Title: Chapter 1: Why Teach Evolution? | Teaching About Evolution and the Nature of Science | The National Academies Press
Headings: 1
Why Teach Evolution?

1
Why Teach Evolution?
Solving the Puzzle
Evolution and the Nature of Science
Evolution and Everyday Life
Dialogue
NOTES

Content: An understanding of evolution has been essential in finding and using natural resources, such as fossil fuels, and it will be indispensable as human societies strive to establish sustainable relationships with the natural environment. Such examples can be multiplied many times. Evolutionary research is one of the most active fields of biology today, and discoveries with important practical applications occur on a regular basis. Those who oppose the teaching of evolution in public schools sometimes ask that teachers present "the evidence against evolution." However, there is no debate within the scientific community over whether evolution occurred, and there is no evidence that evolution has not occurred. Some of the details of how evolution occurs are still being investigated. But scien