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 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. Evolution is a theory of emergence of new varieties of life forms, not a "theory of origins" that accounts for how life began. There are currently a number of proposed models and hypotheses for the beginning of life as we know it, but evolution begins after life is established on earth. u000bu000b
What about macroevolution? u000bu000b
Scientists use the terms macroevolution and microevolution to describe different perspectives on life’s history, not fundamentally different processes. Macroevolution describes the result of evolutionary changes we can observe over time in response to mass extinctions, global climate changes, and other large-scale events that affect the abundance and distribution of species.