Theses and Dissertations, 2000-2009

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2009

  • Displaying Controversy : Evolution, Creation, and Museums by Julie Homchick. Dissertation (Ph.D.), Department of Communication, University of Washington. iv, 222 p.
    This work explores the role of museum exhibits in the creationist/evolutionist controversy and how different museums make appeals to the public using material objects, including scientific artifacts, images, and the space of museum exhibits. Four different exhibits are included in this study: the Institute for Creation Research's Museum of Creation and Earth History in Santee, California; the Creation Museum in Kentucky; the American Museum of Natural History's newly redesigned Hall of Human Biology and Evolution; and the University of Nebraska State Museum's "Explore Evolution" exhibit. Using rhetorical criticism, I perform an intertextual analysis of the words and images, objects, and spaces of each exhibit, and public responses to them. For the creation science museums, I show how the curators use the rhetorical concepts of arrangement, imitation, and dissociation to convince the public of the truth of creation science. For the evolution exhibits, I look at how the curators use arrangement and prolepsis to convince visitors of the truth of evolutionary theory. Each exhibit employs these rhetorical concepts to create an experiential rhetoric in the space of the museum, to imply both narratives of progress and regress, and to deploy the persuasive power of objects, things, and artifacts in these spaces. Overall, this research illuminates the role of museum exhibits in contemporary American public controversies over evolutionary theory, explores how the public space of a museum exhibit defines and challenges scientific knowledge, and illustrates how space and material objects can function persuasively within the museum context.
  • Faith Displayed as Science : The Role of the 'Creation Museum' in the Modern American Creationist Movement by Julie A. Duncan. Thesis (A.B., Honors in History of Science), History of Science Department, Harvard University. 152 p. .pdf of thesis
    Since the 1960s, the U.S. has seen a remarkable resurgence of the belief in the literal truth of the Bible, especially in a "young" (less than 10,000 years old) Earth. Somewhat paradoxically, this new biblical literalism has been accompanied by an increased emphasis on scientific legitimacy among creationists. The most recent tool in young-Earth creationists’ quest for scientific legitimacy is the "creation museum." This thesis analyzes and compares the purposes and methods of four creation museums; discusses their repercussions for science as a discipline; and explains their significance for the larger creationist movement.
  • Science in the Science Museum: Representations of Science for the Public by Gregory James Schneider. Dissertation (Ph.D.), Department of Communication Studies, University of Minnesota. 222 p.
    Science museums remain integral sites for the communication and production of scientific knowledge for and amongst the public. Whether entertaining, socially oriented, educational, or all three, museums continue to draw audiences and present science in innovative ways. More recently they have begun to challenge traditional views of science by encouraging increased social engagement from their audiences. In this vein, public understanding of science is not simply about conveying information; it is about understanding the nature of science and its place in our world. Ranging in topic and type, three exhibits from the Science Museum of Minnesota (Disease Detectives, Mysteries of Catalhoyuk, and Race: Are we so different?) all demonstrate how a modern science museum constructs and mobilizes science for the public. This project carries out a case study of each of these exhibits by drawing on semiotic and rhetorical frameworks to study of how they communicate particular scientific knowledge (microbiology, archaeology, and genetics and anthropology). It also explores how exhibits construct the broader picture of science as a discipline as well as how they engage visitors as social actors. This case study helps to open up the museum as a rhetorical space and provide a richer understanding of the ways in which modern museum exhibits continue to function as critical texts in the public sphere.

    NOTE: Listed here because of the passing reference to "...the rhetorical nature of exhibits is demonstrated by the controversial existence of museums like the Discovery Institute's (sic) Creation Museum in Kentucky..." The Discovery Institute is a different and unrelated organization based in Seattle, Washington. Answers in Genesis operates the Creation Museum, based in Petersburg, Kentucky.

