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to have taught students that "best explanations" are not the same as hard fact, and can be questioned. It is not inappropriate for a teacher to expose students to other ideas as well, especially for purposes of analysis to illustrate the difference between scientific thought and belief. It is also beneficial for a teacher to welcome challenges to accepted theory. If a teacher were to shoot down different views automatically as "wrong", the teacher stifles future scientific exploration by the student.

Other views do exist, of course. The debate against evolution is mostly driven by religion, primarily by more conservative Christians in the United States, though I imagine that other religions have issues with the topic as well. At any rate, a religious explanation requires the assumption of the existence of a God, spirit, or something metaphysical and untestable. Scientists recognize this as a much larger assumption than those made in evolution, so while creation by a deity certainly would explain life (and certainly the creator could have programmed evolution into the system), it is regarded as the poorer explanation, from a scientific standpoint.

The important thing for a teacher to address in school is the difference between science and belief, and the teacher ought also to stress that a lack of proof does not disprove any religion. The responsible science teacher cannot teach a religious view of the world however, first because it would be bad science, but secondly because it would require the teacher to endorse one particular religion, thereby antagonizing every other religion.

Other explanations are also fair game for a classroom discussion. Could aliens have brought life to Earth? Could it all be an illusion, like the "Brain in the Vat"? And with their imaginations, be certain that students can come up with others. Make sure to investigate what assumptions are required in each instance, and you'll be teaching science just as surely as you are when you speak the word "evolution".

Learn more about this author, Ernest Capraro.
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