Back to School: Teaching Evolution
By Jennifer Jacquet
This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American
Most kids are heading back to school this month. Last week, my friend, a high school biology teacher in Mt. Vernon, Washington, got the inevitable: "So are you saying we're related to monkeys?" To which she replied: "I'm saying you're related to yeast."
For those who disagree back to school radio ads exclaiming "It's not what you learn, but what you wear" -- here are a few favorites and soon-to-be favorites in teaching evolution:
--Neil Shubin's book Your Inner Fish and, more important, his interview with Stephen Colbert;
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--Jerry Coyne's book Why Evolution is True and blog of the same title;
--Carl Bergstom's co-authored soon-to-be-released (November 2011) Evolution textbook;
--Randy Olson's Flock of Dodos;
--And, of course, South Park's version of the theory of evolution (not appropriate for all audiences).
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