2008

  • Another Brick in the Wall : The Rhetoric of Creationism, Science and Education by Matthew R. McNair. Thesis (Masters), University of Arkansas--Fayetteville. 191 p.
  • Creationism at the Grass Roots : A Study of a Local Creationist Institution by Paul J. Wendel. Dissertation (Ph.D.), Education, Health, and Human Services, Kent State University. 393 p.
    Relying on the book of Genesis as a source text, young-earth creationists or "creation scientists" claim to find physical evidence that the earth was created in six 24-hour periods less than ten thousand years ago and that most of the geologic column was laid down in a year-long worldwide flood. Unsurprisingly, these claims lead to a boundary dispute over the definition of science, in which mainstream scientists impugn the validity of creation science and creation scientists respond in kind. Although young-earth creationism is a growing movement, little is known about it. In particular, little is known about how creationists view the relationship between creationism and science or how the rhetoric of moral, cultural, environmental, and/or biological decline informs creationist practice. In order to investigate these issues, I studied the Fossil Museum (pseudonym), a local young-earth creationist institution, through a combination of naturalistic inquiry and visitor interviews. With respect to the rhetoric of decline, I found that cultural, environmental, and biological decline appear to function independently of one another in Fossil Museum rhetoric. With respect to views of the relationship between creationism and science, I found that despite having limited training or experience in science and despite committing numerous scientific errors, Fossil Museum associates respect and emulate science. Believing that physical evidence mediated by honest science will vindicate young-earth creationism, Fossil Museum associates speak of science in highly Baconian terms, invoking the ideal of assumption-free data and privileging observation over inference. They also accept the notion that science should be falsifiable and they suggest that on this criterion, mainstream science is not scientific. Yet because of their belief that physical evidence can vindicate their position, they openly discuss counter evidence to young-earth creationism, regarding such counter evidence as anomalies for future resolution rather than occasions for crisis. I conclude that because of Fossil Museum associates' honest approach to physical data and their belief that science can resolve disputes, productive dialogue is possible and desirable between mainstream scientists and some young-earth creationists, but such dialogue will be useful only if it is aimed at mutual understanding rather than mutual conversion.
  • Effect of Instructor Bias on High School Biology Students’ Acceptance of Evolutionary Theory by Kelly Houseal. Bachelor of Arts, Department of Education, Kalamazoo College. 41 p.
    As part of her student teaching experience, the author designed a research project comparing how the pro-evolution bias of one teacher and the anti-evolution bias of her cooperating teacher impacted student acceptance of evolutionary theory. The author administered a pre- and post-test, observed both teachers, and conducted exit interviews with students from both classes. The results indicated that the personal beliefs of teachers do come across in their teaching and they do influence student opinion. The data collected from the survey showed that formal education on the subject of evolution served to increase students' acceptance of it as a valid, scientific theory. However, overall acceptance increased more dramatically when instruction was given by a teacher who herself accepted evolution, while acceptance increase was marginal when instruction was given by a teacher less accepting of evolution. In interviews with students it became clear that they had not noticed bias in either teacher's method of instruction, although to the author the anti-evolution teacher’s lectures had been anything but neutral. Additionally, all students believed their views had not changed or that they had become more accepting of evolution; rarely were they self-aware enough to be correct. No student told me that their acceptance had decreased. This surprised the author who anticipated that some students would notice what she perceived to be the evident prejudice of the anti-evolution teacher. She expected students to be more aware of how their education was affecting their beliefs. For the most part, however, the students seemed to be convinced that they were strongly set in their beliefs and that a few days or weeks of instruction would have no impact. From an educational perspective, this indicates the potential for teachers to influence students' viewpoints greatly.
  • Ernst Haeckel and the Redemption of Nature by Nolan Heie. Dissertation (Ph.D.), Department of History, Queen's University. 412 p.
    A respected marine biologist at the University of Jena, Ernst Haeckel (1834–1919) was the most visible proponent of Darwin’s theory of evolution in Germany around the turn of the twentieth century. Alongside his natural-scientific research activities, he attempted to popularise a philosophy that he dubbed ‘Monism’ – which consisted essentially of mid-nineteenth-century mechanistic materialism permeated with elements derived from early-nineteenth-century German Romantic pantheism – and to use this outlook as the basis for a worldwide anticlerical movement. His popular science books were an outstanding success, selling hundreds of thousands of copies throughout the world, but his organisation attracted far fewer adherents. By examining Haeckel’s popular science writings and contemporary reactions to them, especially among lesser-known contemporaries who have received relatively little attention in previous studies, this thesis explores the subjective appeal of Haeckel’s monistic philosophy. Specifically, it investigates the way in which he employed metaphors and visual images to communicate scientific and philosophical concepts, and in so doing seemed to provide his readers with what they had feared lost along with the decline of orthodox religious belief: a feeling of greater purpose, a foundation for ethical behaviour, an appreciation of beauty in the world, and a stable sense of identity. The imagery and metaphors that he employed were open to multiple interpretations, and others saw in them an expression of the destructive modern forces that threatened to bring about social collapse. Paradoxically, the same devices that accounted for Haeckel’s appeal as a popular science writer contributed to the incoherence and fragmentation of his Monism movement.
  • Young-Earth Creationism and the Logic of Fundamentalism by Matthew S. Cooper. Dissertation (Ph.D.), Arizona State University. 125 p.

