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Kodi, that was exactly my point. If one of our visitors explains evolution as "survival of the fittest", would you conclude that they do not understand the theory? But if you take that position, you would also have to agree that NO ONE completely understands the mechanisms of evolution, including evolutionary biologists. If they did, there would be no need for further research in the field. The visitor who describes the mechanism as survival of the fittest does have some understanding, just not very sophisticated or up to date.
So it seems to me the question of whether the public "understands" is too simplistic. It is not an either/or — I understand it or I don't — but rather a continuum. When we look at studies that say the public "doesn't understand the mechanism of evolution", it seems a fair question to ask what definition of understanding the authors used?
On Mar 4, 2011, at 8:02 AM, Kodi Jeffery wrote:
> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
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>
> I have to apologize for getting nit-picky here, but we really need to avoid
> using the term "survival of the fittest". It is a tautology (after all, the
> way to determine "fitness" is based on who survives, so we have "survival
> of the survivors). Numerous people hear this and say "of course -- that's
> why evolution is bunk!". The correct term is "Natural Selection", and I
> think it can be useful to let people know that WE know that. But if we can
> get people to understand natural selection as a mechanism, I think we've
> gone a long way toward evolution education.
>
> Kodi R. Jeffery, Ph.D
> Informal Science Educator
> 801-368-6284
> [log in to unmask]
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Informal Science Education Network
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Chuck Howarth
> Sent: Friday, March 04, 2011 8:00 AM
> 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.
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>
> I saw a bumper sticker yesterday that read, "Honk if you understand
> punctuated equilibrium"! Which raises the question of what it means to say
> that the public "understands" the mechanism of evolution. Understand at
> what level? Does "survival of the fittest" qualify, or would that indicate
> misunderstanding?
>
> On Mar 4, 2011, at 5:10 AM, Martin Weiss wrote:
>
>> In a study of museum visitors to an exhibition, Explore Evolution, Evans
> shows
>> that most museum visitors (to a natural history museum!) (72%) accept
>> evolution -even for the human, but that the majority misunderstand the
>> mechanisms. As for the general public, it is not clear that anyone has
>> tested it in that way.
>
>
> Chuck Howarth, Vice President
> ____________________________________
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Chuck Howarth, Vice President
____________________________________
G Y R O S C O P E I N C
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Oakland, CA 94607
tele: 510.986.0111
web: www.gyroscopeinc.com
blog: http://museums-now.blogspot.com
____________________________________
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Check out the latest case studies and reviews on ExhibitFiles at www.exhibitfiles.org.
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