A Monkey's Uncle: The Scopes trial and the battle between creationism and evolution
Goals and objectives
Students will explore the renewed conflict between religion and science in the 1920’s
Students will analyze the Scopes Trial through group discussion and immerse themselves in the content through a reader’s theater.
Students will analyze the Scopes Trial through group discussion and immerse themselves in the content through a reader’s theater.
California State content standards
11.2.7 Analyze the similarities and differences between the ideologies of Social Darwinism and Social Gospel (e.g., using biographies of William Graham Sumner, Billy Sunday, Dwight L. Moody).
Common Core literacy standards
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.6
Evaluate authors' differing points of view on the same historical event or issue by assessing the authors' claims, reasoning, and evidence.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.3
Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences.
Evaluate authors' differing points of view on the same historical event or issue by assessing the authors' claims, reasoning, and evidence.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.3
Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences.
Essential Question
How did science and religion clash over the issue of teaching evolution in schools?
Lesson Introduction
To set the stage for the conflict between science and religion, the instructor will access prior knowledge by reviewing the Christian revivals of the early 1900’s and the conflict over Social Darwinism via a whole class discussion.
Vocabulary
Fundamentalism
Clarence Darrow
Creationism
William Jennings Bryan
Clarence Darrow
Creationism
William Jennings Bryan
Content Delivery
The focus of this lesson will be content immersion via a reader’s theater. In order to successfully participate in the reader’s theater, students will need to understand the background of the Scopes trial: who the major participants were and what their main arguments were. To accomplish this, students will be taking notes on a graphic organizer. This graphic organizer takes the form of a 3x3 table. Students will fill in the major participants and major arguments for both the Creationists and the Evolutionists. The teacher will then lead a short discussion about the event and why it is a significant part of American history.
Student engagement
For the engagement portion, students will be conducting a reader’s theater. The reader’s theater is intended to immerse students in the content and provide opportunities for internalization and reflection. Students will be placed in small groups and given selected excerpts from the play Inherit the Wind, which is a dramatization of the events of the Scopes trial. Included in these excerpts are character and scene descriptions. Students will be given time to rehearse with their groups, and will then present their dramatic reading in front of the class. This will give students the opportunity to see the information presented in an alternative way, as well as tap into their aesthetic intelligence skills by allowing them to see and experience the drama of the trials and why they gripped America.
Lesson Closure
To further develop student’s understanding of the Scopes Trials, students will pick one of the characters of Inherit the Wind and pretend as if they are their character and write a journal entry about their experience thus far during the trial. Alternatively, students may also write a journal entry pretending to be someone attending the trials. Student’s journals should reference specific events and arguments during the trials, and entries should be consistent with their chosen individual.
Assessments
Formative: Instructor will monitor student discussions, as well as provide feedback on the reader’s theater presentations
Summative: Instructor will collect journal entries and determine if students have grasped key concepts or where re-teaching might be appropriate
Summative: Instructor will collect journal entries and determine if students have grasped key concepts or where re-teaching might be appropriate
Accommodations for English learners, striving readers, and students with special needs
Accommodations can be made by placing English learners, striving readers, and students with special needs into heterogeneous groups according to their needs.