Journal 1/4/17 Objective Tonight’s Homework Let’s say you enter a room and see the following: - A table with a glass of milk, with the glass knocked over and milk spilled and dripping off the table. - A kid standing in the doorway holding a soccer ball with a guilty look on his face. - A baby sitting at the table doing nothing much. Come up with at least 2 explanations for what could have happened here. Objective Tonight’s Homework To see what observations led to the formation of ideas on evolution Finish lab write up

Field Lab on Evolutionism The theory of evolution is a complex idea that talks about where life came from and how old the planet is. This idea didn’t spring up overnight, but has been built up for hundreds of years. So where did this idea come from? We’re going to take a virtual trip around the world to record some observations. At the end, Mr. C. wants you to come to some conclusions based on what you see. Pretend you know nothing and have no opinions about evolution or Creationism. You’re expected to do a lab write up with this. This is an example of what we call a “field lab”. Field labs aren’t about doing an experiment, but instead are about recording what you see and putting pieces together. For each numbered item coming up, write down detailed observations of what you’re seeing. Get as many details as possible. Then, write an explanation for what’s going on and / or how it could have happened.

Field Lab on Evolutionism 1) Fossils Found in India Found in Africa Found in Antarctica 3

Field Lab on Evolutionism 2) Finches. These birds are all very similar, but live on islands just far enough apart to make travel between them very difficult. 4

Field Lab on Evolutionism 3) Skulls. All of these were found in Africa. Modern methods measure the ones on the left to be much older than the ones on the right. 5

Field Lab on Evolutionism 4) Layers of rock. It’s generally measured that deeper layers are older. 6

Field Lab on Evolutionism 5) DNA comparison. The colors represent genes. Same color means same genes. 7

Field Lab on Evolutionism Analysis Look back over these 5 examples and answer a few questions. 1) Do these observations imply anything about how old the Earth is or how it was made? 2) Do we see any connections between different species in these observations? If so, what do these connections mean? What do they tell us? 3) Imagine you knew nothing and had to come up with a theory to explain all the above observations. What does this theory look like? What parts of it are really solid and what parts are weak? Come up with 1 of each. 8

Notes on Science and Philosophy The lab on evolutionism has shown us one big thing: there’s some strange stuff we see in the world that doesn’t seem to have a super clear or easy explanation. This is tricky because there are probably lots of theories we could generate from this data, but history caused only 2 big, important ones to emerge. Either… 1) Animals slowly became other animals over a long time. 2) God created everything we’re seeing here. 9

Notes on Science and Philosophy Regardless of which of those options you believe, either one is going to offend people. People who believe in evolution often point towards Christians and say, “What you believe is just a fairy tale. Open your eyes to the facts.” Christians often say to evolutionists, “There’s good reason to believe the Bible is authentic and you’re just ignoring the bits that don’t fit your theory.” We’re going to genuinely approach this topic fairly and without bias. You’ll almost never find anything on this topic that even tries to eliminate bias. Even your textbook is pretty biased. 10

Notes on Science and Philosophy The first point is a huge one, but is essential. Even though we’re learning this in a science class, evolution and creationism are not strictly science. 11

Notes on Science and Philosophy The first point is a huge one, but is essential. Even though we’re learning this in a science class, evolution and creationism are not strictly science. Whaaat! Then why are we studying this in science class? 12

Notes on Science and Philosophy The first point is a huge one, but is essential. Even though we’re learning this in a science class, evolution and creationism are not strictly science. Whaaat! Then why are we studying this in science class? Because most scientists fool themselves into believing that this is a science. You’ll see this topic on things like the science section of the SAT and ACT too, so we cover it in this class. 13

Notes on Science and Philosophy We need to define what exactly counts as “science”. No one has ever come up with a list that everyone agrees upon, but here are some basics: 14

Notes on Science and Philosophy We need to define what exactly counts as “science”. No one has ever come up with a list that everyone agrees upon, but here are some basics: - Whatever you’re testing must be falsifiable. If there’s no way to disprove it, it’s not science. Example: Mental powers Any time someone tries to test if someone else is psychic, the psychic person can easily say “It’s not working right now. Sorry!”. 15

Notes on Science and Philosophy - It must be measurable. If we can’t empirically (with numbers) measure it, it’s not science. Example: Emotional response It’s easy to say that you love someone. But can you prove this scientifically? Probably not. If scientists can find a way to measure something in the brain that shows you love someone, then it will be. But until then, it’s not. If we can come up with a way to measure it, it can count as science. If not, it doesn’t. 16

Notes on Science and Philosophy - Nothing in science is 100% proven. “Facts” can change with time. Example: Phrenology It used to be “proven” that you could tell things about a person’s intelligence and personality based on the shape of their head! People from Africa were seen as “dumb” because their societies didn’t have electricity etc. These people biologically do have a slightly different head shape. Science said there two were linked. It wasn’t until later that we realized they weren’t connected at all. 17

Notes on Science and Philosophy - If something happens and we have multiple good explanations, the right one is probably the simplest one. This is called “Occham’s Razor”. Example: Daily life If something in your house goes missing, you’re not likely to blame “magical space unicorns”. A simpler explanation would be that you just forgot where you put it and this is much more likely to be right. 18

Notes on Science and Philosophy So why is evolution not science? First, it’s impossible to falsify. If we don’t see evolution happening, scientists claim its either not happening right NOW, or that it’s too slow. Second, evolution is super complicated. It’s so complicated that even after 150 years, scientists aren’t sure they even have the basic theory right. This doesn’t prove that its wrong, but if we’re good scientists, this means that we should keep this in mind and at least be willing to hear other theories. Like phrenology, it could be very easy to take the evidence we’re seeing and make another theory. 19

Exit Question What does “falsifiable” mean? That something is ‘false’ or wrong That something can be disproved That something cannot be disproved That something needs to be disproved That something is wrong until proven right None of the above