2007

  • Acceptance of Evolution and Knowledge of Related Scientific Tenets: A Survey of Science Center Visitors by Dustin Growick. Thesis (M.A.), Department of Anthropology, Stony Brook University. 69 p.
    In the United States, routine public polling of American adults has shown that there is a general lack of acceptance of evolutionary theory and related scientific constructs. This problem effects educational policy and implementation in the arenas of both formal and informal education. Only very recently have surveys and studies begun to be enacted specifically at centers of informal education (science & technology centers and museums of natural history). Exclusively conducted at COSI Columbus (Ohio), over 600 museum guests independently completed a questionnaire that was designed to gauge visitors’ understanding and acceptance of evolution, as well as their readiness to approach related topics. On the whole, COSI visitors were both more accepting of evolution and more knowledgeable of associated scientific themes. Additionally, even those visitors who subscribed to a creationist doctrine were not ignorant of the principals of natural selection. The areas displaying the highest levels of misinformation–both for creationists and those who accept evolution–were that of the timescale of biological change and the age of the earth. The findings of this study suggest that demographically similar sites of informal education should not shy away from presenting or exhibiting evolutionarily related content, as their visitors are more knowledgeable and more accepting of the theory than the general American public.
  • A Baraminological Analysis of the Land Fowl (Class Aves, Order Galliformes) by Michelle McConnachie. Senior Thesis, Honors Program, Liberty University. 55 p.
    This study investigates the number of galliform bird holobaramins. Criteria used to determine the members of any given holobaramin included a biblical word analysis, statistical baraminology, and hybridization. The biblical search yielded limited biosystematic information; however, since it is a necessary and useful part of baraminology research it is both included and discussed. Baraminic distance and multidimensional scaling suggest four holobaramins (cracids, megapodes, guineafowl, and all other galliforms), while a review of hybridization records implies only two (megapodes and all other galliforms). All analyses for statistical methods were based on a dataset obtained from Dyke et al. (2003). I suggest that the Order Galliformes contains a megapode holobaramin and a cracid + phasianoid holobaramin, based on analyses of morphological and hybridization data.
  • Biblical Worldview Integretation for Effective Ministry by John H. Hembree. Thesis (M.Div.), Doctor of Ministry Department, Assemblies of God Theological Seminary. 162 p.
    This project developed an easily useable planning guide for local church ministry leaders to implement an integrated biblical worldview into the local church. The project identified two critical problems for many ministries. The first critical problem is a too narrow focus on behavior modification. With this inadequate goal of seeking external behavioral modifications, ministries fail to facilitate spiritual growth in constituents thus precipitates declining statistical growth, weak leadership development, excessive attrition rates among long-established adherents, and diminished satisfaction among existing leadership. Ministries that move beyond a behavioral modification focus to address underlying value systems provide greater continuity, but lasting ministry results and spiritual maturity only follow implementation of an integrated biblical worldview.

