Folks: An interesting, comprehensive web site on this topic is:
I might suggest that if a teacher is challenged on the pepper moths and evolution, he/she might open a discussion on 1) looking at the original source of data, 2) value of peer-reviewed papers, 3) how easy it is to interpret information in different manners, and finally, 4) how to identify hoaxes or fraudulent studies. Even middle school students might enjoy tracking down all of the controversy on this topic (via the web).
More advanced students could be encouraged to discuss the scientific method, changes through time in scientists' understanding of a topic, and work toward their own conclusions about evolution and evolutionary drivers. I could envision a lively discussion, especially since high school students enjoy challenging the establishment, whoever they may be.
Sandy Leo
Stratigrapher, still out of Africa
For insight on the peppered moth and its role as an "icon of evolution", see the March/April 2005 issue of Skeptical Inquirer, vol. 29, p. 23-28. The article's authors conclude that the claims of fraud in Kettlewell's original experiments related by Judith Hooper in her 2002 book"Of Moths and Men: the Untold Story of Science and the Peppered Moth" are "moonshine" and "based on a lack of understanding of his experiments and of experimental science in general."