COLUMBUS — Efforts to bring alternatives to the theory of evolution into classrooms nationwide have included legislation, parent and student petitions, a high school “creation club” and disclaimers in textbooks stating the dominant theory is not fact.

        Those efforts have helped lay the groundwork for a battle under way in Ohio to get other ideas about life into public schools.

        The state Board of Education is to hold a panel discussion Monday with scientists who support evolution and experts who back intelligent design, the idea that life must have been designed by a higher power because of its complexity.

        The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that mandating that creationism, drawn from the Bible, be taught in public schools is unconstitutional. The justices have not considered the intelligent design view, which critics call a new spin on creationism, the classic foe of Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection.

        The 19-member state board must approve new standards by the end of the year, and several members want students to learn evolution and other viewpoints about life.

        John Meyer, director of the Van Andel Creation Research Center in Chino Valley, Ariz., said people increasingly are agreeing that evolution should not be the sole idea taught.

        “More are beginning to see that the theory of evolution should be subjected to the same critical examination as other theories,” he said. “Evolution no longer has the dominance it once had 35 to 40 years ago.”

        Frequent challenges to teaching evolution already have weakened its presence in the nation's classrooms, said Lawrence Krauss, a physicist from Case Western Reserve University.

        “It's just representative of a growing public ignorance about science,” Mr. Krauss said. “It shows we're doing a rotten job of teaching science, and we're not doing enough to get people to realize evolution is important.”

        He and other evolution supporters say the few successful efforts to “water down” evolution in classrooms have only made the problem worse.

        School board members in states including Pennsylvania, Hawaii and Alabama have unsuccessfully tried to eliminate evolution from state standards, replace it with a broader phrase or allow alternative life origin theories to be taught.

        Bills on the issue have been introduced in several states, including Ohio, Georgia and Washington, but few have been taken up for serious consideration. Some of the bills propose clarifying that evolution is a theory, and others would have encouraged or required teachers to present and critique all scientific theories about life.

        Those who support presenting alternatives to evolution in classrooms say they want to ensure students are able to think critically about life's processes by examining evolution's strengths and weaknesses.

        “It's a matter of subjectivity. It's breaking down that, and making it more objective by including all points of view,” said Bruce Chapman, president of the Discovery Institute, a Seattle-based think tank pushing for intelligent design in Ohio.

        Critics of intelligent design argue that it would open the door for creationism.

        Kenneth R. Miller, a biology professor at Brown University, said he worries any political pressure to deviate from evolution might cause teachers avoid covering how life began and changed.

        “They might decide that it's too much trouble,” he said.

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