Teaching evolution and the nature of science

Abstract

Evolutionary biologists are much given to quoting Dobzhansky's (1973) famous phrase, ‘Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution’, and to asserting that evolution is the most comprehensive unifying theme in biology. Indeed, evolution is surely one of the two most fundamental principles of biology (the other being that life phenomena are entirely a matter of physics and chemistry, not élan vital ), and a good case can be made that it is biology's most important theory. Nevertheless, many of our fellow biologists seem to honour this acknowledgement more in the breach than the observance, for the chapters on functional biology in introductory biology textbooks usually lack any reference to evolution at all, and the universities that require undergraduate biology majors to take a course in evolution are almost surely in the minority. Outside academia, the situation is much worse. ‘Scientific illiteracy’ is increasingly seen as a major problem in the US and elsewhere (Mooney and Kirshenbaum, 2009). Fewer than half of American adults can provide even a minimal description of DNA (Miller et al ., 2006). Popular understanding of even the rudiments of evolution is worse, and is compounded by scepticism and hostility to a degree faced by no other claim in science. Over the past 20 years, only 40–45% of Americans say they accept evolution, almost the lowest proportion among developed nations (Figure 15.1). Creationism (in its several guises, including ‘intelligent design’) is increasing throughout many developed and developing countries. The situation in Australia is better: according to a Nielsen poll in 2009, ‘forty-two percent of [Australian] people believe in a wholly scientific explanation for the origins of life and thirty-two percent believe in an evolutionary process “guided by God”’; still, almost a quarter believe the biblical account of human origins (Jacqueline Maley, 2009). Despite its generally secular reputation, Australia was the birthplace of a group called ‘Answers in Genesis’ that spread widely; creationists successfully lobbied in 1980 for teaching creationism in Queensland; the Federal Education Minister in 2005 reportedly approved of teaching creationism along with evolution (Or, 2005).

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