Title: Development of Evolutionary Thought
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Content: Development of Evolutionary Thought
































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Development of Evolutionary Thought
Teaching evolution
Teaching evolution can be fraught with difficulty: it is probably the only scientific theory to be rejected on grounds of personal belief. Because of this, it may be that we should move from simply teaching a series of facts and concepts to looking at the development of the theory of evolution, and placing it in its social and historical contexts. William Cobern, who has written a number of papers on the teaching of evolution, has commented (1994) "Teaching evolution at the secondary level - is very much like Darwin presenting the Origin of Species to a public who historically held a very different view of origins." To meet this challenge, "teachers [should] preface the conceptual study of evolution with a classroom dialogue ... informed with material on the cultural history of Darwinism." He goes on (1995, p. 295), "I do not believe ... that evolution can be taught effectively by ignoring significant metaphysical (i.e. essentially religious) questions.