Evolution And Its Place In The Biology Classroom

One of the reasons that the theory of evolution has been such a controversial topic when taught in biology class is because it challenges people's beliefs in a supreme being. A typical definition of biological evolution can be found at www.thefreedictionary.com/evolution, and is defined as a "Change in the genetic composition of a population during successive generations, as a result of natural selection acting on the genetic variation among individuals, and resulting in the development of new species."1 This idea can be a problem for devout theists because they believe that a god created all of the species and that those species wouldn't change. Therefore, many of these people believe that evolution "is just a theory". To them, a theory is just a possible explanation for something.

However, from a scientific standpoint the definition of "theory" is a well-tested idea that explains a body of scientific data. What this means is that one cannot simply put random ideas together to explain something. There must be actual evidence that can be used to support the theory. From a scientific standpoint, the theory of biological evolution has been used to explain how fossils have changed over millions of years. It is not just a coincidence that some prehistoric animals resemble some of today's animals. For instance, the Glyptodon, which lived around 2,500,000 to 10,000 years ago peculiarly looks and has some of the same physical qualities as today's armadillo2. Both animals are quite scaly, and they have sort of a round and curved back. Not only that, but geographically, the remains of the Glyptodon are in around the same area as the armadillos reside today.

Although evolutionary theory does not explain all that we know about biology, evolution is the best theory that we have about life and the differences between species. For this reason, evolution has a central place is the biology classroom. However, creationism should not be taught in the classroom, since not only is it not a theory, it has no science behind it. A number of states such as Ohio and Kansas have fought to include creationism in the science curriculum. But until creationism gets research and evidence, it cannot be counted as a science and should not be taught as a science.

I'm sure some people do not believe in the theory of evolution because there are some crazy misconceptions about natural selection that are stated by people who are ignorant of the details of evolutionary theory. For example, some people might think that Lamarkianism has something to do with evolution, which it does not. A Frenchman, Jean-Baptiste Lamark, originator of this idea, believed "The mechanism for biological change was the transmission to the next generation of characteristics acquired during the life span of an individual" (Smith and Sullivan 44).3

So in the case of Lamarkianism, giraffes obtained a long neck from their ancestors, not because of their genes, but because their ancestors originally had shorter necks who obtained them over time by reaching for their food in high. By stretching their necks to reach the food, the ancestors got long necks, and then passed the long necks down to their offspring. This would be like if a man spent all of his life bodybuilding and then passed down a trait so all of his offspring had large muscles.

Darwin's theory is far from this simple. His theory specifies that evolution in species take place over generations. Animals that are better adapted to their environments are more likely to survive and reproduce. Even though his theory was developed over 130 years ago, it is still remarkably close to the scientific data that has been collected to date. As noted by the National Academy of Sciences, "the rapidity with which organisms with short generation times, such as bacteria and viruses, can evolve