There have already been some interesting threads about teaching evolution, but as my son is currently being taught evolution in a US High School (probably as I write) I thought I might share some observations on a real case.
Pambolito is in 10th grade in Washington State and his Biology class has now moved on to discuss evolution. So far they covered two principal areas:
A history of how Darwin came to write "Origin of Species" - and Wallace gets an honourable mention.
A lot of work on natural selection, with a discussion of Mayr's neo-Darwinism.
The work they do on natural selection is of interest. As a Biology class, they have much to learn, whether to do with evolution or not, about factors such as predation, environmental factors, ecological niches etc., and much of thbeir time is spent on the details of what these mean for organisms.
Their work on Mayr's neo-Darwinian synthesis is interesting too, especially in the context of this board. They explicitly review observed facts (as mainstream science would have it) and inferences, making a clear distinction between the two. Their understanding of the limits of inference should be strong as they have already done several weeks' at the beginning of the year on deduction and inference, including much practical work.
The teaching is such that an interested parent who had followed their child's studies would be perfectly capable of raising topics for discussion at home within the context of the study material.
On the whole, I am very satisified with the teaching of the subject: it is interesting (very important for a 10th grader) and not too outdated.
It does, however, present a simplified model of how speciation may occur and does emphasise natural selection. I myself do not consider natural selection to be the prime mover in speciation. But what it teaches is entirely in line with the simplified models of other processes that have already been taught. For example, the structure of the atom was taught as a simplified model (no quarks? no gluons? asked Dad incredulously), and the nature of chemical bonds was simplified (don't worry, you'll learn how it
really works at University, said our chemist friend.) The teaching of evolution is no more simplified than any of these. They don't do a lot of Gdel in maths, either.
™ Version 4.2
