Jun. 13, 2009 - Teaching the Controversy or "I don't know."
One of the best books I have ever read is A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. This hilarious and informative romp through the history of science teaches nothing if not the fact that it takes about three questions of any scientist to get to "I don't know" as the answer. The book, btw, is thoroughly evolutionary in its perspective and a must read for any evolutionist or creationist or intelligent design theorist.
Evolutionists out of Oregon State just noticed something in bird morphology that no one else has ever noticed. And it throws into question the whole "standard consensus" that birds evolved from dinosaurs.
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/122395783/abstract
http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2009/06/12/birds-did-not-evolve
This is pretty funny. Why does it take a doctoral student to notice something nobody has ever noticed about bird morphology and it's radical difference from dinosaur morphology? Kudos to these two for looking with truly scientific eyes rather than the eyes of standard, accepted scientific theory!
Another thing on this topic that always make me laugh. If you go to the Field Museum, you will see a whole Evolution Hall where you get a 5 billion or so year overview of life and a fairly neat, orderly progression of how folks think that happened. It's presented with a fair degree of certainty.
What makes me crack up every time is just outside that hall you'll see a little display case with some bones from Sue. Why aren't they *ON* Sue, the TRex, downstairs? Well, read the sign and you'll find out that while the scientists are sure the bones belong to Sue, they don't know where they attach or what their purpose was.
To me, this is the ultimate moment of Teaching the Controversy. I always pause dramatically in front of this display case. I point out the humbleness and honesty of whomever put the display together in admitting "I don't know." I think realizing even experts have a lot of "I don't knows" is very liberating for our kids. I then wonder aloud something along the lines of "Gee, if they don't know how these bones fit on to this ONE dinosaur, I wonder how they are so sure they have the whole origin and scope of the development of life right in the fossil hall? Oh, well. Let's go take a look-see."
Blessings,
Holly
