Evolution and Creation: Conflicting or Compatible?
What is science?
Scientific explanations are based on natural law
No supernatural explanations!
Observe facts… construct hypotheses
Hypothesize, predict, collect more data to test hypotheses
If data don’t confirm it, the hypothesis collapses…
What then?
On the other hand…
The work of science is hypothesis testing
Supernatural ideas can’t be tested
Characteristics of Science
Fact and Theory
Evolution as fact
Evolution = change in genetic makeup of a population
Breeding and hybridization experiments
Evolution of new species
The fossil record shows change in life through time
Each layer due to a single event or episode of deposition
Glacial deposit
Marine coral reef
Stream channel deposit
Petrified Forest
Desert dune deposit
Principle of superposition
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Soft-bodied multicellular organisms
Shelled invertebrates
Vertebrates
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Second meaning of evolution
Cytochrome C
Transitional sequences: Triceratops
45 million years earlier…
Add 20 million years and a frill…
10 million years later: Monoclonius
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Fish to amphibian transition
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Transition in hip bone structure
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Brain size, Australopithecus to Homo sapiens
Third meaning of evolution
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Genesis I
Babylonian cosmogony
Genesis 2
Genesis 1 and 2 differ in:
Sequence of creation
Biblical creation stories
Statements supporting evolution or opposing teaching of creationism:
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Author: Patricia Kelley
Homepage: http://www.uncw.edu/
Further information: University of North Carolina Wilmington Teaching Controversial Issues: Evolution and More Given for the Center for Teaching Excellence February 8.