    The project identified a second critical problem for many ministries. Although several generations of research in worldview concepts, construction, and application have produced myriad materials of varying quality, many resources exhibit an overly technical focus that requires knowledge and training outside of worldview studies. Materials developed for educational ministries often contain information and references that require formal training in teaching theory. Some materials are philosophically based providing rich resource for academically trained researchers but little practical application for local church ministries. Several push forward agendas and perspectives that limit usefulness to those willing to accommodate ingrained presuppositions. A clear example of this last technical issue is found in an excessive political influence in many worldview materials.

    The seminar training developed for this project distilled technical materials into an easily useable guide providing direction for local church ministry leaders to implement an effective, integrated biblical worldview using existing curricular materials. The intended goal for this project was to facilitate implementation of an integrated biblical worldview into any local church ministry while using materials that the ministry's leadership already retained. The results of the Biblical Worldview Integration for Effective Ministry seminar processed through this project indicate initial success and a continued need for extensive application.
  • The Evolution Debate Onscreen : Unreliable Narrators Find a Home by Libbey Katherine White. M.A. (Fine Arts), Science and Natural History Filmmaking, Montana State University. 30 p.
    Faced with increasingly influential opposition from fundamentalist religious groups, evolutionists could benefit from reexamining their strategies in the evolution vs. creation debate. This thesis is based on the understanding that the debate is not about scientific evidence, but rather warring ideologies. The religious fundamentalist ideology perceives materialism and moral relativism as threats that follow from the theory of evolution, and in this thesis both threats are debunked.

    Understood as warring ideologies, the debate broadens, and calls for a wider range of approaches. Art could be advantageously employed to draw these ideologies out and show them more clearly, and this thesis explores the possibility of using found footage films in particular to do so.
  • Henry M. Morris and Creationism by D. Andrew Hollingsworth. Thesis (Masters), Dallas Theological Seminary. 83 p.

2006

  • Intelligent Design and Evolutionary Theory : Legal Battles and Classroom Relevance For School Leadership by Larry R. Plank. Thesis (Masters), University of South Florida. 45 p.

2005

  • Social, Moral, and Temporal Qualities: Pre-Service Teachers' Considerations of Evolution and Creation by Deirdre Hahn. Dissertation (Ph.D.), Department of Education, Arizona State University. 134 p.
    The introduction of the theories of evolution into public education has created a history of misinterpretation and uncertainty about its application to understanding deep time and human origins. Conceptions about negative social and moral outcomes of evolution itself along with cognitive temporal constraints may be difficult for many individuals to uncouple from the scientific theory, serving to provoke the ongoing debate about the treatment of evolution in science education. This debate about teaching evolution is strongly influenced by groups who strive to add creationism to the science curriculum for a balanced treatment of human origins and to mediate implied negative social and moral outcomes of evolution. Individual conceptualization of evolution and creation may influence the choice of college students to teach science. This study is designed to examine if pre-service teachers' conceptualize an evolutionary and creationist process of human development using certain social, moral or temporal patterns; and if the patterns follow a negative conceptual theme.

    The pilot study explored 21 pre-service teachers' conceptual representation of an evolutionary process through personal narratives. Participants tended to link evolutionary changes with negative social and moral consequences and seemed to have difficulty envisioning change over time. The pilot study was expanded to include a quantitative examination of attribute patterns of an evolutionary and creationist developmental process. Seventy-three pre-service teachers participated in the second experiment and tended to fall evenly along a continuum of creationist and evolutionist beliefs about life. Using a chi-square and principle components analysis, participants were found to map concepts of evolution and creation onto each other using troubling attributes of development to distinguish negative change over time. A strong negative social and moral pattern of human development was found in the creation condition, though only a vague negative human developmental process was found for the evolution condition. Based on these results, pre-service teachers may not use evolution as a viable explanation of human origins, which may serve to contribute to evolution theory debates and discourage pre-service teachers' choice of being science instructors.
  • The Decline, Fall and Re-Emergence of the Biblical Creationist Movement in American Culture by Peter G. Drakey. Thesis (Masters), California State University--Dominguez Hills. 76 p.

