Learning About Evolution Critical For Understandi...( logically on observations that can be t...)

logically on observations that can be tested and analyzed. The book:

• summarizes the massive amount of scientific evidence in support of evolution and suggests effective ways of teaching it;

• explains the nature of science and how it differs from other ways of knowing about the natural world;

• provides eight sample activities that teachers can use to develop students' understanding of evolution and scientific inquiry; and

• answers some of the most frequently asked questions about the scientific, legal, and educational issues surrounding the teaching of evolution.

"Biology simply cannot be taught well without covering evolution," said Donald Kennedy, a co-author of the guidebook and Bing Professor of Environmental Studies, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif. "Students who understand the process of evolutionary change are able to grasp its vital practical consequences, such as how bacteria develop resistance to antibiotics. A failure to teach effectively about evolution will rob students of a precious opportunity -- to understand how life on Earth has developed and to appreciate their own place in the world."

The guidebook does not attempt to refute the ideas of those who oppose the teaching of evolution. Rather, it points out that most religious denominations in the United States do not view evolution as being at odds with their understanding of human origins. The idea that the entire universe was created all at once about 10,000 years ago ? an idea inherent in "creation science" -- is not supported by scientific data. However, the concept of evolution is unquestioned by almost all scientists.

Many who oppose teaching evolution charge that it is "just a theory, not a fact," and should be taught as such in the classroom. But scientists do not use the word "theory" to describe an unsubstantiated idea. In science, theories are expla
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Contact: Molly Galvin, David Schneier
news@nas.edu
202/334-2138
The National Academies
9-Apr-1998

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