Science Is Constantly Evolving
Discover the latest in climate change and evolution education news.
Teaching evolution is fundamental to understanding and explaining the diversity of life around us. Supported by multiple lines of evidence, evolution has the broad power to explain biological phenomena on small and large scales. By understanding how evolutionary changes occur, scientists can make…
During the summer of 2019, one of our Graduate Student Outreach Fellows planned to lead a no-conflict training with the "Graduate Outreach Club" at her university. A few days before this was scheduled, I got an email from the president of the "Share Your Science" organization at that same…
Arizona's Senate Bill 1368, introduced on January 29, 2020, by Juan Mendez (D-District 26), would, if enacted, revise the state science standards to "include instruction on climate change using the 2013 Next Generation Science Standards."
Climate change is already part of one of the "Core Ideas…
When I tell people that my sixth-grade life science course is based on evolution, I get some interesting looks. Some of those looks are because most folks think I am certifiable just for loving to teach sixth-graders! However, after they get past that, they are puzzled by the idea that I dedicate…
A revised set of North Carolina's state social studies standards now under consideration omits the Paleolithic, according to WFAE radio in Charlotte (January 30, 2020), meaning that human evolution would no longer be mentioned in sixth-grade world history courses.
WFAE observed, "Some who embrace…
South Dakota's Senate Bill 59, which would have allowed the misrepresentation of science in the classroom, was tabled on a 7-0 vote in the Senate Education Committee on January 30, 2020, and is thus out of commission.
If enacted, SB 59 would have provided, "No teacher may be prohibited from…
Evolution illuminates the nature of science. With evolutionary concepts embedded throughout biology courses, observational and experimental investigations provide opportunities for students to analyze data, argue the evidence, and draw connections regarding evolutionary change.
I came to my own realization of the importance of teaching evolution by discovering that several unconnected subjects that fascinated me were actually closely connected, and connected with all of modern evolutionary biology.
Are we really still asking this question in 2020?
You might as well ask why teach that the earth is round.