Students in Ohio schools will be learning reading, writing and Darwin.

At last night's meeting of the Ohio Board of Education, the 19-member board voted unanimously in favor of new science standards that will emphasize evolution and critical analysis of the theory. The standards are expected to be fully adopted in December.

Individual school districts will retain the authority to decide whether or not to teach alternative concepts. Although teachers will not be required to follow the new standards, students will be tested on them on new achievement exams.

Even though he said Lawrence County is part of the "Bible Belt," Lawrence County Superintendent Harold Shafer said students are aware of evolution.

"We make people aware of different things, but we don't force them to believe anything," he said.

Dawson-Bryant superintendent Jim Payne said it is too early to tell what the district will do in December.

"We plan to input from the community in this process," he said. "Then, we will make recommendations to the board."

Joy McComas, a biology teacher at Rock Hill High School, said she exposes her students to evolution but other theories that explain the origins of life.

"Students need all theories," she said. "I use facts to substantiate both, so the students can make intelligent decisions."

"Personally, I'm not an evolutionist," she continued. "As far as scientific evidence is concerned, evolution is lacking in some areas. But, when they go out into the world, they need to be able to answer questions about both theories. It's important that they know all that's out there."

Brenda Haas, Dawson-Bryant High School principal, is pleased that the state allowed local school districts to make their own decisions regarding evolution in the classroom.

"That local control is the main foundation of schools in Ohio," she said, adding that at her school, students are also taught both theories and allowed to make their own decisions.

Dr. Marcia Harrison, professor of biological sciences at Marshall University, said her students understanding the theory of evolution in her classes is critical.

"When we look at how genes are related to one another, evolution is a common approach," she said. "Evolution is a tool I commonly use in designing experiments."

"But, you never use a single tool," she continued. "That's not sound science."

Harrison mostly teaches upper-level courses. One of her colleagues, Dr. Dean Adkins, teaches most of the introductory biology courses for science majors. He said some students who enter his class don't have a good grasp on what the evolution theory entails.

"Some students have a preconceived notion that when a fish jumps out of water, it becomes a frog," he said. "It takes a long period of time for populations to change. Evolution doesn't mean something changed in an organism's lifetime."

Ohio's previous standards had avoided the phrase "evolution" and recommended the phrase "change through time" without specifying what the phrase meant.

Adkins said the term "population change" is more accurate.

"Dinosaurs are no longer here, but they did exist," he said. "These types of changes occur over long periods of time."

He also emphasized learning other points of view regardless of one's own.

"You may be a fundamentalist Christian, but you need to know what the theory entails," he said. "You may not be a Communist, but you may need to know that person's beliefs."