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Teaching of ‘evolution’ as a dogma versus science


Affiliations
1 Formerly at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, and Founding Member of ThinQ, Pune 411 007, India
2 Ayush, Interdisciplinary School of Health Sciences, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune 411 007, India
3 National University of Singapore, Singapore & Founding Member of ThinQ, Pune 411 007, India
4 School of Chemical and Biotechnology, SASTRA Deemed to be University, Thanjavur 613 401, India

The recent decision by NCERT, Government of India, to move the topics on evolution from classes IX and X to the higher secondary level has garnered attention worldwide. Science educators must focus on this question of pedagogical sequencing. There is an even more important question that the entire international scientific community needs to engage with. Have we been teaching science as a dogma, or as a form of rational inquiry in harmony with the epistemology of scientific inquiry? This, in turn, calls for further questions: When do students gain intellectual maturity to understand rational justification? How do we empower them to critically evaluate the justification and decide for themselves what conclusions to accept and what to reject?

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Abstract Views: 173




  • Teaching of ‘evolution’ as a dogma versus science

Abstract Views: 173  | 

Authors

K. P. Mohanan
Formerly at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, and Founding Member of ThinQ, Pune 411 007, India
Bhushan Patwardhan
Ayush, Interdisciplinary School of Health Sciences, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune 411 007, India
Tara Mohanan
National University of Singapore, Singapore & Founding Member of ThinQ, Pune 411 007, India
Vigneshwar Ramakrishnan
School of Chemical and Biotechnology, SASTRA Deemed to be University, Thanjavur 613 401, India

Abstract


The recent decision by NCERT, Government of India, to move the topics on evolution from classes IX and X to the higher secondary level has garnered attention worldwide. Science educators must focus on this question of pedagogical sequencing. There is an even more important question that the entire international scientific community needs to engage with. Have we been teaching science as a dogma, or as a form of rational inquiry in harmony with the epistemology of scientific inquiry? This, in turn, calls for further questions: When do students gain intellectual maturity to understand rational justification? How do we empower them to critically evaluate the justification and decide for themselves what conclusions to accept and what to reject?

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.18520/cs%2Fv126%2Fi1%2F13-14