Science Has Several Shades of Gray
This
past weekend was spent in the company of friends around a huge bonfire, gazing
upon the stars. Occasionally we would see a plane or “space craft” zoom by the
night sky. As I got to looking around our surroundings, a huge bonfire on the
edge of a big field, surrounded by trees, I immediately thought of “Close Encounters
of the Third Kind”, a Spielberg fill from the late 70’s. And so the conversation turned to other life
forms and if these life forms really did exist beyond our plant.
Now
mind you, I do believe in a higher being, or God, if you so choose, but I also
believe in the power of science. One of our friends does not believe in aliens.
She strictly believes that there is one God and He is responsible for
everything on and around our plant and in space. My husband, who gets a kick
out of riling certain friends, totally egged our friend on about aliens and
religion. During their word war, I got to thinking that science is not a black
and white subject like the others.
In
Math you have one problem with one answer. However, with science it is not so
cut and dry. Many people do not believe in evolution and that we are descendants
from apes. Others believe that Darwin’s theory of evolution is absolute law. I
on the other hand believe in a little bit of both. It is proved that we share
98% of our DNA with Chimps and 60% of our DNA with chickens. How do I approach
the subject of evolution with those students that don’t believe?
One
of my college teachers when teaching evolution broached the subject very carefully.
She stated that science had several shades of gray, evolution being one of
those shades of grey. She also said that for the purposes of this class that evolution
was an important part of biology and that we had to learn about it, but not necessary
believe what we were learning about. I think that statement speaks volumes. I
don’t necessarily expect my students to agree with me 100% of the time, but if I
can open expand their minds and know that they are retaining the information
learned then I will be extremely happy as a teacher.
Hi Patricia,
ReplyDeleteI really liked how you used a popular culture medium (and a great film!) to jump into a very sensitive topic. Your thinking about these potentially controversial subjects now, instead of later, is a great decision. Here's a tough question: might we honor our students varied beliefs and still teach content that may seem to contradict those beliefs?
Hi Mark,
DeleteTo answer your question: Yes we can still honor our student’s beliefs and teach the content. We as teachers are there to teach the students, not force our beliefs on them. I think letting them know what is being taught has to be learned and if they choose to not believe then that is their prerogative. We need to remember that Science starts off with research, hypothesis and test. Though the test may be factual evidence, usually the hypothesis is an opinion of what “might” happen.
Oops, typo. Final sentence should read: "HOW might we . . ." Dangit!
ReplyDelete