2003

  • The Current Setting of the Evolution/Creation Debate in American Public Schools by Bradley Doyle Reynolds. Dissertation (Ph.D.), School of Education, The College of William and Mary. 165 p.
    The history of public education in the United States is replete with attempts to secularize public education as well as attempts to sanctify public education. The legal battle between these two opposing concepts of public education has been long and tenacious, and is far from over. One front upon which this philosophical, political, and legal battle has been fought is the teaching of origins in biology classes of public schools. This study sought to address the question of the current status of the creation/evolution debate. Through content analysis of court cases, the study provided a legal framework concerning the teaching of origins in public schools. The study also provided a political/philosophical understanding of the current status through a content analysis of press articles. Further, the study provided an understanding of how current biology textbooks deal with the issue of origins. The findings reveal that the creation/evolution debate is current: however, the theory of Intelligent Design has now entered the foray. Finally, the findings reveal that the debate is taking place in courtrooms, legislative halls, and newspapers, but not in classrooms.
  • Creationism in the American Context : An Intellectual History For A Cultural War by Robert J. Golden. Dissertation (Ph.D.), Florida State University. 300 p.
  • Vestiges of Creation in America's Pre-Darwinian Evolution Debates: Interpreting Theology and the Natural Sciences in Three Academic Communities by Ryan C. MacPherson. Ph.D., Graduate Program in History and Philosophy of Science, University of Notre Dame. 431 p.
    Fifteen years before Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species (1859), Americans already were preoccupied with a theory of naturalistic development presented in Robert Chambers’s anonymously published Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation (1844). This dissertation explores Americans’ reactions to Vestiges, first by developing a model for understanding historical relations between theology and the natural sciences, and then by applying that model in case-study analyses of three academic communities: Princeton, Harvard, and Yale. Extensive manuscript research reveals that faculty, students, and ministers associated with those institutions engaged in sustained discussions of Vestiges during the late 1840s and 1850s, and that theology informed their reactions to that work. Proposing a concept of “socially situated systematic theology,” this dissertation views theology—in the tradition of sociologists Max Weber and Robert Merton—as a rationalization of human culture that structures social practices, such as people’s participation in the natural sciences and their evaluation of a work like Vestiges. Drawing also from the insights of theologian Paul Tillich, this study further regards theology as an attempt to grapple with the existential question, “What must I do to be saved?”

    This dissertation argues that distinctive answers to that salvation question among Presbyterians at Princeton, Unitarians at Harvard, and Congregationalists at Yale, profoundly shaped local responses to another question: “What must I do with Vestiges?” This is not to suggest a straightforward correlation between specific religious doctrines and the acceptance or else rejection of specific scientific claims. Rather, the communities’ distinctive answers to the salvation question must be understood as reflections of their existential “ultimate concern” that shaped, through a variety of means, the cultural context in which each community read Vestiges. This account challenges historical scholarship that has portrayed Princeton, Harvard, and Yale as sharing a common “American Protestant” pattern of science-religion engagements during the pre-Darwinian period. Suggestions are provided at the close of this study for applying the model of socially situated systematic theologies to the historical examination of other science-religion sagas, including the Darwinian revolution that later emerged from Americans’ preoccupation with Vestiges.

2002

  • An Analysis of Factors Influencing the Teaching of Evolution and Creation by Arizona High School Biology Teachers by Susan Jorstad. Dissertation (Ph.D.), Department of Anthropology, University of Arizona. 185 p.
    This study examined the amount of emphasis given by Arizona high school biology teachers to the topics of evolutionary theory and special creation, as explanations for the origin and diversity of life on earth. A questionnaire was mailed to all Arizona public high school biology teachers in March of 2000, to gather data on teachers' classroom practices and attitudes towards evolution and creation, information on teachers' educational and professional backgrounds, their religious preferences, and any perceptions of pressure regarding the teaching of evolution or creation from outside sources.

