Sunday, 29 September 2013

Time to teach the difference between fact and theory

If it is true that teacher Leonard Rogers told a science class that the theory of evolution is "not proven", as reported in the Sunday Herald, he was quite correct. Any scientist worth their salt knows that you cannot prove a scientific theory - you can only disprove one. Complaining parent Adrian Smales should know that as a scientist himself. All that scientists can say with any confidence about any theory is that it fits the facts as we currently know them. Should other facts emerge, the theory may be disproved. Evolution is not a fact - it is a theory. So is creationism. Now, if Rogers has been teaching creationism as fact, he is wrong. It can't be proved any more than evolution. However, if he has been teaching pupils the difference between facts and theories, that is all to the good and will stand them in good stead in the future. Facts are things which we can observe and measure. None of us can observe what happened even hundreds of years ago, never mind millions of years ago, because we were not there. All we can do is observe what has survived until the present time and make deductions about how it came to be there. Those deductions may, or may not, be correct. It is time the myth that evolution is a fact is exposed and children are taught to think and make deductions for themselves, based on the real facts. Is that not what Curriculum for Excellence is all about?

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