Greetings, I currently teach high school biology in Charlottesville, VA. Adaptation, natural selection, and evolution are a big part of the state standards of learning and standards based tests. Despite this emphasis, the controversy all comes back to students' full grasping of the idea of a scientific theory--including that a theory is not necessarily something you believe in or not.
Even though I would rather just ensure that students really grasp how scientific thought and processes work together to produce usable knowledge, I unfortunately cannot guarantee that this will happen anytime soon--schools would have to improve this type of basic science education at all grade levels, probably by stripping some of the more superficial standards from the curriculum. So, at the least, we could ask more appropriate poll questions, as some of you have pointed out--questions that would elucidate what people really understand about the theory, and point out possible misconceptions to the poll-reading public. I think a series of questions that starts with "do you think there is scientific evidence that supports the theory of evolution (by natural selection)?" Yes? Then what evidence do you know of? No? What evidence is not convincing to you? If polls are not asking these questions in the terms of theory and evidence, then they are not asking about real science. The results of such a poll might be even more embaressing, but at least they could serve some purpose beside reinforcing the status quo. Thanks for continuing this conversation! I encourage people concerned about science education to examine their local schools' standards and in-school practices (especially at lower grades), look for any disparities, and push for more authentic, inquiry based scientific education. Cheers, Jimmy Green On Sat, Feb 14, 2009 at 4:58 AM, William Silvert <[email protected]>wrote: > I share the feeeling of Wendee and other respondents that "believe" is not > an appropriate word. The problem is that we haven't really come up wth > alternatives that reflect the inherent skepticism of science but that are > also meaningful to the general public. Evolution is a credible theory, > well-supported by evidence, etc., but none of these phrases have much bite. > After all, there is still a lot of common reference to "scientific proof", > and any attempts to revise our language to conform to the way that > scientists think (or should think) will simply weaken our case and be jumped > on by those who argue that the only thngs we really know are that g*d > exists, that everything in the bible/koran/etc. is absolutely true, and that > theirs is the only true faith. Knowledge is power, ain't it? > > Bill Silvert > > > ----- Original Message ----- From: "Wendee Holtcamp" < > [email protected]> > To: <[email protected]> > Sent: Friday, February 13, 2009 6:17 PM > Subject: [ECOLOG-L] Isaac Asimov quote/was Gallup poll on evolution > > > That is frightening. Wonder why they chose to use "believe in" for this >> poll... >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news >> [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of David Inouye >> Sent: Friday, February 13, 2009 11:35 AM >> To: [email protected] >> Subject: [ECOLOG-L] Gallup poll on evolution >> >> http://www.gallup.com/poll/114544/Darwin-Birthday-Believe-Evolution.aspx >> >> PRINCETON, NJ -- On the eve of the 200th anniversary of Charles >> Darwin's birth, a new Gallup Poll shows that only 39% of Americans >> say they "believe in the theory of evolution," while a quarter say >> they do not believe in the theory, and another 36% don't have an >> opinion either way. These attitudes are strongly related to education >> and, to an even greater degree, religiosity. >> >>