2001

  • Aroused From Dogmatic Slumber : A Rhetorical History of Intelligent Design by Thomas E. Woodward. Dissertation (Ph.D.), University of South Florida. 386 p.
  • The Evolving Face of God as Creator : Early Nineteenth-century Traditionalist and Accommodationist Theological Responses in British Religious Thought to Paleonatural Evil in the Fossil Record by Thane Hutcherson Ury. Dissertation (Ph.D.), Andrews University, Seventh-Day Adventist Theological Seminary. 563 p.
    From the early Reformation through the early 1800s, Gen 1--11 was consensually understood as providing a perspicacious, historical account of how God brought the world into being. Tenets of belief included six literal 24-hour days of creation and a catastrophic global Flood, and most often the conviction that Gen 1:31 implies that no evil of any type existed prior to the Fall. New geological interpretations in the early nineteenth century, however, pointed toward an earth history that seemed anything but very good, instead suggesting a harsh concatenation of deep-time prelapsarian pain, struggle, destruction of the weak, predation, diseases, plagues, catastrophic mass extinctions, and death in the sub-rational creation. Thus, a new theodical dimension arose which the Church had not had to address prior to this time; i.e., paleonatural evil, as posited by a deep-time interpretation of the fossiliferous portions of the geologic column. If those entities which are commonly labeled as natural evil are deciphered to have existed long before the arrival of humanity , then believers would have to justify why they see the Creator as good in light of concomitants in His handiwork which seem prima facie so counter-intuitive to how an omnibenevolent and omnipotent Creator might reasonably be expected to create. ;The purpose. Thus, in the early nineteenth century, questions arose as to the compatibility of paleonatural evil with Gen 1--11 and an omnipotent, omnibenevolent Creator. To what extent would embracing an "evolver-God" impact the primary attributes of God such as omnibenevolence? Would traditional understandings of omnibenevolence need to be recalibrated to comport with a deep-time interpretation of the fossil record? Who were the first believers to recognize this as a potential theodicy issue, and how did they respond? The purpose of this study is to assess the theodicies of some the first thinkers to recognize and respond to the problem of paleonatural evil. ;The sources. Given this context this dissertation seeks to discover, codify, analyze, and assess the theodical formulations of two groups of early nineteenth-century British groups; i.e., the traditionalists and accommodationists. Do they see natural evil as intrusive or non-intrusive to the original created order? If the Fall happened in space and time, to what extent did it impact the created order?
  • Reflection on the difficulties of teaching evolution in high school biology by Clyde H. Wylie. Dissertation (Ph.D.), Department of Education, University of Georgia. 123 p.
    From the time Darwin first published his book, The Origin of Species, there has been conflict. Casualties of the conflict are, perhaps, most highly noticed in terms of edification in our schools, but the consequences expand to a much larger scale. While most school systems claim to support national and state mandated science standards and accept the principles of evolution there are many schools, and certainly individual teachers, who limit their instruction of evolution or do not teach it at all. There is evidence to support a lack of understanding of evolution as well as a lack of understanding of the nature of science on the part of teachers. This study is designed to investigate the level of acceptance of evolution as a topic to be taught and to determine why there is delineation at a point where it is not accepted. Of great interest is the relationship between the acceptance of evolution and understanding of the nature of science by the teacher. More specifically, this study looks at (a) how understanding the nature of science affects a teacher’s acceptance of evolution; (b) how understanding the nature of evolution affects a teacher’s acceptance of evolution; (c) how a change in the understanding of the nature of science affects a teacher’s acceptance of evolution; (d) to what extent teachers understand evolution and the nature of science; (e) how understanding the nature of science affects a teacher’s willingness to teach evolution. This study is a product of personal interest and professional concern for a documented problem in science education. There have been studies directed at measuring the understanding of the nature of science as well as those measuring acceptance of evolution. This study combines the two concerns using both quantitative and qualitative data to illustrate that further understanding of the nature of science contributes to understanding and acceptance of evolution and willingness to teach evolution and it makes available some reasons why.

Additional Theses and Dissertations

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