Science Is Constantly Evolving
Discover the latest in climate change and evolution education news.
As community college professors, and current and former National Association of Biology Teachers leaders, we teach evolution because an understanding of this critical concept and process helps our students not only to comprehend the historical context of life, but also to interpret current topics…
It’s not only important to teach evolution; it’s important to teach all of evolution. It’s not only true that “nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution,” as Dobzhansky said. It’s that so much more in biology makes sense when all of evolution is taught. Here’…
I spent a lot of years studying the 1918 influenza virus. I was part of the team that deciphered the genetic sequence of the virus from preserved lung samples. These samples came from U.S. soldiers who died of the flu and from a native Alaskan woman buried in permafrost who died when the virus…
Over 20 years ago, I first read the book Teaching About Evolution and the Nature of Science, published by the National Academies Press. While I had already been a teacher for several years, my teaching lacked coherence, which I immediately recognized as I studied this book. Even though I…
Why teach evolution? This is a wonderful question to ask about any topic in science. The curriculum has always been crowded, so it is vital that science classes focus on important subjects of interest and importance, always pruning and adding to the syllabus.
As other writers in this series point…
“What does evolution have to do with anatomy?” This was a regular question from the students in my introductory anatomy classes. We used a textbook by Kenneth Saladin, which is one of the very few that provides any evolutionary context at all for human anatomy and physiology. Saladin’s book lists “…
The first thought that popped into my head when starting to answer the question “Why teach evolution?” was how would you teach biology without teaching evolution? Or any life science for that matter? I began to consider this possibility further and examined my own yearly lesson plans from when I…
Rhode Island's House Resolution 7471 would, if approved, express the support of the House of Representatives for increased environmental and climate education in the state's public schools — and the NCSE/Penn State study of climate change education is cited as evidence of the need for the increase…
Connecticut's governor Ned Lamont declared February 12, 2020, Charles Darwin Day in the state of Connecticut, citing the need to protect "the advancement of science and courageous free inquiry," including "the study of the impacts of climate change." Darwin was described as developing "the…