“I don’t believe in evolution.”
I have heard these words from people of every walk of life. For most people in my experience the reason is religious. I believe this is due to a major misconception of Evolution.
As it is taught today in one way or another Evolution is defined in this way:
Evolution is the change in allele frequency in a species over time.
So let’s break this down a bit. Alleles refer to different versions of a gene such as black hair or blond hair . This can be represented a B and b . These are alleles. The gene would be hair color. The definition of a species is debated in many ways, mostly due to the fact that what may define one species as distinct from another may not hold true for all groups of life. While most people intuitively understand what a species is the definition is difficult. For the sake of this argument a species is group of individuals capable of interbreeding and producing viable offspring (offspring that can reproduce themselves) . Simply evolution is the change in life over time. While the first definition is far more accurate, this definition is easier to understand. Evolution is far closer to a scientific law then a theory as many people describe it.
One other item we must define is Natural selection. I have found that many people use evolution and natural selection as interchangeable terms when in fact they are not the same idea.
Natural selection is defined as differential reproductive success among members of a population based on phenotype.
This can also be simplified. Reproductive success refers to the ability of an organism( life form) to pass down their alleles( traits). More simply this is how good something is at having babies. Phenotype refers to the expression of genes. So related to my earlier example a person with a black hair allele (B) and a blond hair allele(b) will have the genotype(gene) Bb. The phenotype (expressed genotype) would then be black hair assuming black is dominant to blonde. Simply natural selection is how successful something is a reproducing based on its traits. Natural selection is a scientific theory. This does not mean that it is some wild idea . A scientific theory is supported by a great deal of research and years of scientists trying to disprove this idea.
So, what is my point? The point I am trying to make is that many people misunderstand what Evolution is and what is taught to students. Overall Evolution is what scientists observe happening in nature. This is the change in organisms. Natural selection is the purposed mechanism for evolution.
In conclusion, Evolution does not talk about humans and chimpanzees in a way that humans spontaneously generated from another organism. While the way in which I present that argument is exaggerated, I hear it quite often. This controversial idea has been a thorn in the side of natural selection>(which was the actual idea presented by Charles Darwin, and Alfred Russell Wallace in a joint paper. Evolution actually predates Darwin and Wallace.) This idea ( natural selection) was presented in Darwin’s book On the Origin of Species: By Means of Natural Selection of the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life, and in fact this book did not spend any time discussing the origin of man. As I understand the ideas surrounding the origin of man humans came from humans, just more primitive humans . For those who have presented this the humans from chimps argument to me I have always asked them to define evolution or even natural selection as they understand it. For the most part I receive, “a deer in the headlights” look. More than anything this is what worries me.Those who oppose the ideas do not understand what those ideas are. As someone who aspires to be a great science teacher I hope that I have clarified the ideas presented in Evolution and its’ distinction from Natural selection. My final thought I will leave you with is that change in life is observable and while we call it Evolution or not it happens. Thank you for reading.