The Importance of Teaching Evolutionary Theory by Sally McGraw

The Importance of Teaching Evolutionary

Theory

By Sally McGraw

Interdisciplinary student

at University of

Minnesota

“Nature Finds a Way”

It’s important to teach evolution

so students can understand how life on

earth works.

Fun with vocab!

Some terms have different meanings

in a scientific context.

Scientific fact: an empirical observation

of a thing or event.

Scientific hypothesis: a falsifiable

educated guess that explains something.

Traveler sees several herds of

sheep.

Hypothesis: All sheep in this

country are white!

Scientific theory:

many linked hypotheses that

explain WHY something happens.

Inside a theory:

Each hypothesis has been tested.

Each hypothesis has observations and

experiments that support it.

Scientific theory ≠casual speculation

Hypotheses and theories

CANNOT BE PROVED, only disproved.

Opponents of evolution:

“It’s just a theory.”“It’s never been

proven.”

Other unproven scientific theories

are widely accepted.

These theories have no faith-based

counter-arguments.

Let’s quickly review the one that does.

Evolutionary theory studied and tested

since 1859

Charlie “Pull My Beard” Darwin1809 - 1882

Darwin:Common descent with modification

Darwin:Natural selection

Natural selection = those with beneficial traits will survive to

reproduce

Not fast enough?Not strong enough?

Not smart enough?

Genes have been passed on

Gregor “Punnet Square” Mendel1822 - 1884

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Thanks a lot, Greggie.

Mendel:Traits caused by

genes

Evolution = a change in a

population’s gene pool over time

Other research:Evolution fueled by many factors.

Adaptation

Mutation

Sexual selection

Evolution ≠natural selection

Natural selection is one of many

factors that CAUSE evolution.

The fossil record supports common descent and natural

selection.

Comparative anatomy supports common descent and natural

selection.

Homologous physical structures

indicate shared ancestry.

Vestigial structures also support shared

ancestry.

English, please.

Convergent evolution shows that organisms

living in similar environments will

adapt similarly.

Closely related, right?

Northern Flying Squirrel

Native to North America

Mammal

Northern Flying Squirrel

Native to North America

Mammal

Sugar Glider

Native to Australia

Marsupial

Shows that animals change physically to

adapt to their environments.

Molecular biology supports evolutionary theory.

DNA is theuniversal genetic

code

Supports common ancestry

Has shown genetic relationships between

species

That’s a lot of evidence.

Evolution cannot be seen with the naked

eye.

However, this supporting body of

evidence validates it.

Evolutionary theory is an underlying

principle in biology.

Students must grasp it to understand modern scientific

thought.

Fundamental and underlying IS NOT ENOUGH.

All are built on ideas, theories, and discoveries that simultaneously rely

on and provide evidence for evolution.

Study of modern hereditary disease

Evolution connects the dots.

“Seen in the light of evolution, biology is, perhaps, intellectually the

most satisfying and inspiring science. Without that light it

becomes a pile of sundry facts some of them interesting or curious but making no meaningful picture as a

whole.”

~Theodosius Dobzhansky, The American Biology Teacher

What kind of dots are we connecting, here?

If …

Then why …

If …

Then how …

If …

Then what …

Understanding evolutionary theory is

essential to understanding

modern science.

Evolution and faith:mutually exclusive?

“[Debaters wrongly present the two sides] as if they were alternatives

that are exclusive - whoever believes in the creator could not

believe in evolution, and whoever asserts belief in evolution would

have to disbelieve in God.”

~Pope Benedict XVI , as quoted in the New York Post, July 26, 2007

“This contrast is an absurdity, because there are many scientific tests in favor of evolution, which appears as a reality that we must

see and enriches our understanding

of life and being.”


“But the doctrine of evolution does not answer all questions, and it does not answer, above all, the

great philosophical question: From where does everything come?”


He’s right.

“Anglicans, Catholics, most Protestant Christians, and

Conservative and Reformed Jews believe that God is the Creator, but

that he works through the process of evolution, as revealed through

modern science.”

~National Center for Science Education

Methodists, Presbyterians, Lutherans, the United Church of

Christ and many other denominations do not assert that

Creation occurred literally as described in Genesis.

The majority of Christian seminaries do not teach a Biblical literalist

creation.

~National Center for Science Education

A small but powerful minority see

evolution as a threat to God.

“It is ludicrous to mistake the Bible and the Koran for primers of natural science. They treat of matters even

more important: the meaning of man and his relations to God. ”

~Theodosius Dobzhansky, The American Biology Teacher

It’s important to teach evolution

so students can understand how life on

earth works.

Evolutionary theory =backbone of modern

biology

To omit it is to deprive students of a fundamental

and vital body of scientific thought.

Thank you

The Importance of Teaching Evolutionary Theory by Sally McGraw

Spiritual

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