International Databases, LLC
A Primer on Intelligent Design/Creationism
The Texas Education Agency has made available on its website science instructional
materials -- all of them web-based -- that publishers and other vendors have proposed for
high school biology classes across the state. Materials approved by the state board in July,
2011, could be in Texas science classrooms for nearly a decade.
An initial review by the National Center for Science Education and the Texas Freedom
Network has revealed that materials from at least one vendor, New Mexico-based
International Databases Inc., promote anti-evolution arguments made by proponents of
intelligent design/creationism. These arguments are unsupported by scientific research and
were debunked long ago in the mainstream science community.
Here are a few representative examples from the materials submitted.*
*
All screenshots taken from pre-adoption samples submitted by International Databases, LLC to the Texas Education
Agency for public review. Samples available at http://internationaldatabasesllc.com/, and instructions for obtaining
passwords available at http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index2.aspx?id=2147487077.
Module 1: Origin Nucleotide (slide 19)
“Since such materialistic, self organization scenarios now have a history of scientific
insufficiency for explaining the Origin of Life on Earth, the Null hypothesis (default) stands.
This allows for the testing of the legitimate scientific hypothesis......Life on Earth is the
result of intelligent causes.”
Module 8: Teacher Resources (Slide 3)
“...at the end of the instructional unit on the Origins of Life, students should go home with
the understanding that a new paradigm of explaining life's origins is emerging from the failed
attempts of naturalistic scenarios. This new way of thinking is predicated upon the
hypothesis that intelligent input is necessary for life's origins.”
Module 7: Null Hypothesis (Slide 7)
This module sets up two competing explanations for the origin of life: “Non-intelligent
Causes” vs. “Intelligent Causes.” The clear intent is to make a case for an intelligent
designer. The slide below tells students that “until advocates of non-intelligent causes
sustain their claim,” students must accept that life on earth is a result of intelligent causes.
Module 7: Scientific Method (Slide 6)
“Many scientists have adopted an unproven hypothesis upon which to build their theories
regarding the origin of life and its’ diversification. This ‘foundation’ is called scientific
materialism, naturalism, and so forth... There are other scientists who have adopted the
unproven hypothesis that an intelligence is necessary to explain both the origin, and
diversification of life on Earth. This view follows from the human experience that teaches
order (complexity) results from intelligent action.”