Education Icon Education

On Teaching the Evolution Controversy, Misconceptions from Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

Over at the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, John Cook, Climate Communication Fellow for the Global Change Institute at the University of Queensland, writes about how to teach students about climate change. He rejects teaching the controversy in favor of instruction that “both teaches scientific concepts and explicitly mentions and refutes misconceptions.”

Discovery Institute takes no position on climate change, but Cook specifically mentions evolution, too. He notes:

The problem with “teach the controversy” when it comes to human-caused global warming or evolution is that there is no controversy — not a scientific one, at least. Teaching that scientists have major disagreements where they do not is simply to spread misinformation.

I certainly agree with the second part of his statement — if there’s no scientific controversy, we shouldn’t teach that there is one. But is there a scientific controversy over evolution? Yes, indeed.

There is ongoing debate over whether evolutionary mechanisms can explain life’s diversity. In Altenberg, Austria, in 2008, a group of 16 distinguished biologists got together to discuss holes in neo-Darwinism. Out of this conference came the book Evolution: The Extended Synthesis. The scientists of The Third Way of Evolution reject intelligent design, but question the ability of natural selection and random mutations to generate diverse biological species.

The late biologist and member of the National Academy of Sciences Lynn Margulis <href=”#fn44″>stated, “New mutations don’t create new species; they create offspring that are impaired.” Over 950 PhD scientists have signed the “Scientific Dissent from Darwinism” list, affirming they are “skeptical of claims for the ability of random mutations and natural selection to account for the complexity of life.” For a summary of weaknesses and links to scientific articles challenging the major mechanisms of neo-Darwinism, read Casey Luskin’s article, “The Top Ten Scientific Problems with Biological and Chemical Evolution.”

Given this reality, it would seem that teaching the controversy over evolution is justified. Teaching about “misconceptions” on evolution, on the other hand, would be inaccurate and, in effect, mislead students.

Our approach to evolution instruction invites students to explore an area of ongoing scientific debate. It exposes them to the full facts of neo-Darwinian biology. It rejects attempts to indoctrinate in favor of teaching students to think like scientists. That’s good science, and good pedagogy.

Image: European peacock butterfly, by Charlesjsharp (Own work, from Sharp Photography, sharpphotography) [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons.

Sarah Chaffee

Now a teacher, Sarah Chaffee served as Program Officer in Education and Public Policy at Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture. She earned her B.A. in Government. During college she interned at Representative Jaime Herrera Beutler’s office and for Prison Fellowship Ministries. Before coming to Discovery, she worked for a private land trust with holdings in the Southwest.

Share

Tags

__k-review