I'll say this much for your predicament - it's timely. Right now, on this side of the Pond, Darwin and evolutionary theory are undergoing a trial (of sorts) by television, courtesy of Professor Armand Marie Leroi:
You can ask what the scientific basis is for what it means to evolve and then have them explain what the article says to justify or nullify this. Example: what does their article mean by "the recent data merely indicate that humans have adapted to new environments and dietary changes" not being evolution?
Please excuse the undergrad input...margaret_yakodaJanuary 27 2009, 01:13:53 UTC
But I thought this may be useful.
The school I attend is a religiously oriented private institution, although they do have a relatively diverse student population.
I had a biology professor who told the class that he did not believe in evolution, but that it was the most widely accepted theory in biology and thus it was the standard that the course objectives were based on. He stressed that evolution would be on the test and that there would be no arguments about it in class, nor would there be any class projects that would be based on any other theory.
He was open about his own belief for just those few minutes, and then, as promised, it was the solid evolution line for the rest of the semester.
As a student I found this candor refreshing. For your situation, however, perhaps some paraphrasing of his declaration would work?
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00h6sbt
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Interestingly in the UK recently the New Scientist magazine issue 2692 had a cover that said, in big letters, "DARWIN WAS WRONG".
Of course, it wasn't saying evolution doesn't occur. It was an article explaining how Darwin's idea of the 'tree of life' was wrong.
See here;
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20126921.600-why-darwin-was-wrong-about-the-tree-of-life.html
or tinyurl http://tinyurl.com/d49sw2
or related article here;
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20126923.000-editorial-uprooting-darwins-tree.html
or tinyurl http://
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Or you can just make them use primary sources.
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The school I attend is a religiously oriented private institution, although they do have a relatively diverse student population.
I had a biology professor who told the class that he did not believe in evolution, but that it was the most widely accepted theory in biology and thus it was the standard that the course objectives were based on. He stressed that evolution would be on the test and that there would be no arguments about it in class, nor would there be any class projects that would be based on any other theory.
He was open about his own belief for just those few minutes, and then, as promised, it was the solid evolution line for the rest of the semester.
As a student I found this candor refreshing. For your situation, however, perhaps some paraphrasing of his declaration would work?
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