Judge orders removal of anti-evolution stickers from textbooks inGeorgia school district

[Thomas Lammers]

----- Original Message -----
From: Richard Jensen <rjensen at SAINTMARYS.EDU>
Date: Friday, January 14, 2005 3:38 am
Subject: Re: Judge orders removal of anti-evolution stickers from textbooks inGeorgia school district

> The equating of hypothesis and theory, the common thread that
> underlies these attempts to
> consign evolution to the same status as individual belief,
> reflects one of the greatest
> failings of science education.  We, as science educators, need to
> make sure that we spell
> out exactly what the difference between a theory and and a
> hypothesis is.  The general
> public, and too many science teachers, have been taught and/or
> allowed to continue to
> believe that a theory is just a hypothesis.

I tell students that saying "evolution is JUST a theory" (a la Ronald Reagan) is like saying "Michael Jordan is JUST a basketball player" or "Jupiter is JUST a planet."  I try to stress that if something is called a "theory" in science, it's a pretty big deal.  I ask if anyone doubts all living things are made of cells.  Of course not.  Well that's called "Cell Theory."

FWIW, that was a cleverly worded sticker.  It is very hard to argue with anything it says, prima facie.  Only the motive behind it was reprehensible.  The words were carefully chosen to be hard to argue with.

Tom Lammers