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Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
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I know I'm past the "official due date" for science centers' 
statements regarding evolution, but I decided it was worth offering 
my suggestion, regardless. It's longer than I'd like (373 words), but 
I'm having trouble finding a place to shorten it -- unless it was to 
cut one or both of the last two (very short) paragraphs. I think that 
opinions might differ as to whether to keep them, so I'm offering the 
whole thing, here. I'd love to hear suggestions on ways to better it 
and hope people find it useful. (I admit to wondering whether 
visitors might be willing to read a longer piece of text if it were 
regarding a topic of concern to them -- and I think we'd all agree 
that evolution is a topic of concern to many of our visitors).

Kodi Jeffery, Ph.D
Informal Science Educator
Currently seeking employment

Science is about testing ideas. In fact, if there's no way to test an 
idea's validity, that idea can't be considered science. Some ideas 
can be tested directly, such as whether a certain medicine can 
destroy cancer cells. Others can't be controlled the same way, but as 
long as there are ways to apply discriminating testing, the ideas can 
still be scientific. Copernicus' idea of a sun-centered solar system 
was heresy among people who considered Earth the center of the 
universe. But despite being unable to control the planets for tests, 
scientists could still make predictions based on this idea. They 
could predict eclipses and explain phases of the moon and intricate 
planetary motions. And the more people could explain and predict, the 
stronger this idea became. Eventually, it became a theory, in the 
proper sense of the word: the very highest "achievement" of any idea 
in science.

A valid theory explains huge amounts of data; it is then used to make 
further predictions and design new tests. The more we study and 
learn, the better we can refine and validate the theory. Evolutionary 
theory has been used to synthesize data from geology to microbiology. 
It has synthesized huge amounts of widely disparate data, and 
scientists use it to make seemingly endless predictions and plans. 
For example, evolution helps us understand why antibiotics stop 
working after a period of time and helps us plan new strategies for 
future medications. If this theory had failed in a prediction or 
explanation, even once, scientists would have had to revise or even 
discard the theory. But the idea has held strong, despite decades of 
rigorous testing, so much so that it has become the unifying theory 
of biology. Without it, nothing makes sense.

Contrary to popular conceptions, science takes no stand on religion. 
People once believed a sun-centered solar system conflicted with 
their religious beliefs, but they eventually realized that science 
was merely explaining the natural processes that make our world work.

As a science center, we respect the most basic tenets of science, 
namely that we must keep an open mind while we test our world, then 
let those tests teach us what they will. Evolutionary theory 
continues to teach us new things every day.

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