University evolutionary biology professor Dominique Homberger examined on Thursday the misconceptions surrounding the theory of evolution and its importance in education.
During a talk at the Unitarian Church of Baton Rouge, Homberger explained that the controversy around evolutionary theory is a recent development in the past 200 years. She attributes the lack of acceptance for evolutionary theory to poor education and a lack of understanding.
“You can’t understand the theory without a simple understanding of biology,” Homberger told a crowd of about 30.
She said people can’t apply the information if they don’t understand the science behind it. But Homberger noted that the controversy does not lie in the theory of evolution, but within the history of it.
“We can reconstruct the past, but nothing can be certain,” Homberger said. Biologists debate the history of evolution and will continue to do so, but the theory of evolution is accepted, according to Homberger.
“There should not be a fear to educate students about evolutionary theories,” Homberger said. “We can’t say since we are not always correct that we shouldn’t teach scientific theories.”
Homberger spoke about the strong need to change education in Louisiana. She believes teachers need to expose children to the natural world to explain ecology and adaptation. She also advocated using language to explain changes in evolution over time and teaching students to infer from indirect evidence.
The state of Louisiana enacted the Louisiana Science Education Act in 2008, which allows for open opposition and objective discussion of scientific theories, such as evolution, in the classroom. The Louisiana law is the only one of its kind throughout the country.
“It is not a matter of belief,” Homberger said. “It is a matter of education.”
She said the problem is that teachers need to teach in a way that students can understand theories. Homberger added that if teachers can’t explain these theories understandably then they aren’t doing their jobs correctly.
“Louisiana deserves better,” Homberger said. “We need to use the reservoir of knowledge available to us. It is our responsibility as teachers to change what we are doing to better education for everyone.”
Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the constitutional principles of church separation from the government in order to ensure religious freedom for
Americans, sponsored the event.