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I am intrigued by the suppositions that a significant percentage of people 
who accept that evolution happened don't actually understand it.  Of course, 
there are varying degrees of understanding and I am sure that the average 
person on the street may not be aware of the evolving beaks of Darwin's 
finches or that there are finger bones in whale flippers but does that mean 
that they don't understand the process of evolution?  Could someone 
extrapolate a little on the distinction between acceptance of evolution and 
understanding it?

Thank You,
Jack Cannon


-----Original Message----- 
From: Jennie Dusheck
Sent: Tuesday, March 01, 2011 7:13 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Creationists as proponents of academic freedom

ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related 
institutions.
*****************************************************************************

At 3:19 PM -0800 3/1/11, Charlie Carlson wrote:
>  > In the 40% or so of Americans who accept evolution I'd shutter to read 
> some of their explanations.  Maybe they'd tend towards acceptance but 
> probably not understanding.

I have read a good many of them, and it's my opinion that a large
fraction of people who accept that evolution happened (and will argue
with creationists about it) don't understand it and don't know they
don't understand it. Evolution is at least partly a shibboleth that
serves as a marker for education and political views.

I'm not in a position to criticize though, because I don't really
understand the rationale for most modern cosmology and a lot of other
things. I know bridges stand up, but do I really know why? Probably
not.

In contrast, the middle 60% who say they aren't sure whether
evolution is right, freely admit they don't understand it. I'm
tempted to think they are a good audience to target for education
programs about evolution.

Jennie Dusheck

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