by two Pennsylvania State University professors of political science, Michael Berkman and Eric Plutzer, showed the majority of high school biology teachers do not emphasize evolution in the classroom.

The study found 13 percent of teachers “explicitly advocate creationism or intelligent design” in the classroom by spending at least one hour of class time presenting it in a positive light.

While there are teachers out there who strongly advocate creationism, there are still about 60 percent of teachers who are cautious when it comes to the evolution-creationism debate in the classroom, Berkman said.

Many of these professors are less likely to have taken a college course in evolutionary biology and are not well-versed in the topic, Berkman said.

“Our argument is that they’re cautious because they essentially lack a confidence to teach the material well and stand up to conflict and contradictions,” Berkman said.

Berkman said this style of teaching undermines scientific inquiry.

Many teachers tell their students it doesn’t matter whether they believe in evolution as long as they know it for the test, Berkman said.

Others present all viewpoints on the topic and tell students they can choose to believe in what they want.

“Teaching that way is not an accurate portrayal of science because things like common ancestry are not based on opinion,” Berkman said. “They are based on well-established concepts.”

He added the cautious 60 percent may cause even more problems for students with science than the minority that teaches creationism in the classroom because they undermine the process of scientific inquiry entirely.

“(Schools) could be doing much more teaching about evolution in the classroom,” said Simone Schweber, professor of education and Jewish studies, “But our teachers do an amazing job with the complex topic.”

Schweber said the debate surrounding creationism and evolution is a great tool to use in the classroom.

It helps students to differentiate between what is considered a belief and what is something that actually has scientific backing by comparing the two in the classroom, Schweber said.