Title: The Importance of Teaching Human Evolution | National Center for Science Education
Headings: The Importance of Teaching Human Evolution
The Importance of Teaching Human Evolution
Content: The Importance of Teaching Human Evolution | National Center for Science Education
July 19, 2016
The Importance of Teaching Human Evolution
Theodosius Dobzhansky’s “Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution” is my favorite science quote, as it sums up perfectly how important evolution is to our understanding of biology. Unfortunately, in far too many schools evolution is not taught all, or not taught to its full extent. When it comes to human evolution in particular, the statistics are even more depressing. According to a 2008 survey by Berkman and Plutzer, 17% of high school biology teachers omit human evolution entirely, while the majority (60%) spend just one to five hours of class time on it. In the United States, there are very few states ( seven plus the District of Columbia in 2007) with science standards that specifically include human evolution; and human evolution is missing from the NGSS standards that were finalized in 2013. There are many reasons why human evolution may not be part of the formal curriculum, but “controversy” surrounding our origins and fear of push back from parents due to religious concerns are certainly among them. To skip or minimize discussion of human evolution, however, is to miss an opportunity to engage students. From an early age we wonder where we come from; evolution explains that for us.