I teach at a small university and find that most of my firstyears and sophomores have a poor understanding of evolution. Furthermore, most of them have accepted the false dichotomy that many scientific folks and many religious folks assert- that you must choose EITHER science OR g*d/beliefs/community. In class we learn about evolution/age of the earth/evidence and have discussions about how this and their beliefs are not mutually exclusive, after which most of them are much more accepting of evolution.
Perhaps some folks on this listserve with time on their hands could write up & post 5 good questions that really get at a person's understanding of evolution and what parts of it they agree / disagree with. Then we could fire these off to Gallup and explain why these are better questions that what they use (or do this study ourselves somehow. nice publication....). Maybe then we could find out what most Americans understand and agree with. -st > Date: Fri, 13 Feb 2009 19:14:41 -0600 > From: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] Isaac Asimov quote/was Gallup poll on evolution > To: [email protected] > > Wendee -- I wonder that also. I teach my students not to use believe in > science because of the religious connotation of the word. mas tarde, EJF > > Wendee Holtcamp <[email protected]> > Sent by: "Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news" > <[email protected]> > 02/13/2009 12:35 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. > > Also, why do they never ask them to get the correct definition of > evolution. > That would be far more illuminating, taken side by side. > > Question - I have this great quote but can't seem to verify it. Does > anyone > know if Isaac Asimov actually wrote this, or said this, and if so where? > > "Circumstantial evidence can be overwhelming. We have never seen an atom, > but we nevertheless know that it must exist." > > Thanks! > Wendee > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Wendee Holtcamp, M.S. Wildlife Ecology > Freelance Writer * Photographer * Bohemian > http://www.wendeeholtcamp.com > http://bohemianadventures.blogspot.com > ~~6-wk Online Writing Course Starts Feb 21, 2009~~ > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > 'Better to light a candle than curse the darkness' > > > -----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. _________________________________________________________________ Windows Live™: E-mail. Chat. Share. Get more ways to connect. http://windowslive.com/explore?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_t2_allup_explore_022009
