Title: Why Teach Evolution? | National Center for Science Education
Headings: Why Teach Evolution?
Why Teach Evolution?
What is biological evolution?
What about macroevolution?
Why is evolution mandated in science education standards?
Isn’t evolution only a theory?
Why are no other theories required in the science education standards?
What about other scientific "theories of origins?"
Isn’t evolution controversial?
What about dissenting scientists?
What about critical thinking?

Content: Why Teach Evolution? | National Center for Science Education
Why Teach Evolution? From the early 20th century onward, teaching biological evolution in the public schools has been a contentious issue. Although a series of federal court decisions has upheld the proper place of biological evolution in the curriculum, the struggle over evolution in the curriculum continues. Recent conflicts over the content of science education standards in many states have arisen precisely because evolution was awarded its proper status as the fundamental theoretical construct underpinning modern biology. Why does teaching evolution remain so socially and politically controversial? Is it "fair" to teach only evolution in public schools? Does this policy help or does it harm the students in these schools? u000bu000b
What is biological evolution? u000bu000b
In the biological sciences, evolution is a theory of change that accounts for the pattern of similarities and differences among living things on earth throughout the earth’s history and across all the habitats and biomes that exist or have existed in that history.